Boiled Egg Boiled Egg

A simple and nutritious classic: perfectly boiled egg, tender and satisfying with a creamy yolk center.

Habit

Habit

Friary Court, City of London,Westminster, United Kingdom

Steak • British • Sandwich • Sandwiches


"Davy's wine bars have been a part of the London scene for more than 30 years. They have a deserved reputation for good wine and well-cooked simple fare. We were disappointed, though, in Habit. The decor is typical of Davy's, having the appearance of what I imagine a city coffee house might have been like. There are plenty of oak and barrels about the place. There are bar and restaurant areas with lots of alcoves and semi private rooms. In times gone by, a Davy's would have been jam packed at 8 o'clock on a Friday evening but there were just four people watching TV in the bar area, a group of six dining in one of the rooms and my wife and me. It is true the Rio Olympics on TV were a counter attraction but ... The menu is basic and brief. We chose crab toast to start. This comprised two slices of barely toasted bread spread with marie rose sauce and piled high with crab meat. The whole thing was topped with a fennel, avocado and chilli concoction which in colour was grey to the point of looking unappetising, and whilst it did not taste unpleasant, the fennel masked the avocado. Our main course was fish and thrice cooked chips. The fish was fine, although the batter could have been crispier and the portion larger. Cooking chips three times is something of a foodie fad that is fast becoming a cliche. The chips were soggy and waxy rather than crispy and fluffy inside. The accompanying mushy peas were well minted and tasty but an unfortunate luminous green in colour. Service was prompt and cheerful seemingly in apology for the lack of ambience. The bill, including a glass of wine each was a reasonable enough £50. I can't help feeling, though, there is better to be had elsewhere for not much more money. I hope Davy's can put some quality into the food and some vibrancy into the atmosphere and that in so doing they would attract more customers and create a venue that would capture some of the popularity of Davy's from the 1980s."

Sushiya

Sushiya

19 Dalry Road, Edinburgh, EH112BQ, EH11 2BQ, United Kingdom

Food • Sushi • Asiatic • Seafood


"Sushiya is nestled between two other much bigger buildings on Dalry Road near Haymarket and if you blink you 'll probably miss it as it 's only around a third of the size of its neighbours. My little sister is somewhat obsessed with all things Japanese, so when she came up to visit last month, she jumped at the chance of eating at an authentic Japanese restaurant. We had Inari and chicken Yakitori for starters (along with a cup of very unremarkable green tea) which were both very nice but perhaps a tad too pricey at what amounted to £3 a mouthful. Fearing the same cost/size ratio from the sushi we opted to order from elsewhere on the menu. I had chicken teriyaki (with a bowl of miso soup) whilst my sister plumped for a bowl of chicken ramen; and by bowl I mean vat that dish was freakin ' huge! Both are fairly staple dishes for a Japanese restaurant and were equally acceptable if not outstanding but what struck me about both (especially when taking into consideration what I said about the size of the starters) is that this place 's portion control is way out of whack the mains were huge and I struggled to finish mine, my sister gave up halfway through. That 's not the worst thing in the world but I can 't help but feel that I would have been happier paying slightly less for a portion I could have comfortably managed. That 's not to sound like I 'm being cheap (besides the non sushi mains a very reasonably priced anyway) it 's just that I 'm begrudged to leave food I 've paid for. As opposed to stole. Obviously. The service was okay and the waitresses were friendly enough but we did wait for around forty five minutes for our main courses to come. As for its facilities, the interior is small but well kept. It just about barely escapes feeling cramped when full but that 's the kind of setting you come to expect from communal eating bars like these. Size then is an obvious limitation for small lunch bars so it proved to be somewhat surprising when customers were continually turned away due to the establishment being full despite the fact that there was an unoccupied reserved table big enough for a party of seven who (I learned from overhearing the waitresses) were already over half an hour late. Surely this isn 't good business sense; I understand that a reservation of seven is certainly better than the prospect of no custom at all but at the same time there needs to be a line drawn where you lose your reservation and it 's your fault. The seven eventually swaggered in with no hint of apology or excuse as to their tardiness. I hated them a little bit. Whinge and moan from me then and it 's certainly not directed at the restaurant itself it 's more because a) I deplore lateness and b) I really want to see little restaurants like this stay open; they 're three a penny in other parts of the world but we genuinely don 't have all too many of them in the UK and it 's poorly behaved customers along with the reluctance to discipline them (i.e. by cancelling their reservation) which threaten their very existence. All in all then, Sushiya proved very acceptable for a Saturday lunch. I 'm not all too sure I 'd go out of my way to go there again, or that the mood would ever strike me to just pop along; but for aficionados of Japanese cuisine, it 's certainly worth a look. The Water Situation: Water served happily and without fuss."