GOOD KAI

This weekend was a busy weekend barbecuing - it's one of my favourite things to do . I'd decided that I wanted to try a pizza on the Weber, so I used my usual bread dough for the base of my pizza. An easy recipe so if you do use it for your pizza, note that it is quite a wet dough, so feel free to use plenty of four when kneading etc. Barbecue Pizza Barbecue Prep This is how I prep my BBQ, I have half the charcoals piled on one side of the grill and none on the other. To cook the meat, I sear it over the very hot coals so I get nice grill marks, sealing the outside also keeps the meat inside moist. Once done, I move it to the other side of the barbecue where there are no charcoals. Place the lid on, grab a cold beer and let it cook lid down until its done - most raw meat is cooked between 2-15 mins depending on what it is. It's quick because its using high radiant heat. Seared chicken ready for cooking My pizza on the barbecue took two attempts, the f...

Kia Ora and welcome to my new website/blog. After being loaded to absolute capacity, the last straw finally broke the camels back with my hosting site, RebelMouse (they removed so much functionality that I could no longer post!) and now I am much happier on the Blogger platform. So this layout will give you much more visibility and structure to the restaurants I've been eating at, as well as a dated catalogue of restaurants for you to peruse at your leisure. I still have a number of restaurant visits to migrate over so I will be adding more as I go. So after my trip to Hvar I've been having really good eats at Atithi in Twickenham, and even at Jamies Trattoria in Richmond - they seem to have increased their portion sizes for their pasta dishes. So in August I am hoping to go to a few good restaurants in the borough that I've not been to before and I'll be posting the reviews on here, so I am definitely looking forward to that. I've been baking, call me mad ...

Amfora Hotel, Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia Back in London now and I've uploaded more pics from the trip. Divino Restaurant (pictured below) was by far the best. We enjoyed a six course tasting menu for £40, it was excellent and with an amazing harbour side view, it tops all others. I have done a separate review for Divino that you can check out my blog. My restaurant picks for Split & Hvar Town Divino restaurant (fine dining) Zori restaurant (needs Island transportation) Ante Tudor - Milna (casual) Cafe F - Split get the pizza! The seafood pizza was top Things to do: Wine Tour  http://www.hvartours.com/wine-a-gastornomy/hvar-wine-tour  We did the tour to Tomic Winery see below. Take a water taxi to another Island - we headed to Carpe Diem beach in the daytime, careful which Island you go to as some have nudest beaches ;) Walk up to the Fort Relax poolside or take a bus to another beach around the cove on the Island, or to Stari Grad (warning, buses some...

Asparagus Starter with duck yolk, pumpkin seeds and orange THE DUKE - I'm back to Richmond borough, if you missed my food blogger meal at Bumpkin in Chelsea this week be sure to check it out.  On this occasion we headed for a Sunday lunch that we booked almost a week in advance - when you eat at The Duke you may need to check bookings a week out as it is quite popular on Sundays. The restaurant itself is a nice little gastro pub, tucked away off the High Street in Richmond and Richmond Green. It attracts an affluent, not bothered crowd, so it is a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere and easily enjoyed by all. There is plenty of seating inside, and the interior is divided into a dining area and another more relaxed lounge area. In the dining area it's light and airy with plenty of room for yummy mummy's and kids. Service is effortless, the staff were pleasant and not intrusive.  As it was a busy fathers day Sunday we were given a fixed menu with mostly Su...

I was lucky enough to sit down to a six course tasting menu with the lovely Gizzy Eskrine (British Chef and TV personality) at the worlds most revered food festival - Taste London. There were 12 of us lucky punters who were treated to a six course menu of Korean style food. On hand throughout the meal was Joe McPherson (pictured), a Korean food writer and expert based in Seoul. He had a tonne of information on everything food, and an all-round great chap and he also did a great blog on London taste so be sure to check out his twitter at the bottom of this post. We were presented dishes from Gizzy who explained each one and also gave tips on how they were prepared, I really like this. The fact she granted us capable of cooking these wonderful dishes ourselves was, kinda flattering. Aww go on then, maybe I could cook up the Korean Chicken and the sashimi. Gawsh they were good! Wait, and the tuna sushi. Yes, I could make this, gulp, I hope.. On with the food below! Hot Splash S...

Figs wrapped in ham with goats cheese  Updated VIsit: So this is another post on visit to Brouge which is more recent and I ate outdoors so I could get decent pics, my original write up is below and mentioned it was quite dark on my first visit. It's definitely an indulgent place to eat with these parma ham wrapped figs with goats cheese (you can't see the goats cheese but its definitely in there). They are good hearty servings, the figs  and the baked cheese and pastry tart (de-constructed) below were both starters with ample on offer - so very good value with these meals.     Baked cheese with pastry The chic geek had the Fish pie as a main on this visit and I must admit on the day, it was the better of the two mains. I had the mussels previously and they hadn't been de-bearded very well on this occasion and weren't as good as my first visit and looked a little messy when presented. But the fish pie was deliciously creamy and cheesey with a ...