Girl About Greenwich

Greenwich Winter Wonderland

2007-02-08T17:03:27Z

What can I say, the snow has well and truly hit us here in Greenwich. I thought I'd let the photos do the talking.*

* I have omitted the ones of me falling on my arse whilst trying to get up the hill or flying out of the sledge!

Shake It like a Polaroid picture

2007-02-05T22:06:23Z

The jury is out on Shake It, Greenwich’s very own milkshake parlour. D’ya know what, I like milkshakes as much as the next person and have been known to enjoy the odd Yahoo (ah, old school) strawberry flavoured milk drink on occasion. I admit I was excited in the manner of an, well, overexcited person when I heard that Shake It was going to open a couple of years back. But to me, it was all a bit of a let down, on par with seeing Peter Andre live in 1997.

I remember the first (and last, actually) time I went to Shake It. It was on the day of the London Marathon 2005. The 35,000 people who had just trampled past our home had left a complete mess and we wanted to escape (not for the first time) the rankness of Trafalgar Road and enjoy a nice day in the village. Anyway, I’m rambling.

It was packed in Shake It when we arrived and some stuff had sold out. My friend was sad that she couldn’t have a fruit shake. I on the other hand, wanted to sample how they could blend an entire Mars Bar into a shake and ordered this gastronomic treat. Error. It was basically a cup of cold milk with floating flakes of chocolate in it. They were skimping on the ice cream so it wasn’t thick in the style of McDonald’s milkshakes (but aren’t they made with fat tablets?). The giant pieces of nougat that settled in the bottom of my cup were an unexpected treat though.

I have never been back. It’s not like I’m making a stand, I often forget it’s there. I suppose it is amazing how they can blend 100’s of random ingredients into a drink; Smarties, Malteasers, Kinder Buenos, onions etc. But I am still unconvinced. I heard it on the Greenwich grapevine that Shake It is popular with the teens (see, I am still down with the kids).

So, I have a few questions really. Is Shake It nice? Has it got better? Is it viable to have an entire shop selling only milkshakes? Should I still hold grudges for things that happened in 2005? Why is no one commenting on my increasingly random use of Outkast lyrics in my blog titles? Let me know.

Pistachios

2007-02-05T18:24:05Z

I have been putting writing this review off for other a month now, as I thought it would be wise to allow my initial anger at eating at Pistachios. Now, before I start, I would like to assure you that I am not the kind of person to write off a café or restaurant after one bad meal. Perhaps it is my caring palm line (exceptionally strong according to a Blackpool promenade psychic) coming into effect, but I always seem to give places a second or third try before abandoning them completely. Pistachios on Nelson Road in Greenwich is one of the few places to fall foul of my ‘three strikes and then you’re out’ rule.

The first time I ate at Pistachios was last summer. I had not been into this place previously as my housemate had the misfortune of having an exceptionally bad meal here when we first moved to Greenwich in 2004. She was left waiting for over an hour and then was served a chicken baguette with some very pink chicken indeed. She walked out in disgust. Strike one for me as I received a bad review from a fellow seeker of a decent Greenwich meal. Anyway, we decided that enough time had passed and I managed to talk her into going back for something to eat. The day in question I was quite hung over and fancied something carb-heavy and greasy if I remember correctly.

I ordered the chicken baguette, despite it having offended so much before (!) and my friend had a full English. My baguette was pretty substandard; it came with some alright chips and a tiny amount of mayonnaise. The overall effect was very dry and the baguette was so hard the crispy bits on the top practically to cut my gums open. My friend had an okay breakfast, but left the sausage which had a strange flavour and was as hard as a rock. Strike two, not the kind of place you’d recommend.

That leads me to New Years Day 2007. After a brisk walk in the park to blow our groggy heads clear, we walked into the village in search of some much needed food. We had tried the lovely Buenos Aires but it was unfortunately closed, as were most of the decent places in Greenwich. As a testimony that you should never pick somewhere to eat when starving and hungover, both me and my friend (who had two bad meals from there) had a complete lapse in judgement and suggested to our visiting friend that Pistachios ‘was not that bad’. What were we thinking?!

We were seated in the ‘marquee’ section out the back, which is basically the world’s dirtiest tent. It had got even filthier since my last visit and the staff do not seem to understand the concept of heating it, even in January. A quick browse of the uninspiring menu and my friends ordered two breakfasts and I for some reason plumped for the burger. No one took our order for a good 15 minutes anyway, but when our drinks finally showed up about 20 minutes later, the quite clearly hungover waiter proceeded to drop the tray and smash all of the three bottles onto our table. Fair enough, accidents do happen and we’d all been celebrating the night before. However, the waiter mumbled something and walked off, in search of a cloth to clean it up, or so I thought. He wandered back about 5 minutes later to clean it up after quite openly chatting to friends and taking orders from other people.

Drinks disasters aside, our food arrived. They aren’t exactly sticklers for presentation, but the meals looked alright, especially in our hunger. My burger had been cut to pieces in the middle, presumably to check it had cooked. I overlooked this and began to tuck in. After a couple of bites, I thought it was a little soft, but another bite revealed the burger to be completely under cooked. Actually, undercooked is an understatement. It was basically raw, pink, practically still bleeding mince that had been browned on the outside and stuffed into a bun. I feel sick just thinking about it.

After flagging down a different waiter and telling him it wasn’t cooked, he also mumbled something and took my plate. Call me a fool, but I was expecting for him to come back with a replacement burger or at least to re-cook my raw one (bleurgh). We waited around for 20 minutes, by this time both my friends had finished their meals (the sausages were still inedible). The waiter had clearly just dumped the burger in the kitchen and forgot about it, as he was now back serving other tables. Unable to get his attention or to even stomach the thought of eating anything more from this place, we went to pay. I was about to tell the cashier I was not paying for the burger when the waiter who had taken it back skulked up to the counter and told him not to charge for the burger. He didn’t even look at me or offer any type of apology. Shockingly bad service, even by Greenwich standards!

Strike three Pistachios, and you are most certainly out. Avoid this café at all costs, unless you relish the prospect of salmonella.

The Forum @ Greenwich

2007-02-05T17:50:03Z

The Forum on Trafalgar Road is the epitome of a multi purpose building. On first glance, it is quite a bog standard church with heavy 70s architectural undertones. The church part I can’t personally vouch for, but it is separate from the community driven part of The Forum attached to it. It is nice to have a place on the quite frankly grim end of Trafalgar Road that is really working for the community and is endeavouring to put a smile on the faces of those that have the misfortune of living in this area and having to shop at Co-Op (I very much include myself in this group!)

The Forum has a large plethora of events going on at any one time; current listings on the message boards include Tae Kwon Do classes and a very welcoming Weight Watchers meeting. They have some basic rooms that are available for hire for functions and other events, and they work heavily in volunteering and in helping older people in the community.

They also have The Forum Café; which is quite plush and situated in the very modern reception area. The staff are extremely nice and helpful at The Forum, so I would recommend popping in to see what is going on, even if you just stay for a (very reasonably priced) cup of tea.

Visit their website at: www.forumatgreenwich.co.uk.

Maritime, Maritime all the guys would say she’s mighty fine

2007-01-23T14:08:22Z

Ah, the Maritime Museum. One of Greenwich’s busiest and best tourist spots. If you are a resident of Greenwich and you haven’t been to the Maritime, you should be ashamed. Visit immediately! It’s free and a lot of fun. I do think it gets better on repeat visits though, the first time you go might not reveal to you all the gems it has to offer.

I like to visit every couple of months, just to see if anything has changed in my absence (like at Christmas when they wedged a giant plane in the garden). Most of it’s’ exhibitions remain the same to be fair, but a re-visit always leads you to something different. I was in there on New Years Day and ventured into the part of the right side of the building that is an exhibition hall with a glass door entrance. Amongst other things, it is home to a couple of giant scale models of cruise liners. I would urge you to go and have a good look in the windows of the cabins on the ship. Let’s just say there are some very suspicious looking scenes to be viewed, positioned so they are well away from the eye level of any small people visiting! Toga parties, ladies in beds… Who knew cruises were so much fun?

The Maritime is also currently playing host to the Planetarium while the Royal Observatory is renovated. Whilst it is a very small version of the original, it is well worth a visit in the meantime. It’s an extra £4 per person, but is a suitably fascinating and slightly surreal way to spend half an hour. I’m also going to visit the new one when finished to compare.

The shop is good for rooting around and the staff are nice, and very passionate about maritime issues. I went to a short talk about the rivalry between the Cutty Sark and a ship called the Thermopylae lead by a chap named Peter. Being a Greenwich girl, I was of course rooting for the Sark to triumph. However, Peter’s genuine upset when telling us of the day the Thermopylae sank soon made us much more serious. Sitting on the fold out chairs to listen to the talk is very exciting too, it made me feel like a grown up and a total intellectual.

It does get busy on weekends with the yummy mummies, over excited children and tourists galore. If you have kids, I would warn that the third level kids section, full of nautical things to play with and try out is completely swamped at the weekend. You will have to fight off a large number of adults to get a go! If you could ever make a weekday, it is much quieter and is only generally host to the most die hard of tourists.

This actually happened

2007-01-23T13:50:51Z

About six weeks ago, I walked into the village to buy a couple of Christmas presents. After browsing the market I walked back past the Sark and via the river walk towards the Trafalgar. However, by the benches at the start of the walk the water was looking especially choppy and the level was pretty much right up to the rails. Thinking nothing of it, I carried on walking. I could see some water splashing on to the paving ahead and started to think that this wasn’t such a great idea after all.

Next thing I know, a boat was coming past in the distance and chopped the water up. The river then burst on to the pathway with amazing ferocity, making the girls walking ahead of me shriek and jump onto the rails of the Naval College to save getting wet. I wasn’t so quick and about 5 inches of water sloshed onto the pathway, soaking my feet and bottom of my trousers. I had to do a detour through the College via the side gate. Walking by The Yacht, people were exclaiming that they had never seen the water so high.

The thing is my friends don’t believe this happened. This happened! I am pretty sure that I didn’t dream it. Can anyone else confirm that this happened? How about the shrieking girls or the pram wielding mum in front of me who carried on trudging through the water as if nothing happened?! Help!

Curryfest

2007-01-23T13:41:50Z

I love a good curry and Greenwich has a few good ones on offer and there are a few shaky ones too. If you are looking for a nice takeaway or delivery, I would go no further than Star Of Bengal (020 8691 6425). Whereas this is officially based in Deptford, it does deliver promptly to the Greenwich area. It has a staggeringly large menu, offering many good dishes. The balti is good and I would personally recommend their set menus. The set menu for one offers a starter, main course, rice, side dish, naan, poppadom and chutney for just a tenner and the portions are huge (enough for two meals really).

Everyone raves about Mogul at 10 Greenwich Church Street in the village; it’s the one plastered with hundreds of Time Out and Meridian reviews. Saying that, which eatery doesn’t have a Meridian review in Greenwich? I’ve had a takeaway from there once, and to me it was very expensive for quite a small serving of okay, blandish food. Perhaps it is better to eat in, but walking past there on Saturday night it seemed to be full of lots miserable looking couples gazing out of the window! I’d be interested to know if anyone has a better view of the food.

Taste Of India at 23 Greenwich Church Street is a better choice. Although it is quite expensive to eat there of an evening (especially if you like to order the extras like me), they do a cracking buffet on weekday lunchtimes and I think it extends through the afternoon on weekends. It’s only about £5 for all you can eat from a small selection of curries, naans, pakoras and rice. There are some good vegetarian ones on offer too. My only complaint would be the narrowness of the restaurant; it seems to be a case of too many tables, not enough customers. Make sure you do not sit behind the buffet too, all you will be continually shoved by plate wielding curry fans. I would also avoid the soft drinks, as they were flat when we ordered them, probably due to them being poured from a bottle rather than on draught.

A couple to avoid are; the Standard Indian Tandoori at 160 Trafalgar Road. It has now changed its name to Mehak. We had a meal there a couple of years ago and it was very bland, tasteless and just generally awful. Trafalgar Tandori (sic) close to the Arches is also a shocker. I had a takeaway from there when I first moved to Greenwich; my friend had a korma complete with pink chicken and I had the worlds driest biriyani. They are constantly renovating the depressing sit in restaurant, hopefully to make it look less like a dodgy dining room from the 1970's. Of course, I would like to know if anyone has had a decent meal from these places recently!

The High Chapparal

2007-01-22T16:04:49Z

I feel compelled to start the blogging with a post about one of my favourite places to eat in Greenwich. I know that Greenwich has seemingly hundreds of beautiful, fine dining restaurants to eat in, but let’s be honest; it’s not always realistic that they are the kind of places you eat in on a regular basis. Whenever there is an event amongst my circle of friends, be it a birthday, New Years Eve or an ‘I’m moving abroad’ party, we some how always end up at High Chapparal. It has not let us down yet.

The High Chapparal is located at 33 Greenwich Church Street, just on the main corner in the village centre, sort of the last stop before heading off down Creek Road. The first mistake people make when trying to get to High Chapparal for some Mexican goodness is to walk into Desperado’s restaurant instead. No no no! High Chapparal is upstairs in the building, look for the wood effect door and neon lights. Desperado’s is the street level place that chooses to play banging trance music on weekend evenings. I have eaten there once and it was pretty standard fare, a mix of tapas and Mexican dishes. It is no High Chapparal.

It is a small place, but they have majestically managed to cram some extra seating in by building some tables from the roof. It is really bizarre and quite hard to explain, but imagine there are tables on the floor and above them there is a scaffolding type structure with a table and benches with a ladder leading up to it. It’s not dissimilar to a culinary bunk bed. I’ve sat on the scaffolding tables once; it was a very strange experience indeed. I wasn’t too sure about being so high up, but I would definitely recommend trying it once. It is quite funny to watch the staff throwing your food up onto the bench before their head appears, exasperated, up the ladder.

On to the food. This place is known by the nick name ‘Enchiladas’ amongst my friends. This may be because we are rubbish at remembering correct names for things or just stupid, but it could be a hint at the amazing food. The enchiladas are indeed very nice, but my personal favourite is the burrito (done with either chicken, beef or veg). All the meat-in-a-tortilla based dishes come with a generous blob of sour cream, amazing guacamole (even as an avocado hater, I love this), some spicy rice and a very tasty side salad comprising of an array of mixed beans. The chilli con carne is pretty good, as are the tacos. They do these mixed salads that come served in a giant baked tortilla too for the more health conscious.

They also have some more English dishes for the less adventurous, my mum had a huge steak there once when visiting, baked in a really tasty sauce. Starters-wise, I would recommend the nachos, quesadillas (both great for sharing) and the cheese and garlic stuffed mushrooms. Some dishes to possibly avoid are the fajitas, which are chicken, peppers and tortillas served in small dishes; not very exciting compared to the rest of the menu. The potato skins for starters aren't great. A friend has also had some pretty dodgy swordfish in a mustard sauce too. Another warning would be the ‘sizzling’ dishes; the meat and other delicacies that come smoking hot on a hotplate. The first time I went there, the table next to us ordered one of these dishes and they really weren’t kidding when they said sizzling. It gave off so much smoke that everyone surrounding the table was coughing uncontrollably. It was hilarious at the time though and any subsequent times I have seen sizzlers served, this choking effect has not reoccurred! The service of the good is also super quick, often scarily so. They will literally have your meal on the table within no more than 10 minutes maximum. Even on New Years Eve with a full house, we didn’t wait around.

Another great thing about this place is the cocktails. I am yet to find a finer cocktail in Greenwich. Again, I am quite boring and nearly always order the Strawberry Daiquiri, which is amazingly good. It is the perfect mix of lime, rum and fresh strawberries, blended to perfection with plenty of ice. They have a huge cocktail menu that spans two pages and other recommendations from my friends include the Blueberry Daiquiri, Tequila Sunrise, Pina Colada and Hawaiian. Another Enchiladas tradition we have is the ‘fishbowl’ cocktail. These are massive two and a half pint cocktails, crammed into the biggest glass they can manage. They are probably meant for sharing with a whole table, but we have been known to have one each on special occasions. The whole charade of drinking it is ridiculous, but a lot of fun too.

The staff are lovely, even when rushed off their feet and you decide to ask them to teach you to swear in Greek. They also obliged our constant requests to play Shakira on New Years and gave us a round of tequila on the house, which always goes down well in my book. A main course will set you back about £8 to £12, with starters at about £3 to £5. Cocktails are around £5 each, with the two and half pinter coming in at £15 (as I said, special occasions only!). They do have a pretty decent lunchtime menu too, with a smaller main and a starter at about £7. To top off the meal, they also offer amazingly old school Fruit Salad and Blackjack sweets at the end. Make sure you give it a try.

How about, hello!

2007-01-22T15:15:24Z

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am indeed a Girl About Town; the town being the lovely Greenwich. Greenwich is the most underrated of nice London suburbs. It is a much nicer place to live than the over hyped areas like Islington; Greenwich is on the up and is not a complete rip off to live in (yet, anyway).

Yes, there are other blogs about Greenwich, but I hope to tell you more about Greenwich as I see it. Things I have done, seen, eaten and rumour-milled about in the area.. And anything else I decide to rant on about too (and I do love to rant). So, onwards with the blog!