Site Relocation!

Francoise's Miscellany is moving and undergoing a few changes!

1. All of the site content, exclusive of Sunday Roasts, is now on the new site at http://francoisesmiscellany.wordpress.com/

2. The Quest for Sunday Roast thread now has its own site, Quest for a Sunday Roast

Why the change?
I've been meaning to let the Quest have its own site for a while, as it would make having multiple authors much easier, and my increasing frustration with layout configuration on my current template finally prompted me to move the site.
I'll leave this site up, but I won't be adding new content here.

The Gun, Docklands

This Sunday, we headed East to Dockland's highly recommended,  The Gun. This waterfront pub is located on a quiet and very cute little side street and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. It's also more  in Vera and Roland's neighborhood than anyone else's.

Their Sunday Lunch menu is available online.

Joining us on the Quest today are Vera, Roland, Andy, Oscar, Darren, and Lev, who was having his Quest debut.


Dishes Ordered:

Starters:

Roast Cornish mackerel, green and yellow courgette,

confit balsamic tomato 

(Shared: Vera & Roland)

Heritage tomato, shallot and Jersey Royal potato salad,

goat's cheese beignets

(Oscar)

Smoked duck, pork & white pudding terrine, fig chutney 

and toasted sourdough

(Andy, Shared: Darren and Franc)

Half pint o’ prawns with mayonnaise  

(Lev)

Entrees:

Fillet of sea trout, leek fondue, fresh peas and girolles 

(Vera, Franc)

Roast belly of Kilvarock Farm pork, Yorkshire pudding,

roast potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans, homemade 

apple purée and pork gravy 

(Darren, Andy)

Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, fresh horseradish, roast 

potatoes, honey glazed carrots, green beans and red wine gravy

(Oscar, Lev, Roland)

Desserts: 

Marinated strawberries, truffle honey 
and yoghurt ice cream

(Lev)

Dark and white chocolate terrine, cherry compôte

(Andy, Shared: Vera and Roland)

Meringue nest, passion fruit and mixed berries 

(Franc, Shared: Oscar and Darren)

Cheese: (Shared: Darren and Oscar)

• St Maure de Touraine, France(soft, goat’s milk, unpasteurised)
• Gubbeen, Ireland (washed rind, semi-soft, cow’s milk, pasteurised)
• Caerphilly Gorwydd, Lampeter, Wales (semi-hard, cow’s milk, unpasteurised)
• Brezain, France (semi-soft, cow’s milk, unpasteurised)
• Cashel Blue, Ireland (blue, cow’s milk, pasteurised)

 

Observations: (collective and individual)

We didn't make eye contact w. the locals.

• The service was attentive (Franc)
• The starter (salad) was okay, but it would have been better with warm potatoes. (Oscar)
• The beef could have been a little more tender. I wish I had ordered the pork, it was awesome. (Oscar)
• The pork was amazing, juicy and succulent. The Yorkshire pudding was bland and cardboardy. (Andy)
• Roast Beef was very good, and the roast potatoes are (almost!) to die for. (Lev)
• Struggled to choose a dessert, and the marinated strawberries I went for turned out to be surprisingly tasty and unusual.
• Great place, convenient location (Roland)
• Great place, inconvenient location (Nearly the rest of us)
• The fish was quite nice and the roast beef was tender and delicious (Vera)
• Nice atmosphere with a lovely terrace and Thames view (Lev)
• The scoring makes this pub in a tie with our other highest rated pubs.

On to the scores: (awarded on these guidelines)

Our Updated Map of Eats:
*note: All Pubs visited including today's are noted with their scores in parentheses (see blog's sidebar map or enlarge this one for all pubs)

View The Quest for the Best Sunday Roast in a larger map

Bacchus Pub and Kitchen, Hoxton

Bacchus Pub and Kitchen

After a few weeks off with a kitten and a trip to Asia, we picked up the Quest again at Hoxton's Bacchus.  Darren found this place with the help of our good friend, Google.

Joining us on the Quest today are Oscar and Darren.

After walking in the London Heatwave, we were very happy to arrive at this venue and enjoy its gentle air conditioning. The Roasts looked great.

We quickly settled in and reviewed the menu.


Dishes Ordered:
 

Pan Fried Peapods with Garlic and Chili

Whole Butterflied Sea Bass with Herb Butter, Sauteed New Potatoes, Samphire Caper and Parsley Dressing

(Franc)

 

12 Hour Roasted Hereford Sirloin , Goose Fat Roast Potatoes, Broccoli, Yorkshire, Peas and Leeks, Stuffing and Gravy

(Oscar, Darren)

 

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Creme Anglaise

(Franc)

Apple and Summer Berry Crumble with Vanilla cream

(Darren)

Chocolate Fondant, Bitter Chocolate Ice Cream

(Oscar)

Observations: (collective and individual)

a quiet corner between tables

*Note: This was a bit of a lazy day- had we not liked this pub so much, we might not have bothered scoring.  

• The Staff was really enthusiastic about the food, and our waitress took very good care of us. (Franc)
• The Starter was great, the dessert was great, the beef was a little stringier that I'd have liked (Oscar)
• My first bite of beef nearly put me off (the stringy bit), but the rest of the meal made up for it. (Darren)
• The fish was nicely seasoned and well filleted. (Franc)
• The Sticky Toffee Pudding was a perfectly sized portion. (Franc)
• The music was a bit loud, and our request that it be turned down a bit was graciously accommodated.  (Darren)
• They even found some Leffe for Oscar!
• I got everything I asked for, delivered by cute waitresses! (Oscar)

On to the scores: (awarded on these guidelines)

Our Updated Map of Eats:
*note: All Pubs visited including today's are noted with their scores in parentheses (view larger or blog's sidebar map for all pubs)

View The Quest for the Best Sunday Roast in a larger map

HK&C: Engrish Roundup

Because everyone loves Engrish... a few highlights (click to enlarge, if you wish)

It all started with Kiely's Saline:
"SHE: Shining Health Eyes"

Albright's Scooter - Hummer? or Hanma!

We have the rich commodity - in a Yongzhou supermarket

"Choiceness Raw Material Produced Meticulous"

Wheat Smell Breakfast!

At the Forbidden City, you must treat the AC with respect.

Visit the Geart Wall!

The Great Wall has many rules...

Safty Concerns galore at the Great Wall's Sliding Car

At the Lama Temple

The Fire Fighting Self Saving Breather in the hotel...

Using the breather... I Like #4

Taiwan's Bad Side Meat at the Forbidden City. (Translated it is "minced")

My personal favorite, the closeup is below...

Liquor... Gecko...SEABOURSE?!?

Wow.

A bit more clear...

HK&C: Day 11: Beijing: The Temple of Heaven and 798

Temple of Heaven!

Our last full day in Beijing came so quickly!

We started the day off at The Temple of Heaven, where we ate more popsicles and saw not only the main attraction but the three temples and the circular mound.

Right about then is when the camera battery died. It figures that I carried 3 backup batteries for my dSLR for the whole trip and didn't have a single one for the point and shoot.  It also figures that I decided not to carry the dSLR out of laziness. Oops.

We then headed to North Chaoyang to check out 798 and have some lunch. 798 is an art space, the first section of which was built inside a former factory space. Now the complex consists of many buildings housing galleries and restaurants, including a tasty Cantonese venue. We took a few pictures on Kiely's phone, and I'll post them someday when I have them.

The End-- Me: 80, Kiely: 99

We headed back to the hotel for a bit of a break after visiting 798, as Kiely was feeling a bit under the weather. In retrospect, we now think it was just the pollution finally getting to him.  In general, we were a bit tired from so much sightseeing.

The Dinosaur is Inconsolable.

We rested and relaxed. We caved in and played Bust a Move, continuing the mighty battle started in Yongzhou.

Sadly, I lost. We probably would have played more, but the game stopped incrementing Kiely's won matches once he reached 99.

More sadly, we watched England lose to Germany before calling it a night. Even my Bust a Move Dinosaur cried... but that may have been due to my own 19 game loss.

HK&C: Day 10: Beijing: Towers, Temples, Tiananmen

Kiely is the tallest person in this Hutong.

Today we had a decadent sleep in until nearly nine before kicking of another day in Dongcheng to visit the Bell Tower and Drum Tower plus the local Hutongs, which are neighborhoods of narrow alleys. These neighborhoods are less common, as many have been demolished to allow for new construction..

The Bell Tower

The Bell Tower and Drum Tower both functioned as timekeepers, and according to Wikipedia, these towers functioned as the official time piece of China and the Government until 1924, when the last emperor left the Forbidden City.

The Drums of the Drum Tower

Both towers include a steep set of stairs and nice, breezy views of the city.  Neither tower's tourist information indicates how they actually got that 63 ton bell up there, but I'd be keen to know. It remains the largest ancient bell in China.

Part of the Lama Temple

After wrapping up, we decided to visit the Lama Temple, a few kilometers walk away. This former monastery is one of the most popular temples for worship in Beijing. The Temple grounds are large, and there are a number of different temples for different purposes. We picked up the Audio Guide, but found it not particularly helpful, as we didn't listen carefully at the beginning and ended up disoriented. I think we were just suffering from audio guide overdose. The Temple's Garden's were an excellent spot to relax and people watch.

After a quick lunch right near the Lama Temple, we headed back to our hotel as I had a massage scheduled. Woe is me.

Kiely at the Tianning Temple

All stretched out, we headed over to a temple near our hotel called the Tianning Temple, which Kiely had spotted from our window. This 12th century structure is completely solid, and has no stairwells inside. We learned that it is open only two days a month, based on the lunar calendar date. The date we visited was not one of those days.

Then we hopped in another taxi to head to Tiananmen Square.

Kiely's height was key in taking this

En route, we had yet another interesting taxi ride. We've seen a number of near accidents, but today's was by far the worst, in which we nearly struck a cyclist who was playing a bit of frogger across the ten lane highway. Despite being trapped in our lane, our driver did not brake until it was absolutely necessary- I had already worked through my entire catalog of expletives by the time he stopped.

We arrived at Tiananmen Square in time to see the lowering of the flag. This is of interest because of the ceremony, which happens daily at sunset, is timed such that the flag is carried under Tiananmen gate at the same time the sun sets.

Video Art!

There was also an interesting video art installation, but no explanation as to what was for or for how long it would be set up.
The square was full of people, many of whom didn't seem to be tourists, as they lacked cameras and other easy indicators of tourism. It seems many Chinese travel in tour groups exclusively, so perhaps these were locals enjoying the weather... under lots of surveillance.

From Tiannamen, we went in search of the temple or museum we could not find and ultimately hopped in anther taxi to head to Gui Jie's  (Ghost Street's) Hua Jia Yi Yuan for dinner.

Yet another delicious duck on Gui Jie

We found this venue in our guidebook, and we really enjoyed the food, opting for more Beijing Duck, a cabbage dish, and these meat rolls.  Throughout the trip, the dish was referred to as Beijing Duck, but googling around, it is still often referred to as Peking duck. I don't know if it matters which name you use- if you know, please comment and tell me. 

We are a monster truck.

Duck #2

Our next stop was the Donghuamen Night Market. The few kilometers walk was a welcome one, as we were chock full of duck. Kiely's GPS was of great help in getting us from point A to point B.

We even passed St. Joseph's Cathedral (Dong Tang), a beautiful Gothic structure built in 1655. I managed to snap a picture before they turned all the lights off at 23:00.

St. Joseph's at Night

As for the Market, Unfortunately, I misread the guidebook, believing the market closed at 2330 when it actually closed at 2230.

The cab drivers milling around tried to convince us that they had to charge a much higher rate after hours, offering to take us home for 150-200 RMB, but we weren't buying it. (The guide book stated that there's a 20% surcharge after 23:00) A few blocks later, we picked up a taxi home for 18RMB and promptly crashed.