Kamares

Kamares

After a democratic vote over a pre-dinner drink in the Three Kings, we set off to Kamares 'Greco-Italian' restaurant in Heath Road. We sat down at some hastily gathered together, plastic covered tables, in the double fronted restaurant with only one other table occupied. This didn't bode well, but being a Wednesday we thought it might not be a popular midweek dining destination.

We  were given the menu by  a waitress and the list of food was extensive with standard fayre from Greece and Italy. Our orders were taken and as a starter we chose to have the Greek Medley,  Antipasto and a Dolmades. The Medley and the Antipasto were for two people to share. We were asked by the waitress if we wanted more Pitta bread with the Medley starter, which we thought may be an indication of the size of portions.

We were served with the starters, the portions were a little disappointing and the antipasto was not good value at £14. The Greek Medley was pretty basic, a few olives, taramosalata, houmous etc. with 3 pitta breads, one of which was at additional cost.

The mains arrived and it was a diverse choice. One of the group opted for Mussels Provençale, shown as a starter but ordered as a main. The others went for Kleftiko, Stefado, Lamb Souvlaki and the Italian choice of Roma pizza. In addition to main courses we had side dishes of Greek salad and Side Salad.

The Kleftiko was tender but pale looking and unusually small. Judging by how quickly it was brought to the table it must have been cooked from frozen. The mussels tasted as though they either had been cooked frozen or boiled in the bag. The Lamb Souvlaki lacked the taste of a marinade and the accompanying pilaf rice was bland. The salads were disappointing, they were more akin to ordinary mixed salads, since they contained lettuce, whereas a traditional Greek Salad is peppers, onion, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers. The Feta had been crumbled instead of the usual chunks. The Pizza was perfectly adequate, fine in quantity and certainly hot enough, but not exceptional in quality. The Stefado was mediocre and was not as tasty as it should have been.

Overall the food was disappointing and the Greco-Italian fusion idea doesn't quite work. The menu offers too much choice which can only be catered for by using frozen or pre-cooked/packet food. The only redeeming feature of the evening was the House Red (Spanish). Good value at £13.95.

As a result of the above we awarded  Kamares 2 stars out of 5 and it only got these because of the wine.

http://www.kamaresfusion.com

31st July 2013

Miss Siam

Miss Siam is a long-established Thai restaurant, located next to the Civic Centre at 40 York Street.  Its outside looks unprepossessing, perhaps somewhat drab; but the inside is comfortably appointed, with wicker chairs, pink tablecloths, and a dark green carpet.  There are a number of cooling fans on the ceiling, but these were not needed on the evening we visited during this long cold spring.  The restaurant was by no means full, but with sufficient other customers to make the atmosphere in the restaurant convivial.  The sound system was not used during most of our meal, but then played some music at an unobtrusive volume.     

The menu contains a fair number of options without being overly long.  For starters we chose the Chicken Tom Yum soup, deemed ‘as good as it gets’ by my companion; the Vegetable Tempura, which was fresh, hot and plentiful; and the Prawn Siam, prawns wrapped in rice paper and fried. These too were enjoyed.

The main courses however didn’t quite live up to the same high standard as the starters.  The Volcano Chicken dish was showy, being a whole (small) chicken impaled vertically on a spit and served flambé.  It was well cooked, and the meat fell away from the bones easily enough, but this was a dish that took some effort to eat.  The Chu Chee Khoog (king prawns in red curry paste with coconut milk and shredded lime leaves) had the prawns served shelled, at our request.  The stir-fried chicken sizzler was deemed to be rather on the bland side, not as fresh or spicy as it might have been.

We were somewhat surprised at the pricing of the rice to accompany the main courses.  Jasmine rice is £1.95, but the traditional Thai sticky rice and the egg fried rice are both £1 dearer.  We chose Singha beer to accompany the meal: the 330 ml bottles are priced at £3.25.  There is also a range of wine and other drinks available.  We found the service, from a young lady dressed in traditional Thai costume, to be faultless.

Overall an enjoyable meal, with reasonable value for money (we paid £30 a head, with tip).  It is tricky comparing and rating different types of restaurants – how can you compare a cheap and cheerful eatery with a Michelin-starred restaurant (not that there are any in Twickenham)?  Giving a star rating out of five, based on the notion of ‘recommendability’ (if there were such a word), we decided that Miss Siam rates three and a half stars.





29th May 2013

Blah, Blah, Blah

Blah Blah Blah vegeterian restaurant

For a lunch time treat, two of us decided to visit Blah x 3. It must be said that we were influenced in our choice by the Indian bent of this recently established vegetarian restaurant.

The restaurant was empty save for the two of us. We were initially served by an Italian waitress but the boss lady, an Indian woman then took over when we tried to go off piste with our meal choices. The menu is limited and it must be said relatively pricey - £10.95 the standard charge for a main course. However, they are licensed and we chose bottled Cobra at £4.75 a pint. The menu was limited to a choice of four starters plus soup; and five main courses and we had hoped that previous blackboard specials, such as samosas and dosai would be available. They were not on the formal menu but we sweet talked the manageress into rustling up some samosas for us. From the menu I had vegetarian kebabs with strips of pitta and a delicious fresh salad. The kebabs were in the Indian style and were accompanied by a yoghourt sauce and a sweet chilli sauce - excellent.    My companion had as his starter, Savoury Lentil Rice Cake, a scrumptious flavoursome cake made with rice and lentil flour, peas, marrow, carrots, sweet potatoes and green chilli. finished with roasted sesame seeds mustard seeds and curry leaves, served with spicy green chutney and tomato sauce. We then had some delicious fresh samosas, made especially for us. Piping hot and served with a mango chutney these were well worth the wait. These were followed by the Kashmiri vegetable curry made with coconut sauce and served with rice and mango chutney and mini papadoms. Again, the quality of the food was first rate. Overall, this was a pleasant experience - the food was of very good quality, if on the pricey side. The ambiance was as one would expect it for a restaurant with just one table occupied at lunch-time. I wonder what the Friday jazz evenings are like.    Our assessment is, out of 5 stars:

 

1st May 2013

/http://www.blahvegetarian.com/

Start of a New Adventure

We are about to embark on a new mission. Having successfully completed the http://twickurry.blogspot.co.uk/ quest, the trusty band of 5 will set about the evaulation of all Twickenham restaurants. They will be scored for their quality, price, ambience and service and after being visited by our gastronomic quintet, an unbiased and frank restaurant review will be posted on this blog.

Enjoy