The Fish Shop

I have read a lot about Islington being a trendy place to go out but I have never been there myself. And even more shockingly, I've never been to Sadler's Wells theatre until last weekend. Yes, that's true but until quite recently we were living in West London near Richmond & Kingston and it is quite far from East London, you see. That's my excuse anyway. Finally, I had a chance to visit Sadler's Wells to see a Korean musical called 'Another Sun,' which wasn't too bad and I also liked to mention that I really liked the theatre. It's just a shame that we are still not conveniently located to travel to the theatre in public transport. Anyway, that's enough about the theatre for now.

After the theatre, it was almost 5.30 pm and having missed lunch, we were both very hungry. Being a seafood-lover, I felt quite lucky to spot this fish restaurant not far from the theatre. When I ventured in with my somewhat reluctant husband, we noticed that the restaurant was actually bigger than it looked from the outside. As the first customers that night, we were seated at the small table by the window at the back overlooking the small garden. We shared two starters between us - Grilled Asparagus & Poached Egg with Hollandaise sauce and Pan-fried Scallops with Fennel. Asparagus didn't look great and equally tasteless but maybe it's because it was out of season. Luckily scallops seemed to be very fresh but we were not really bowled over by the dish.

For main course, we both had Lemon Sole with Seasonal Vegetables with an additional side dish of Mash Potato to share. The fish itself was fresh, well-cooked and tasty enough but the seasonal vegetables were just awful. They look like the stir-fry made out of the bags from the supermarkets. And even worse, the mash potato was so dire that my husband was convinced that it was out of the packet. I could only guess two things from our meals: 1) the chef was off that particular day and somebody else stepped in to cook or 2) the chef is quite good with fish (wonderful!) but not so good with vegetables (oh uh!). Whichever was the case, we were not brave enough to stay longer to try any dessert. While we were there, we have agreed that we didn't want to come back to this restaurant. Having said that, I happened to notice that the fish & chips at the next table looked rather nice. And of course, it doesn't come with the mash potato, hallelujah! So, maybe, just maybe there is a tiny chance of going back for fish & chips if we are ever in Islington again.

The Fish Shop

St John Street, Islington, London EC1V 4NR

Tel: 020 7837 1199

Ayoush London

Since I am not such a good cook myself, I have decided to blog more about the restaurants I have been to and, to make it simple, I am going to put them into two categories: the first category is for those places I'm happy to return and the second for those ones I do not really wish to go back. It can't be any simpler than this, can it?

The honour of the first entry of the second category goes to Ayoush, a North African restaurant/bar in Mayfair, London. Wait. Before I begin, I must admit that I'm not overly familiar with North African cuisine myself. Well, that would be an understatement. I just know some elements of it like... couscous, which I have loved so much ever since I first tried it in my salad in the UK. Yes, I have never heard of couscous in Korea. I don't know if I'm right in thinking North Africans eat lots of lamb like the people in Middle Eastern countries. I hope they do as I am also a big fan of lamb dishes even though we don't normally get lamb in Korea. You see, the thing I like about living here in the UK is that I get more chances of trying different food from all over the world. The more I try them, I'll get to know more about them, I hope.

Anyway, I think I've been to a Moroccan restaurant only once if I remember it correctly. It was again in Paris with my husband and my brother's family. Looking back we were very lucky to find this child-friendly restaurant by chance. That's right, we didn't have Moroccan food in mind when we set off. Unfortunately the Indian restaurant my lovely sister-in-law wanted to try was closed on that particular day and with a very little boy to feed, we had to find an alternative rather quick among those restaurants available on the same street. I don't remember what the others had but both my husband and I had a lamb tagine with couscous and it was one of the most delicious meals ever. Even for the greedy people like us, the portion size was really generous and the lamb shank was so juicy and tender. The food was inexpensive and the staff was also very friendly. So all in all it was a rather nice experience.

It was with this expectation when we chose to dine at Ayoush. I liked the look of the restaurant from the outside and the interior wasn't bad either. We shared one starter dish (Foul Akhdar: green broad beans cooked in garlic, cumin, fresh coriander and a touch of tomato sauce and olive oil, £4.25) and some bread, which wasn't too bad but not exceptional.

As we both like lamb and couscous, my husband ordered Lamb Couscous (£14.50), which is served with Moroccan special flavoured sauce and I chose Lamb Tagine (£13.50) for our mains. We both found the portion size rather small and the food not so tasty - couscous just bland and lamb not juicy or tender enough. It seriously lacked the warmth and flavour of North Africa. Honestly it didn't taste much better than the ready-made food you would get from the supermarkets. Oh, maybe a bit better, but definitely not much.

Being conveniently located, not far from Oxford Street, it is possibly just one of those tourist traps in central London. Or maybe it might be okay for a short stop for a drink or two with friends and work colleagues. However, if you are looking for a Moroccan restaurant which serves decent food, personally I wouldn't recommend this place to you.

Ayoush London, 58 James St, London, W1U 1HG Tel: 020 7935 9839

Le Pain Quotidien

I had a very fond memory of Le Pain Quotidien in Paris, France. It was our first trip together - me and my husband (boyfriend then) in December 2006. I had heard about this bakery and communal tables, as they called it, in one of the guidebooks. It sounded so nice that I was determined to try it myself. I think we got lost and had to walk quite a while in freezing cold to find the store in St. Honore. It was worth the effort though as we both enjoyed our brunch - the huge plates of salad with good quality bread and coffee. It was just a perfect start to the day, which happened to be my husband's birthday.




Afterwards I was happy to find out that they had stores in the UK too. I have been to the one at St. Pancras International several times while waiting for the Eurostar trains. But I had never been to the other stores until a couple of weeks back when I visited the Marylebone store. We were with our old friend for lunch. We all had different dishes - my friend and I opted for the salad and my husband the quiche. To our disappointment, none of dishes we ordered looked or tasted exceptional. My roasted vegetable salad was served cold unlike what I expected and they tasted rather like they were straight from the jars. The only thing I still enjoyed was their bread.



I know the company is originally from Belgium, not France, and has over 100 stores in many countries including USA and Japan. I really want to like this place as I like their philosophy and concept as well as their bread. However, it seems a bit overrated here in London and rather pricey in terms of food. I'd love to see its food being more personal and homely.

Roasted organic Italian vegetables, mixed leaves, pesto & goat cheese salad (£10.20)

Third time lucky (or not?)

It's been really bugging me that I wasn't keeping my blog updated since last November after only a couple of posts when I had promised to myself to give it an another go. I felt like a mother who had abandoned her infant baby. Or maybe not that bad, but still it was quite sad and embarrassing that I couldn't do something that looked so easy and simple for many other people all around the world.

Well... I have my excuses of course. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to write my blog in English in the first place. English being my second language, I never feel quite comfortable using it even though I've been living in the UK for a number of years (and yes, being shy doesn't help when it comes to the language skills). In any case, I've never been any good at writing in general whether it is in English or in Korean. And I probably shouldn't been too ambitious (even though I said I wasn't) about this blogging business. I didn't know what I really wanted to do with the blog! I still don't have any clear ideas.

It's hard to admit but I've come to the conclusion: maybe I'm not up for it and I should just leave it behind. But then again, people say that you can get third time lucky, right? After all, isn't it simply too sad to leave this wonderful world of blogging like this? Well, I think so. And I've decided for the third time (and possibly the last), I'll give it another chance. This time I'm going to drop all my expectations and just to try to be myself. That's right. I'm not a chef nor a writer, so don't expect anything grand coming out of me. Just try to make it something personal. There are no rules and therefore, it could be about anything I like. Hope it works this time and if not, I promise I will go away quietly and gracefully (or rather dragged off kicking and screaming!!!).