New Entries: Cafe Ikon and Turners

I have just uploaded two reviews.

Café Ikon

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/ikon_en.html



Honestly, I was rather disappointed on this occasion.

Instead, still excellent was this place.

Turners in Harborne, Birmingham.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/turnerschristmas_en.html




I am not sure if I can upload more stuff during the holiday period.


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In Ananda Bhavan the other day, a guy of the restaurant asked me if the group of Chinese people who had visited there were my acquintances.

I asked him if he was sure that they were Chinese and not Japanese. He said he wasn't.

Although I look pretty much like a Chinese, my actual nationality is Japanese and don't speak Chinese (I do read Chinese characters, as all the Japanese and most of the Koreans do). I don't have any Chinese acquintance who knows about my www activities. So, it is improbable that they were Chinese and my acquintances. They could be my Japanese acquintances, but in that case, they did not tell me, so I don't know.

I really don't have a clue who is reading my website, except those 5 or 6 kind souls who dropped me a line either on this blog or to my e-mail address.

Dear readers, you are really mysterious!

New Entry: Jojolapa

Uploaded a review of the lunch I had last week in Jojolapa Nepalese restaraunt.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/jojolapa_en.html



Food was brilliant, especially the Nepalese dumplings called Momo. I would return only to eat momo again.

And I wrote also extended the version of Cafe Ikon review.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/ikon_en.html

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Yesterday I revisited Han Dynasty, one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Birmingham. Very unfortunately they served me a lukewarm dish. It is a clime in East Asia not to serve hot food hot. Otherwise, it tasted good and rice was the best among these I have eaten for a long time in Chinese restaurants.


I wish a very good week for everyone.

Ikon Cafe

Today, I went to Ikon Cafe for the first time. If you do not know, Ikon Cafe is a spanish tapas restaurant in Ikon Gallery in Brindley Place.



I had some business in the area and needed to finish lunch within 50 min. 50 min is a delicate time. It is too long for a quick sandwich break but too short for a proper lunch in a restaurant. I mean, we can finish eating 2 course in 50 min, but we have to leave a large margin of time in case they cannot serve us as promptly as we wish.

For this reason, I ordered a sandwich (bocadillo) from cold tapas menu thinking that it should not take much time to prepare it in the almost deserted restaurant (there were some other people, but they were there for coffee).

I was wrong. It took about 15 min to prepare. It was partly because there was a problem in the kitchen (so I was informed later) and partly because the sandwich wasn't to be served cold but should be warmed up, even though it was on the cold tapas menu.

Although I was slightly annoyed by that, I am most pleased to say it was well worth the wait. It was the most beautiful sandwich I have seen for a long time. My order was Serrano ham and Manchego Cheese sandwich. I was afraid that it was served only with ham and cheese, but actually it contained also salad leaves and sliced tomato. The most remarkable thing was the bread. It was focaccia style bread scented with fresh Rosemary, visibly made from continental flour. I was most happy to have found such a nice bread in Birmingham.



It was also enormous, and when I finish a half, I ran out of time and took away the second half.

The service was not very good (one of the waiters knowingly ignored two customers waiting to be served: it is most annoying) and the place isn't very comfortable (rather cold and not very good chairs), but the sandwich was very nice. It would be nice if I can try tapas dishes sometime.