Tuesday 17 April 2007

Just To Prove...


Lee Cooks
Originally uploaded by mooosh.
Just to prove it, here I am cooking and rocking! Me and my Anthrax apron rocking out making samosa's!

Tuesday 10 April 2007

Restaurant Review - Ichiban Glasgow

Claire, Jo and I decided to go for something to eat in Ichiban in Dumbarton Road, Glasgow. Being fans of all things Japanese, this was Claire and Jo's wet dream, whereas I am just a big fan of all things food!

We arrived and were given a table towards the rear. The thing I don't like about this place is that you sit at benches and you can be sat next to others, so you don't get the privacy I would rather have when I eat. Once Claire and Jo had stopped talking and decided what to eat our order was taken at the third time of asking!

After we had placed our order another couple had sat down next to us. About 15 minutes later they were tucking into their food. We were still waiting. Then 5 minutes later the waitress comes up and says they have lost our order so we have to order again.

Fair do's the order came pretty quickly after that mix up, but still I'd rather not have to wait that long to get my food. Claire and I had starters. Claire had the gyu-niku maki which is grilled sirloin steak rolls filled with mushroom in sake wine and onion and soy sauce. I had the salmon teriyaki which was a char grilled salmon steak in teriyaki sauce. We were very impressed with both and the sauce on Claire's was beautiful.

For the main course Claire had gyu-don which was grilled sirloin steak and onion, served with boiled white rice, Jo had the katsu bento which was king prawn, chicken breast and scallop, deep fried in Japanese breadcrumbs, while I had Ichiban yakiudon which was noodles served with onion, green pepper, carrots, bean sprouts, spring onion, king prawn, chicken, squid, crab stick, naruto, and shitake mushroom.

We were again all impressed with the main course. It was all cooked well and couldn't be faulted. From a personal point of view I like my fish, but seafood can be a bit hit and miss. But this was nice and well cooked. It might seem like it was a load of things all put in one dish, but it wasn't a car crash of flavours.

Like I said earlier I like my privacy when eating but because we were sat next to somebody else, one of them kept trying to make conversation. Also the length of time it took for our food, nobody loses an order! These 2 things let the evening down a bit. Don't though let that detract from the quality of food, because it was very good.

Something To Try With Roasting Meat

Something I have tried a couple of times, but alas I don't have pictures! I tried this with lamb first of all and something similar with beef the other day.

With the lamb, when I was preparing it, I sliced up some garlic, and had some fresh sprigs of rosemary. Using a sharp knife put random cuts into the skin. In these cuts put in your garlic slices and your rosemary sprigs, and that's it simple as that. Put into a pre-heated oven and roast until cooked. The garlic and the rosemary flavour the meat so well, rosemary especially goes well with lamb.

I did a similar thing with beef the other day. I just used garlic this time and did the same as with the lamb. It was then drizzled in olive oil and put in the oven for an hour and a half before it was removed, covered and left to rest for 20 minutes. I find Beef a bit tough sometimes but the garlic flavoured it and helped it stay nice and juicy.

Give it a go, hopefully you'll like it too