pinot noir for lunch

pinot noir for lunch
Originally uploaded by silamuta

this is the wine we had with our christmas lunch today which was superb. further blog will explain all. hope you are all having a nice break from work etc. take care
kel and mel xxx

hampstead heath

hampstead heath
Originally uploaded by silamuta

when we are not cooking we are hanging out on the heath

dotori finsbury park

I met mel in The Crown pub on friday (work drink thang) which was heaving and not particularly enjoyable. We were also not in the mood to deal with Piccadilly circus and surrounding environment at that time so we hot footed it back up north to our patch. I had spied a Korean/Japanese place a few days earlier near Finsbury Park station and knowing that mel loves sushi we decided to give it a go. Research told me that Dotori had been open since the summer and seemed to be doing quite well for itself thank you very much despite its slightly dodgy location in Finsbury Park. On entering it looked busy and we overhead the one and only waitress say that people were having to share tables. I had already clocked a couple of "bar" seats by the street window so we asked for those. Drinks and menus came quickly enough and the choice looked good. The place was clearly crying out for more wait staff even tho it seemed like there was a random guy who came of the kitchen to serve food and take orders. Anyhoo we placed our orders and waited. I plumped for the variety of dumplings as a starter and Mel ordered the Agedashi tofu which is cubes of tofu fried in dashi (broth). Both very good, no complaints. Mel commented on that even tho fried tofu was a simple dish very often a lot of people do it wrong. In this case tho it was all good. Next up was the salmon, eel and tuna nigiri for mel and I ordered strips of beef served with soba noodles and vegetables. Red wine was also orderd which came slightly chilled. Mel's nigiri came fairly quickly and was quickly gobbled. Mel reckoned it was pretty fresh. I tried a piece and had to agree. No complaints there. However, I was still waiting for my strips of beef. And I waited and I waited. Mel had also ordered a spider crab roll which came and went while my strips of beef still eluded me. Okay enough was enough. I turned around and gave the struggling waitress one of my most pissed off looks and within seconds she produced another plate of on the house dumplings to apologise for the wait for the beef. The chef had clearly forgotton about it and they apologised. Fair enough. It arrived fairly soon after but I was pretty full after scoffing the extra dumplings so perhaps I didnt enjoy it as much as I could have. Despite the slow service we enjoyed the food and the experience and would definately try it again. The bill came to £43 which is pretty decent considering we had a beer and 2 glasses of wine each. Check it out!

Dotori Stroud Green Road Finsbury Park London, N4 2DF

our wordle

I like to read wendys blog which can be found here A wee bit of cooking
I was well impressed with her wordle so i did one too. see above. kewl huh? if you would like to do one too go here

the noble stroud green n4

I walked to finsbury park station last nite with our good friend julia (fellow crouch end inhabitant) in order to meet mel off the train. julia and mel wanted to talk shop so a drinkie was in order somewhere. there is a glut of places on crouch hill and on the way to and from finsbury park and crouch end and i had already eyed the noble. anywhere that advertises tapas will always catch my eye coz im an expert on tapas dammit and i like to give my two penith worth!!! so we went to the noble which can be found at 29 Crouch Hill Stroud Green N4 4AP tel.: 02072817444. First impressions were good. Blackboards advertising mains and wines that they sold by the glass and bottle. We seated ourselves and found the tapa/starter menu there. Prices seemed pretty hefty for a tapa but my hunch was that the portions would be bigger than yer average size spanish when in spain tapa. We ordered 5 which included white bait, duck pate, mezze meat selection, lime and chilli squid and crispy duck. Julia ordered a bottle of the house red which was decent enough and glugged quickly. We didnt have to wait too long for our food and we were suitably impressed. Mel particularly liked the whitebait and duck pate and I was well impressed with the squid and crispy duck. Our only complaint was that on two of the plates the side garnish rocket salad came without some kind of dressing. no excuse there really. Julia mentioned that she had been to this place before and liked it but she reckoned the owner/staff were a little bit too cool for school. When i went up to pay the bill I have to say I got the same impression. Still its a place i would definately check out again. I like the feel of the place; it has great art on the walls which is for sale and the tile effect wallpaper is fab!! They sell deuchars on tap and they have a good reputation for their cocktails. Further research of the place has led me to believe its a bit of a celeb hangout too. Ooooh wonder who ill see next?! (apologies for lack of food pics but i just a got a new phone and im still getting used to the camera on it!!)