King For A Day?

King Cod, 193 Bedford Road, Kempston, MK42 8DD

 

Two word review: NO SCRAPS!

Another lunchtime another growling belly (I mean my actually Belly, not my alter ego), so what’s a man to do? KFC? BK? They’re the same everywhere you go so where’s the fun in that?

No dear friends, I will not go to the messiahs of Franchise belly entertainment. I am the common man, I am tasting for you! I’m clogging my ...

arteries so you don’t have to (what a champ eh?).

The first chill of the year is upon us, a chill that can only be melted away with the warm deep fried promises of a large sausage in batter & chips (I’m sure other things would do just as well like a healthy soup or a nice hot cup of tea but as I said before “I am the common man, I am tasting for you!”).

So… King Cod (or as I call it “Posh Chippy”) is the newest chippy to open up in Kempston. I think it’s been around since the spring. When you enter the place you’ll see what I mean by “Posh Chippy”, the decor is very modern, exposed red brick wall on one side, gleaming stainless steel counters and serving area, olde pictures of Kempston's past on the walls (for sale too!) and a specials board which today listed (among other things): Pork & Chili Sausages… what kind of chippy does that?

A POSH ONE!

So, we have posh chip shop decor, posh sausages and blood posh prices! Large Cod £4.65… that’s just the fish man! I’d expect a large cod plus a snog behind the bike sheds for that sort of cash!

Anyway… down to the food.

Large sausage in batter & large chips (no ‘king scraps *grumble grumble*)
The portion was pretty big and I’m ashamed to admit that it did beat me. I’d say I have eyes larger than my belly but I have quite squinty piggy eyes (which ironically match my porky piggy belly) so that would be quite frankly, balls…

The chips themselves were a pretty mixed bag (no pun intended) some were over crispy, some were soggy and others were undercooked to the point of almost being raw in the middle. They were all kind of greasy too. I think it all depends on the cook. I went back one lunch time recently and had some amazing chips, they were crispy on eth outside and fluffy on the inside, perfectly cook. I went back a couple of weeks later at the same time, different cook, shite chips.

 My initial impression of the sausage in batter was good; I was impressed that even after a 10 minute car ride home the batter had remained very crispy, not a single piece of it was soggy at all. Sadly the look & touch of the batter was the best part, biting in to the batter I could feel it crumble away (not in a good way, in a kind of stamped on Crunchie bar was but without the awesome taste) then I felt your mouth was awash with grease, swimming heavily around the inside of my chops. That’s when I hit the sausage, firm and meaty but with that odd Walls sausage roll after taste. A Horrible fatty just off meat taste…. Blurgh.

 

As a customer you expect some sort of standard from the places you frequent such as flavour. There just doesn't seem to be any consistency in chip shops and the like. Yes, I know they're just chip shops but if one guy/gal can perfect their product to a set standard why is this information not passed on to the other cooks?

 I’m not sure what’s happened in the Fish N’ Chip world this last decade or so but there seems to be an increase in shite chip shops. Those that were once grand are falling in to their fishy knees while the new blood fails to rise above their spuddy ankles all of them resting their battered heads in a greasy puddle of muck. 

To Lee's Or Not To Lee's?

Lee’s, 131 Castle Road, Bedford, Beds, MK40 3RF 

What is there to say about Lee’s Chinese? Well, for starters it’s one of the oldest Chinese takeaways in Bedford, I’ve visited this place since I was a small child and… it is now a shadow of its former self.

Back in the day the joint was run by (you’ll never guess) Mr & Mrs Lee (funny that) and it was great, the food was great the service was friendly. No complaints could be made. However, a few years back Mr & Mrs Lee sold up but (from what I hear) they sold up on the condition that the new owners stuck to Mr Lee’s original recipes, and they did until recently.

Gone is the MASSIVE pancake roll which has now been replaced with the odd tasting 2 x smaller pancake rolls.

Gone are the juicy sweet & sour chicken balls, now replaced with overcooked batter while the chicken seems a little bit slimy.

Gone is the sweet & sour sauce which seems to have been replaced with sweet & sour jelly (honestly, when this stuff gets cold you could turn the cup it’s served in upside down and you’d have yourself a little wobbly sweet & sour tower, I think the police could use this stuff to catch fleeing criminals or it could replace stingers as this gloop will stop a car solid in its tracks!).

The first time I noticed things had changed was a few months back and I avoided the place for a while but I do like to give places a fair shot so I went back last night to try it again just in case my previous impressions were just being tainted by the memories of the past.... they're weren't, the place really has turned to shit!

First off, I love pancake rolls and I really used to enjoy the Lee’s MASSIVE (this thing was HUGE with a capital HU, you could have battered King Kong to death with one of those bad boys and even if it broke in two you'd still have enough left to take down Godzilla.... and Godzookie!) pancake roll filled with shrimp, beef, pork, beansprouts etc. Now the new smaller pancake rolls are filled with pretty much the same stuff but the crispy coating is now a soggy mess, the pork smells & tastes a little bit funny, the bean sprouts are no longer crunchy and the beef seems to have buggered off back to the fields (lucky escape for the beef I say, if you're gonna die to feed someone you at least want to end up somewhere you'll be appreciated).

The sweet & sour chicken balls as I mention before have seriously dropped in quality and every time I took a bite I could feel a soft sliminess which then puts the thought of the chicken not being cooked properly in to your head so every bite comes with a dirty thought and each dirty thought puts you more & more off what you’re eating (never a good sign when it comes to food).

The only thing I didn’t really have an issue with was the mushroom rice, the mushrooms were perfect and the rice was pretty good (although still a decline in quality from what came before).

Sadly Lee’s is Lee’s in name only these days and it’s a name that has now been sullied by the ever declining quality in its product…

Perhaps I’m living in the past but if this is the future of Lee’s then all I want to know is where’s the Delorian? I wanna go back!

Spaghetti Western: You're Not Fooling Anyone Gringo

Spaghetti Johns, 15 Castle Lane, Bedford, MK40 3NT

Well it has been a full weekend hasn’t it! Chip shop Friday, Chicken Shop Saturday and now Italian on a Sunday.

 Spaghetti Johns is located in Castle Lane which is a reasonably new development in Bedford Town Centre, just behind the Swan Hotel and next to the old Castle Mound, the problem is that the building that Spaghetti John and its neighbours... occupy had been left empty for quite a long time since building finished that I really don’t think a lot of people know it’s there.
I know a couple of people who have already been and have heard mixed reviews on the place so I thought I’d better check it out myself being both “The Belly” and also a lover of Italian food.

The building and area which surrounds are pretty much brand new, what used to be a grotty old car park is now a street of boutiques, bars, restaurants & apartments. I’ve got to hand it to the developers as this is a vast improvement on what was here and makes great use of the area.

Walking ion to the restraint I notice that there is a large Italian family eating here (always a good sign for an Italian restraint), also the place is run by genuine Italians, the problem was that apart from the family were the only other people in the place (which goes back to me thinking not many people know about this area yet). Sadly, as my wife and I sat down the family left leaving us the only two customers in the rather large area (always a bit daunting).

We were soon seen to by a waitress who brought over our menus and took our drinks order. Looking through the menu there was a good choice of dishes but not too many which I personally like. There were the traditional dishes you expect to see plus some others that you wouldn’t such as the Al Cinghiale (Wild Boar Ragu), Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls) and the Di Bacala, Rucola e Zucchini (Cod raviolo, rocket and zucchini with celeriac puree, radicci and provolone cheese).

There was the option of Lasagne on the menu with a notice underneath to ask the waiting staff about today’s lasagne. When we did ask we were told by the waitress that she “thought” it was just normal… and that was that. I’d expect her to know to be honest since she is serving the customers but even if she was unsure I still would have expected a “I’m not sure, let me ask the chef and I’ll come back to you”.

After my parents joined us we all placed our orders:

Starters
Me: Arancini Repieno (Deep Fried Rice balls)

Pa Belly: Tris di Bruschette (Traditional bruschette Tomato and basil, beans,tuna and onion and buffala mozzarella with pesto)

When asked which of the toppings he would like, Pa Belly ordered the Buffalo Mozzarella but did question the waitress as he had ordered it the last time he’d been there and recalled that each bruschetta had a different topping. Later the waitress came back to say that he was right…. Again, I would have expected the waiting staff to know what the dishes were.

Mrs Belly & Ma Belly: Cesto Di Pane Misto (A basket with fresh backed mixed Italian style bread, butter, extra virgin olive oil and homemade tomato and chilli jam).

The rice balls were excellent, they came served with a small side salad and a sun dried tomato dip that was also excellent. The bread basket my wife & ma ordered was quite big so all four of us had to help out on that but again the bread was very good and the chilli jam was quite unique, a bit like strawberry jam with sweet chilli sauce. I can’t comment on the bruschetta but Pa Belly seemed to enjoy it!

For our main courses:

Mrs Belly ordered the Tagliatelle con Ricotta e Noci (Tagliatelle with ricotta and walnuts) and really enjoyed it.

Myself, Ma Belly & Pa Belly all ordered the Al Cinghiale (Wild boar and meat ragu in a traditional tomato sauce) but after we started eating it we kind of wish we hadn’t. The actual boar meat ragu & tomato sauce were delicious, really rich in flavour but the pasta was fresh, thick and chewy which although it didn’t ruin the meal completely it was a bit of a let-down. We did mention this to the waitress who again went off and never returned, it wasn’t until we’d finished eating that the owner came to take our plates and to discuss the pasta. We were told that because the pasta was fresh & thick that it would never go soft from boiling and that it was “Al Dente”. I hate to disagree with an Italian about pasta but when I’ve made my own pasta it has always cooked soft, if the pasta was supposed to be Al-Dente then it should have stated it on the menu. It was undercooked, end of… I just wish he’d have said “sorry about that but thank you for bringing it to my attention”. It’s not like I want anything free out of it but if something’s not as it should be then I feel you need to let these places know.

Since Mrs Belly has a bit of a sweet tooth we obviously stayed for dessert and since Spaghetti Johns boats about being a Gelateria then we just had to have the ice cream.

What can I say about the ice cream? Hmmmm, it was simply amazing! There were 12 or 14 flavours to choose from and it is all made fresh on eth premises by the owner. My god does he have a talent there! I’ve been to Italy twice before and this really does match up to the ice cream I had over there, it’s a bloody art in my opinion. I got myself three scoops to try: Cherry, Pistachio and Ferrero Rocher. Seriously, they were all delicious, the cherry ice cream had whole glacier cherries mixed in to it, the same goes for the pistachio with full nuts mixed in and the Ferrero Rocher had massive chunks of the Ambassadors favourite party food throughout.

That’s the food out of the way, there are a couple of other niggles I have about the place. Firstly when you enter the restaurant the first think you’ll notice is just how damn bright the place is, since the inside of the building is very minimal, white & stark the bright lights basically kill any atmosphere that may have been there. If they dimmed the lights a little the whole place would feel warmer & more inviting. The other issue I had was that there seemed to be a lot of people working there but very little custom, there were four people working in the kitchen, three waiting staff + the owner. Then there were some other people who were either working there or just friends of the staff. The problem in a situation like that is that people are just hovering about, I could see that everyone was basically watching us eat. I can’t stand that, I don’t want people staring at me while I eat thank you very much! It’s like they’re desperate for something to do, at one point it appeared that we had finished (we hadn’t we were just paused & chatting) and I could see the waitress heading towards the table out of the corner of my eye so I picked up my fork just before she reached us and I saw her spin on her heels 90 degrees and head off the other way (heh).

I know I’m being a bit down on the place but I honestly think a lot of the problems are down to the place being new . I’ll go back and give the place a fair chance again maybe sometime later next year to see how things have improved but my first visit wasn’t exactly the experience I was expecting or wanted.

Bedford Belly On Tour: Luton AFC

AFC, 47/53 Bute Street. LU1 2EP

Another weekend, another take-away! Kind of…

I’ve ventured out of Bedford and headed to the bright lights of Luton Town as there’s a gig on at the George II pub. Before the drinks start flowing however I need to fill my belly so my friend and I wandered down the road to AFC.

AFC is obviously not in a grand location, it’s just out the back of the Arndale centre (you may call it “The Mall” now… because renaming it will make it less skanky apparently), across the road from what used to be buildings but is now a waste land car park within the grounds of modern ruins.

When you see the outside of the shop it’s not exactly welcoming, you step in side and it’s not eth most pleasant of places. It could do with a good clean in the dining area the beige hue that seems to be draped over the area may just be down to the age of the fittings.

The guy that served us was for want of a better word, indifferent. He really didn’t seem like he gave a shit whether we would actually order something or not and when we did he still didn’t seem that pleased about it. This might just be a one off as I’ve eaten here a few times before and they staff have normally been quite pleasant. What I did find a bit odd was the random people behind the counter that grabbed food and then popped off out of the shop. Perhaps they were staff going home of delivery staff but they weren't wearing the slinky purple t-shirts the other guys were wearing so in all honesty they could have been anyone… if fact I’m now wondering if I couldn’t have just done the same?

Anyway, we both have 2 pieces of chicken and chips (fries), they ask if it’s eat in or take away (we’re eating in). The food comes and it’s served on a plate, I am in favour of this as takeaways are almost always served in cardboard or polystyrene boxes even if you’re eating in. These items should on be used for walk out or delivery orders since they are disposed of almost immediately and are a massive ecological nightmare.

The chicken comes and I’m disappointed to see two pieces of dark meat. I am by no means a chicken snob who poo poo’s the dark meat & only eats the white meat, I love the dark meat but it’s like the pudding part of the chicken to me. Breast is the mains, dark the afters… The breast should be chicken piece number 1. If you order one piece you get the breast, two pieces should be breast & leg, 3 pieces should be breast, leg, thigh etc.

Putting my disappointment over the lack of breast (stop it!) to one side I notice that the southern fried coating is a bit patchy however the coating is crispy and is holding on to the chicken (In the past I’ve mentioned the floppy batter issue most chips shops seem to have, well this is also noticeable with southern fried coating on chicken at quite a few places too). The chicken meat is very juicy and tasty but a little bit pink in the middle.

The fries are next (which I have smothered in the very tasty Chilli sauce), Remember when Burger King introduced its “Stealth Fries” a few years back? Well, compared to these BK’s fries are frickin' rubbish. What you get at AFC can only be described as the perfect French fry! They’re long, they’re straight and they’re bloody crispy on the outside yet REALLY fluffy on the inside. The vinegar & chilli sauce have not at all affected the structural integrity of the tasty little monster either yet they’re not at all greasy.

For those of you that think magic isn’t real are wrong, it IS real and you can see it, touch it, taste it in the AFC French fries!

There’s a lot more on offer at AFC including kebabs, pizza and curries. Now this is what I don’t like about modern take-away establishments. I feel that a place called AFC (where the “C” stands for chicken) should only sell chicken and side orders. I’ve not eaten anything but chicken from this place myself but one online review I found said this:

  "My korma was vile like chicken in sugared cream the Jalfrezi was also awful the rice was not nice curry so horrible I couldn’t eat it nor could my daughter was an hour late and all cold."

Perhaps I should cut this bit out as I’ve never experienced it for myself but it wouldn’t surprise me. I’m of the opinion that places need to stick to one area, if they did I feel that the quality of said items would improve. I would never order a curry form a fried chicken shop myself because I’d rather go to a curry house where I know that the curry will be made as it should be. In some respect I feel the person who wrote that review kind of had it coming to them.

Enough of that though let me get round to the last item here, at the start of this review I mentioned the inside of the establishment, what I failed to mention was that they have (and this is brilliant) a sink in the dining area!

A SINK, FRICKIN’ GENIUS!!! Napkins just don’t do the job on greasy chicken fingers but a nice hand wash will do very nicely. It’s ugly and a bit odd to see it there but it works. There’s also a hand dryer for after (isn’t that good).

So, to sum it all up. Fries’ = like the God’s themselves have lovingly crafted them , chicken = juicy but a bit pink (something I’m a bit wary of), service & premises = mixed.

I’d give it a 7 out of 10 based on the chicken & chips (French Fries) but will knock it down to 5.5-6 since the inside of the shop isn’t exactly pleasant. I’ve yet to try anything else on the menu so if anyone else here has tried other items on the AFC menu or ordered in then I encourage you to speak up and post your experiences below.

A Chip Off The Old Block?

Fish and Chip Shop, 91 Mile Road, Bedford, Bedfordshire,MK42 9UD

 It was a time for heroes, a time for champions, a time for….. LUNCH!

Ok, perhaps I’m going a bit far with the hero bit but it did take a heroic effort to even consider lifting my fat ass out of my comfy office chair and brave the cold weather just to get some chips.

Chips??? Again??? Next you’ll be telling us about some Italian joint (funnily enough I probably will be, honestly I’m not some potato/pasta hound but it’s just the way things have fallen of late).

What can I say about the very creatively titled “Fish and Chip Shop” ? (Formally “Cools” or it could have been “Coors”, they had that funny joined up writing font so it was always a little hard to make out, I’m not saying I find cursive writing difficult to read just the particular font that was used on the…. Oh, who am I kidding. If it ain’t block capitals I’m lost!) Well I could say that they produce the best batter in the world… but they don’t. I could even say that their sausages in batter are the finest in all the land… but they’re not.

We can play this game forever so let’s get around to the facts.

Facts

1) The chips are pretty good, outside is solid with nice crispy bits inside however can be a little dry but that can be sorted with an (un?)healthy dose of vinegar!

2) Batter, not too shabby but not great either. There is a crispness to it but it only seems to retain its crispness on the smaller “sticky out” bits. The rest of the batter, while never loose & flappy is in fact a bit “damp”. The flavour is pretty good but again not good enough at the same time.

3) The Sausage meat is a bit odd too. It’s better than the fluorescent pink sausage meat they were using a couple of years back but when you’re eating it you get a weird smell waft up your nose from time to time and there’s this odd after taste too, not repulsive or anything just a bit odd.

4) Portions are pretty big, a large bag of chips would most likely feed yourself + partner and maybe a small child. I obviously couldn’t test this theory out as I have no small child of my own and mothers these days get a bit “screamy” when you try and drag one in off the street. Since I am The Bedford Belly I managed to finish all but one chip (yay me, you can catch me at my funeral this time next year…)

The premises is pretty clean on first look but if you do take a closer look you’ll see the air vents in the walls to the front of the shop could do with a bloody good scrub and the place could do with a lick of paint. The serving area however is pretty much spotless so I’m not at all saying the place is unsanitary just a bit worn.

The guy behind the counter is really friendly and is always happy enough which is something I like when I’m being served food. I don’t care if you think I’m scum, I don’t care if you’re having a bad day when you take my order I want to see smiles! He smiled…

So, there you have it. I think I need to devise some sort of rating system for each of these places, maybe deep fat friars instead of stars. If that’s the case then I’ll give this place 6 DFF’s out of 10 with a playful ruffle of its hair and a “could do better” mark in its report book to take home to its mum.

Fish N' Chips and a Bag of Memories

Andy’s Chippy, 78 Queens Drive, Bedford MK41 9BS

What is it they say? “While the wife’s away the husband will play” and play I did, all the way down memory lane to Andy’s Chippy in Goldington.

Since moving back to Bedford I’ve tried to find a decent chippy that served decent bloody Fish & Chips, sometimes they’ve been good, sometimes they’ve bee ok and other times they’ve been damn disgusting.

Most fish you get these days is served in a soggy batter reluctantly clinging on to some kind of white fish or another but always sold as Cod (declining Cod numbers mean that a lot of the times you’re served Pollok or Colley as a substitute), I don’t think anyone would really mind that much if the chippies were upfront about it rather than just pretending it something it quite clearly isn’t.

I’ve been to Andy’s Chippy a couple of times since returning to Bedford and while the fish has always been top notch the chips were getting bigger & bigger to the point where they may have well just been handing out full sized spuds. It’s also a bit of a trek as I live near Elstow and Goldington is the complete other side of Bedford. Anyway, tonight I went back and I’m very glad I did!

Pulling in to the car park a lot of old memories came flooding back, this was THE chippy of my childhood, this was part of my old stomping ground. Getting out of the car the familiar smell engraved in the air greeted me, filling my nostrils with the past and brining a little smile to my face.

Stepping inside I could see that the place had been revamped but it still looked very similar to how it did all those years ago. Luckily it wasn’t too busy this evening and my order was taken pretty quickly and I was out the door with my dinner less than a minute later (don’t read that as “the norm” as a most of the time there is a queue running out of the door and around the corner).

So tonight I treated myself to small chips, medium cod and…. A BLOODY BAG OF SCRAPS!!!!! Scraps… scraps… These were always a staple of my childhood, whenever I went to Andy’s with my mates I’d always have a bag of chips with scraps, soaked in so much vinegar it was leak out of the bottom of the bag leaving a sweet acidic trail back to Andy’s, a bit like Hansel & Gretel but less witches & child abuse.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a bag of scraps (for those not in the “know” scraps are little bits of batter from the fryer, sometimes known as batter bits). When I lived in Luton I couldn’t find a chippy anywhere that did them, one chippy I used to frequent always gave me funny looks when I asked for them. Every time I went there I would ask if he had any scraps and every time I’d get the funny look and a “no, sorry mate”. One day however he relented and said YES… there was a little party inside my belly, my tongue did a little victory dance and I went home a happy boy. When I finally got home I opened the bag with feelings of anticipation, that soon vanished when the paper went back and I saw he had quite litterely given me a bag of scraps! Old manky green chips, potato peelings, bits of dirty dropped fish and fluff. It was a sad day that day.

So, scraps. Proper scraps, proper Andy’s Chippy scraps… a joy to behold but even better to eat. I really can’t say enough good things about them and suggest that you just get down there and try them for yourself. The chip[s have (thankfully) come down in size and are good, back to how they used to be. Not too greasy, not floppy and fluffy on the inside with a unique taste that I have yet to find in another chippy anywhere. The fish was pretty good too, not the usual standard but it had one thing going for it that most other chippie’s don’t… the batter stayed crispy! That’s right, even after a good soaking of vinegar the batter kept its crunch and not only that but it closely hugged the fish like it was its best friend rather than hanging off of it like it was some wet paper bag on stick. The fish itself was moist and didn’t crumble on the plate (which has been the majority of my experiences of late), it stayed in segments and had a proper “fish form a chippy” taste (again a rarity).

The other bonus was the price. Quite a few chippies these days are really charging over the odds but I think the prices here were very reasonable. There is also a lot of chip shop staples on the menu including the now classic “Battered Mars Bar” (something I’ll be having on my next visit).

As I’ve already mentioned this place was a big part of my childhood and going back again has made me realise that you don’t always have to go forward to find enjoyment, sometimes the best things are what we’ve left behind and it doesn’t hurt to go back and pick them up again every once in a while.

Her name is Rio(Bella) and she dances on the sand.

RioBella, 6 St. Mary's Street, Bedford, MK42 0AS

 

To be frank I find it a little hard to be objective with Riobella, I’ve eaten at quite a few Italian restaurants in Bedford and for Italian food this place is my absolute favourite (which is surprising as it’s owned and run by Peruvians)!

Now I’ve got that out the way I need to stress that Riobella is in no way perfect, I do love their food and I ...do have a lot of praise for the staff in general including the owner who always (and I must stress ALWAYS) makes you feel welcome. There are only two things that let Riobella down in my opinion and they are parking and premises.

1) Parking – There is small car park between The Park Inn Hotel and Riobella that contains about a dozen spaces the problem is that the car park itself is quite small & tight.

2) Premises – The actual premises isn’t awful, it’s just a bit small and when the restaurant is full you really feel closed in. The background chatter can become almost unbearable and you will struggle to hear someone sat directly opposite you at a small 4 seater table. The room will also get very hot VERY quickly but that as soon as the front door opens you will be hit by a freezing breeze chilling you to the bone. It does go from one extreme to the other.

And that’s it. That’s the worst of it, the food as I’ve mentioned is fantastic. Most of the time I tend to be a creature of habit and order the same thing each time I visit. Garlic Mushrooms with Cheese and the spicy peperoni Calzone. Both are great dishes, the tomato sauce with eth mushrooms is rich and zesty. Since it is served in a red hot clay dish  the cheese melts, swirling in to the sauce, becoming nice and stringy as the dish cools.

 

The calzone is plump with a beautiful crisp dough, a delicious thick cut pepperoni sausage, vegetables and chilli which pour from the crust when you cut in to it. 

 

I really do have to try hard to be objective about this place as I have been told by a couple of friends that they have had a couple of bad meals there but speaking from my experiences I’ve never had a duff meal.

A few months ago they changed the menu slightly but I think this has actually been an improvement on the previous menu.

A minor niggle might be that it can be a little pricey and service time can lapse slightly when the place is really full but most of the time food is served in a prompt manner and all of the waiting staff are exceptionally friendly.

If you fancy a visit make sure you book in advance as it can be quite difficult to get a seat if you just come in off the street.

Andreas: The King Is Dead

Andreas, 34 The Broadway, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 2TH

10 years ago Andreas was a place of greasy dreams, a safe haven for those without cooking skills, a pleasure dome for those too lazy to step out the front door and a mecca for those wandering drunkards staggering hungrily through the streets of Bedford in the wee hours of the morning. Andreas was for many your first pet, that happy little ...puppy that filled you with joy on so many memorable (at least until the morning after) nights out.

Well, those times are well and truly behind us now, this is 2011 and Andreas is sadly the old dog long since lost its vigour waiting to be taken out to the barn and shot through the face putting it out of its (an our) misery!

Let’s start with the good before we depress ourselves with the facts of what has become of this once idolized eating hole.

Opening times:

The best thing these days to say about Andreas is that it is open until the early hours of the morning so when you get home from that boozy night out and either can’t be bothered to zap something in the microwave or make toast then they’re just a slurring phone call away!

Sun-Weds: 12pm – 2am
Thurs – Sat: 12pm – 4am

Delivery:

Now this is one are you can’t fault them on, these guys are FAST! They may tell you it’s a 45minute wait but 9 times out of 10 they’ll be knocking at your door in 15-20 minutes

Food (the good):

Kebabs

Now one thing this place does get right is its kebabs (and rightly so considering they trade under a Greek name!). All of their kebabs are damn tasty and the chilli sauce is all about flavour rather than heat. The stand out for me though is the Mixed Kebab:

Pieces of Pork Char-grilled with Loukanika sausage, Sheftalia Meat ball slices and  meat (note: Since writing this piece the UK has gone through a Horse meat scandal. Now this is just an observation and I'm not saying that this product was made from or contaminated with horse meat but the Sheftalia Meat ball slices did seem to vanish from the mixed kebab after those events).

I honestly cannot praise this bad boy enough, the only down side is that there just isn’t enough of it for a drunken chubby like myself. The salad that you get with it is also damn good and fresh and plentyful!

Now for me that’s where the good ends although I do know that a lot of people that really praise their Potato wedges, I’m in the minority here since although I’m aware that they do taste pretty good and are fluffy enough on the inside (but not always) they're always soft, wet & soggy on the outside whereas I expect a potato wedge to be crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Like I say though I'm in the minority, all of my friends (including my wife) think that the potato wedge is the star of the menu and that I am wrong for saying otherwise.... obviously, they're all wrong

THE BAD

Well, this is the sad part as THE BAD is just about everything else on the menu. The top offender though has to be their pizzas.

1 – The dough is too thick, greasy & stodgy.

2 – WHERE THE HELL IS THE TOMATO SAUCE???? I always thought that pizzas came with a tomato sauce, perhaps I imagined this. Perhaps those pizzas I had in Italy were "special" pizzas??? I do recall that I would never order a large pizza from Andrea's because of this exact problem however, it was never the case with the small pizzas, they always came with plenty.... not anymore.
(This leaves the pizza dry and again… stodgy)

3- The cheese! I don’t want cheddar mix on my pizza I want mozzarella, if I wanted cheddar I’d have cheese on toast not order a pizza!

The best bit of the pizzas are the toppings to be honest and I have never had a problem with the toppings but they do not make up for the rest of the product.

Chicken: The actual fried chicken itself is ok the real issue here is the southern fried coating! Again, it’s tasty enough but soggy and limp whereas it should be crispy and still attached to the chicken.

To be fair, these problems aren’t local to Andreas and seem to be the norm for most take-away places in and around Bedford but that’s not to say that it is acceptable. In fact, it is far from acceptable in my books and these places should be told. The last time I ordered a pizza from this place I called them to tell them that the pizza was awful, they did offer to send me out another one but as I told the lady at the time “I’ve already got one of your nasty pizzas here why in god’s name would I want you to send out another one? I’m wanted to treat myself not punish myself!”

This is what needs to be done, if you order food and it’s crap then phone back and tell them it's crap.
These places are producing crap because you allow them to get away with it by not saying anything and buying more of it…. Stop it, stop it right now!

Andrea’s… you were a shining light in the blurry eyed darkness, now you are just another dim star in fading milky way.

The King is dead....

Sharnbrook Eruption

Vesuvio Restaurant & Bar, The Sharnbrook Hotel, Park Lane, Sharnbrook MK44 1LX

Myself and 9 friends had the pleasure of dining out at Vesuvio in Sharnbrook. To start we had a few drinks at the bar and were served by friendly and helpful staff, not only that but we didn't have to wait and were served swiftly. we had a 19:30 table booking for the restaurant but a couple of our friends ...were running late so we informed the staff who again were extremely helpful and told us that it wouldn't be a problem at all, our table was ready and waiting for us whenever we were ready to be seated.

Eventually our friends arrived and we took our seats, the waiting staff gave us enough time to look through the menu and make our choices, ordering was simple enough and the food came to the table quite quickly.

 Starter

Special Garlic Mushrooms oven baked mushrooms with mozzarella, tomatoes &
garlic

Main course:

Calzone Massimo Tomato, Mozzarella, Egg, Ham, Mushrooms
& Pepperoni Sausage (requested NO EGG!)

Dessert

Pistachio Ice Cream

The Garlic Mushrooms were fantastic! The cheese and sauce were rich and tangy but did not overpower or take away from the garlic (which I have found to be the case in other places),

 

The Calzone was also very good and bursting with flavour but, although I could taste everything inside the calzone I felt the dough was a little on the soft side. That's not to say the calzone was bad, it really wasn't just that I prefer my calzone dough to have a little more crunch.

The service was something you couldn't fault, it was fast and friendly plus there was none of that intrusive and very irritating "is everything ok with your meal?" nonsense just when you've just taken your first bit and have a mouth full of food!

My wife and one of the other diners both ordered the Risotto Piccante which came with chilli's, my wife's not a massive fan of hot/spicy food and asked if hers could come mild and they had no problem at all in accommodating her request.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was also very pleasant and it was nice to see that there is still a place that people make the effort to dress up a little to dine in. The only real issue in my opinion is the lack of soft furnishings, the whole dining area is very hard. Tiled floors, wooden chairs etc, there is nothing to absorb and  deaden the sound of  background "chatter". I could hear most of the table perfectly well but those on the other side to where I was sitting did seem to get drowned out by the background noise from fellow dinners that just kept slipping through.

As with everything, nothing puts s mile on some ones face more than a discount and thankfully we were lucky enough to be dining with friends who had in their possesion a 25% discount card. SWEET! Obviously our bill was greatly reduced (in fact it cost myself & my wife under £40 for 5 courses between us + 2/3 of a bottle of wine) but even at regular prices so the food is not at all expensive.

If you want a good food, good atmosphere, terrific service and great value then you really do need to pay Vesuvio a visit!