Byron Burgers High Holborn

–Apart from a place in Berlin – see my review blog – these are the best burgers in my humble opinion. You can order them to your taste and they are exactly that rare is rare, medium is medium and well done is....

Great vegetarian and vegan options!

In general I don't like beef and I'm not as a rule a fan of burgers but if I see Byron even with their London pricing I make an exception to my rules!

I love the fact that it's not a problem to skip the bun and that you get a generous baby leaf salad as a replacement. 

The additional toppings/sides and sauces are my major downfall. They have 2 types of bacon, 6 types of cheese, chillis or jalapenos, fried (crispy) onions, portobello muschroom and avocado! Here you get a (whole) half avo! To date they have all been good sized, perfectly ripe specimens.

I ordered the cheese burger Emmentaler – I got blue cheese but that was because I kept changing my mind. We had courgette and sweet potato chips (fries) both of which are fabulous, with chipotle mayonnaise.

The service is good; friendly, attractive staff. Anywhere else in the world they would be expensive, but this is central London so the prices are standard.

My companion is vegetarian and had doubts about going to a burger bar. I swore that the portobello and goat cheese burger – which I've had  - would amaze. I said don't bother with the veggie burger – which I actually haven't tried – I received thanks and praise way after the meal was finished!

The beers are pricey and not great but you can have tap water – also un chilled at no extra cost. But I don't drink, especially not cold water when I am eating – nasty habit!

https://www.byronhamburgers.com/

Hiba - High Holborn, London

Officially Hiba Express (there are three around London) – Lebanese and Palestinian

An utter delight!!

The lunch time service was quick and efficient.

There are Vegetarian and vegan options 

The waiters were without fail incredibly friendly, helpful and cute! 

The place is quite small but the placement of th tables feels intimate without being crowded.

A major start and extra brownie points for the complimentary (with regards from the chef!), super delish aubergine salad (baba ganoush) served as a starter with flatbread, oilve oil, fresh parsley and pomegranate.

I ordered marinated lamb with was a generous portion of melt in your mouth, perfectly cooked and well flavoured chunks of meat, served again with flatbread and minted onions. 

For ₤1 you are practically forced to take a side dish. I was very happy to have a salad with it again generous, fresh and as tasty as chopped lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber get, it complimented the onions and meat excellently.

My companion ordered a vegetarian mousaka which was nothing like the Greek version. A generous bowl of thick, nose orgasmic stew with lots of aubergine and other vegetables, which extended the pleasure from the nose to the mouth and then stomach!

Standard prices for that area of London

http://www.hiba-express.co.uk/hiba-express/

http://www.activehealthcenter.nl/ - Lilith Turk

My Body

My body was a burden
Until I met Lilith Turk
It was a vessel that carried my rage
I fed it with the hatred my food became
I drank until it wept then drugged it to numbness
I ate to not speak of the pain and loneliness
I gave it to others to mishandle and disrespect
Treatment this body had learnt to expect

Then I walked into a class Lilith, led by you.

Something changed at that moment

There came something new

My body was always the bringer of strife
My body until that moment was the bane of my life
The lump of flesh with which I was cursed
That reflected the misery of my mind, of my birth

When I do therapeutic stretching with Lilith Turk
My body is still a bringer of pain
The pain of information long held restrained
Muscles are messages of areas ignored
Tell of whole territories yet to be explored
My body has become a field of possibilities
Journey's beckon, oceans are made from seas

Only concentration and application are necessary
To accomplish the voyages stretching before me
My body has still its limitations

They are now challenges to be negotiated.

When I get down, consumed by depression and self hate

Which manifests in isolation. I cannot participate.

Still I struggle to find the compassion for myself.

Know I need to stop the thoughts churning, take the time to return

To connect with my body, to communicate and re learn.

Financial competence is my second largest learning curve

You wiped that away to let me work on my first

Lilith you are an avatar of Body Self Connection

Your stretching classes are a living message

To the body/self, to embrace, to love, to spurn rejection.

I cannot truly describe or repay the gifts you have given

My simple, maybe feeble response is these words I have written

My a deep and heartfelt wish is to express  my gratitude - Thank You.

Eetcafé Knabbel en Babbel Europaplein 59, Amsterdam

Unfortunate experience

Great service, Jordy (the owner?) barman is fabulous; charming, friendly, efficient, service oriented.

The prices are reasonable for where it is situated. Lots of customers come from the exhibition centre (Rai) across the road. But there are also loads of locals and regulars enjoying the warmth of Jordy's welcome in the cosy international atmosphere. 

The food looked good. We were drinking wine a light tempranillo and a delicious Malbec which I still find pricey at 4.25 a glass ('luxe' wine according to the menu!) 

Eventually we ordered (hot) chips which were good, especially as we got them with (free) aioli as well as mayo, which we didn't touch. 

A bit later (on our 3rd glass of wine, bought for us by Jordy!) we ordered cheese sticks. They came with a sauce that tasted like cheap ketchup with extra sugar and a smidgen of spice (I thought it was nasty but apparently it's very popular with the locals).

Alas both me and my friend had the runs all night and into the morning, which made our last day working at the Rai hell!

We had a great evening and Jordy is fabulous but not sure if I'll be returning.

Tapas Cafe Duende, Lindengracht 62, Amsterdam

Ultimately disappointing. 

We had to seat ourselves. The tables are quite awkwardly placed to get a double row of places, some tables are a bit claustrophobic. 

The waitress who came to serve us didn't speak Dutch, then pointedly ignored our table for the rest of the evening. 

The service is slow, poor yet better than average in Amsterdam, which is saying little as the average is appalling.

The waiter when he came, gave us a lecture about waste, we were told not to order all our food at once. We had to place our original order in two lots instead of one – which I guess was nice in terms of them being hot. But he never came back again. By the time I flagged someone else to come and serve us the kitchen was closed and apparently the peppers, had run out anyway. 

The guy came back and offered tortilla 'as compensation'. I would never order tortilla. Stupidly I accepted. The hot sauce with it, was nice but it was the worst tortilla I have ever had (except the one my mate Sue made with cold Dutch chips (frites), made with mashed potatoes, tasteless, practically eggless so it fell apart with every forking!  So much for compensation (and his good review) we were charged full price for it!!!

There was flamenco singing and dancing at the back of the restaurant in a private room but, no way to watch and eat, being hungry we chose to eat and judging by the cheers missed a great show.

In general, it is expensive, not particularly authentic  (Croquettes are more of a Dutch staple than Spanish surely) the service is snail pace, except at the end when they want their money, though friendly. They clearly have a good client base and support that, it seemed to me, to the detriment of trying to build or extend it with their care of new customers.

The lamb chops were good, minuscule but tasty, though two of the three were over cooked to my taste. The veg was piping hot, over oiled and undercooked which worked well with the mange tout, asparagus, paprika and courgette but was a dismal failure with the aubergine. 

No one can make a mess of whitebait, it was a decent sized portion bearing in mind that their tapas are overpriced. I am not keen on sardines, the sauce was nice though there were some scales on both fish. The codfish croquttes tasted excellent but they are still 90% spud and fairly uninteresting eating. I didn't even bother with the second lot they brought instead of either the fried cheese or prawn croquettes we actually ordered. My mates couldn't work out what they were made of... Vegetarian? Cheese? Spinach?

The menu said they had 2013 Syrah but they served a bottle of 2011, with no excuse or apology and didn't mention that the bottom of the bottle was sediment laden. On the bill they tried to charge us for an extra two glasses of wine in addition to the bottle.

They served my mineral water with ice (very irritating American habit) without asking or coming back so I could get rid of it.

It is not a bad restaurant and will remain very popular with the locals and regulars. However for me, my maxim 'don't go out to eat in Amsterdam if you're hungry' still holds true. Here yet again the price to quality to service ratio, while better than your average Amsterdam central location eatery still leaves much to be desired.