Plane Food Review (continued)

Apologies for not finishing up my review of Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food. I was so excited about Berlin and the Obama speech that I decided it could wait so better late than never.

Some people, perhaps most, find Gordon Ramsay to be obnoxious, arrogant, and downright mean. They view him as just another member of the celebrity chef epidemic that has hit our TV channels, magazine racks, and radio waves in recent years. The whole concept of celebrity chefs is a topic that deserves a blog post of its own so I won't go much more into detail about my feelings on the subject here. All I'll say is that I do believe the Mario Batalis, Alice Waters, Anthony Bourdains, even Gordon Ramsays and Marco Pierre Whites of celebrity chef fame have a place in our gastronomic world. Seriously, where would our (mostly meaning Americans) palates be today without Julia Child or M.F.K. Fisher?

Gordon Ramsay - Plane Food

Now back to Plane Food. When I last left you readers I had missed my flight due to silly non-negotiable rules at Heathrow's T5. I wasn't really in the mood for retail therapy so decided this was the perfect chance to try out Plane Food. I wanted to eat there before but really, who wants to come to the airport an extra hour or so early just to eat at a new restaurant? Plane Food keeps in line with the entire T5 concept. The theme here is to offer passengers a swanky, sophisticated, upscale, and glamorous travel experience. As though you would expect Ingrid Bergman decked out in tailored gloves, matching clutch, a wide-brimmed hat strategically covering one eye and her impeccable locks to turn the corner with her porter carrying exotic crocodile skinned luggage behind her. I would say the architects and decorators delivered on this promise but perhaps not the chefs.

The food is supposed to be typical Ramsay style of traditional British fare at its best but he'll have to explain to me someday how croque madame and salmon ceviche are traditional British. To ensure its success, Ramsay brought in Stuart Gillies from his Boxwood Cafe property to run the kitchen. When the manager informed me of this I should have known what to expect from the food right then and there. I've only been to Boxwood Cafe once, but my opinion of it was good, not great, and definitely not worth the price. Plane Food was no different. I started with a small portion of the English beetroot salad including Fourme d’Ambert cheese, hazelnuts and green beans (£8). If you've ever watched an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, you'll know that this simple crowd-pleaser is something he tends to feature on menus. It was just that, simple and pleasing. I followed this with a small portion of the celeriac risotto with peas, pine nuts and lemon (£8). This was much more impressive than my starter and brought the meal back up to a nearly inspiring point. The celeriac was blended through the sauce along with perfectly cooked chunks mixed into the rice. The English peas were extremely bright and fresh and popped when I bit down. The rice itself also had the perfect texture for risotto, smooth and creamy with just a little bite and pine nuts to add that final crunch. Finally the sprinkling of lemon zest really made this dish bright and fresh. I really lingered over this plate. I almost passed on dessert but finished with the special dessert of the day since I figured it was the least I deserved for my troubles. And it was the special so how could I resist? The macerated strawberries with mint on a meringue with clotted cream (£6) was again another excellent example of great texture in a dish with the soft sweet strawberries on the crunchy meringue. I was worried the clotted cream would be too heavy but the overall combination of flavors and textures blended very well into a dessert that was refreshing, not too sweet, and just enough to be satisfying and not sickening.

I do applaud Ramsay (and Stuart Gillies) for staying true to his belief in fresh high-quality ingredients, although several items definitely were not sourced locally (e.g. San Daniele prosciutto). The food is solid and tasty. As I alluded to previously, the overall experience was pleasing but not impressive especially for the price (particularly since I wasn't expensing this). If you've missed your flight and have some time to kill by treating yourself to a nice meal, then I would give Plane Food a try. For myself, I will likely be sticking to the free food, alcohol, and wifi in the T5 British Airways lounge.

The Damage

1 small bottle sparking water £1.85
1 glass Albarino wine £7.00
beetroot salad £8.00 (small)
celeriac risotto £8.00 (small)
strawberry/meringue dessert £6.00

12.5% service charge £3.86

Total = £34.71

Overall rating:



2.5 (out of 5 tube stops)

Ambience: According to the website, the architects "have crafted aerodynamic lines to conjure up shapes associated with flying". My take was that it's a beautiful, open, and bright space perfect for watching the world (or planes) go by. The decor was a throwback to the art deco style of the 1920's and 1930's where inspiration came from "modern" aviation. This period is also referred to as the golden age of flight (for the western world).

Drinks: I struggled with the wines by the glass list and ended up with an innocuous Spanish Albarino. Like the food, it went well with my meal but wasn't impressive. Sitting across from the bar I could see that they do offer an extensive list of spirits (some I've been challenged to find elsewhere in the UK) along with the somewhat short wine list.

Price range: £££ (out of ££££)

Reservations: They do offer reservations if you provide your flight number and departure time. However, the restaurant was about 20% full when I was there for lunch on a Monday and I would guess their capacity is for 50-75 persons. Also back to my previous comment, I don't know how many people would really take time out to plan and arrive at the airport extra early just to eat here.

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

Like Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Bush senior did before him, Barack Obama addressed the people of Berlin, nay the citizens of Germany and the world at large, in front of one of their beloved monuments yesterday and I was able to be there to watch it live. But wait a second, Obama isn't president yet? Well apparently that was/is the major controversy surrounding Senator Barack Obama's (the gentleman from Illinois) tour of the Middle East and Europe. It's being questioned why a non-head of state should be parading around Europe during his presidential campaign speaking about policies and treaties as though he were already elected. It has been compared to the idea of a German chancellor speaking in front of the Washington Monument.

I wasn't knowledgeable about any of this until about two days ago so I have no clear views on the subject at all. I just happened to be in Berlin for work reasons and after some long reflection, decided I should stay an extra night and watch Obama speak to the crowd of 200,000 people gathered at Siegessäule (Victory Column). I figured I don't get many chances to experience something like this so what the heck. The very site where he gave his speech was extremely controversial though in the days leading up to the event. Obama originally wanted to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gate which has become the symbol for the reunification of Germany, however, only true heads-of-state have spoken on this symbolic site. Obama and his team finally gave in and moved the site to the Siegessäule (Victory Column) which is another treasured monument and is in direct line of sight to the Brandenburg Gate. This gave Obama an opportunity to still have his pictures taken with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.

So all controversy aside it was a really amazing experience that was completely surreal. The speech itself was a bit of the pageant queen variety where Obama broadly spoke about the hot topics of the day such as the suffering in Darfur, the AIDS epidemic, global warming, and so on with no great detail or plans to address them. I did appreciate this portion of his speech:

"Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?"

Although it was no "Ich bin ein Berliner" or "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!".

All in all I was just amazed to think that I was here in Berlin watching a serious contender for President of the United States give a poignant and charismatic speech standing only ~50 feet away from me. As a bonus I also had a short chat with Christiane Amanpour (CNN's emmy award winning chief international correspondent) who is/was covering the Berlin and Paris portions of Obama's trip.

The rest of Berlin was quite beautiful to see as well. I had my very own tour guide (Chief) show me all the major sites. Not only did Chief know the layout of Berlin, he was also very up to date on the political front and explained the whole Obama controversy to me so I was very lucky to have him around. Roaming around Berlin we sat on the grass in front of the Reichstag, winded our way through the Tiergarten, took pictures of the polizei in front of the Schloss Bellevue and were able to check out the nightlife in Kreuzberg (where we discovered a nut bar) and Mitte. These two neighborhoods reminded me very much of the Mission District and The Marina in San Francisco, respectively. On top of that we had some fanstastic food that included Bavarian pretzels, ice cream, and the best Vietnamese food I've had in Europe so far. Chief still owes me a ride on a water taxi down the Spree River though.

T5 and Plane Food

In this post I'm giving you a 2 for 1 review of Heathrow's new Terminal 5 and Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food. Terminal 5 opened up in March 2008 as the new home of the British Airways airline. It was to be the gleaming new terminal with every modern advancement in airport infrastructure imagineable that would take Heathrow's capacity from 60 million passengers per year to 90 million. As you can imagine T5's opening was a complete flop with over 20,000 bags lost in the first week and British Airways delaying the move of it's long haul flights out of the terminal for months. The 20,000+ bags were eventually sent to a company in Milan for sorting and the airline posted a "we're sorry" banner on their homepage. About a month after the opening I had a flight out of T5 and actually found it to be the best airport terminal I've ever been through. Because of the delayed moves the terminal was nearly empty and it has a wide range of dining and shopping options to keep me occupied for hours. It also has, in my opinion, the nicest and most well stocked British Airways lounge in the world that includes an Elemis Day Spa. I then became a huge proponent of T5 dispelling any rumors that there were still challenges with flying out of this terminal. But yesterday T5 failed me.

Owing to a terrible accident on the motorway, I was cutting it close to making my flight to Munich. In general I'm pretty bad about getting to the airport early anyway since I feel my time is being completely wasted just sitting around. Instead of catching the 2:10pm Heathrow Express I made it onto the 2:25pm which would get me to T5 by 2:50pm for a 3:25pm flight. I got to the terminal and ran for my life with every expectation that I would get on that plane since I had 30 minutes to go. I made it all the way to security with carry-on luggage only and boarding pass in hand by 2:53pm and was hopelessly turned away. I went to the British Airways counter fully enraged and ready to make a scene when they kindly informed me that the airport requires all passengers to clear security at T5 35 minutes before their flight departure. This is due to the fact that T5 spans the length of 5 football fields so they want to make sure you have at least 35 minutes to run from one end to the other. The British Airways manager did try to hold the flight for me, however unsuccesfully, and got me on the next flight to Munich which meant I had 2 hours to kill stuck in the airport. Since they made every attempt to get me on the flight and didn't charge me for changing my flight (you never know with these people) I decided to stay calm and not go ape sh*t.

Wtih 2 hours to kill I decided what the heck, I'll go sit down for a nice meal at Gordon Ramsay's latest overt display of arrogance called Plane Food. To be continued...

Wahaca - Restaurant Review

I've been told by several readers that, although I take a ton of pictures and write a lot about what I eat, I need to do some proper restaurant reviews. Also, one of the most common questions I get is how is the food in London because the assumption is that the food in the UK is inedible. Since Yelp has failed me by not going international, I'll have to post my reviews on my blog. Here are the caveats on my reviews: 1) no these are not professional reviews so I'm not going to eat several times to try everything on the menu; 2) I will not go in costume unless I'm drunk or am in costume for some other reason; 3) yes the prices seem sky high if you convert to dollars, so don't; 4) these reviews are based on my tastes and opinions so if you don't agree, tough.

For my debut review I chose Wahaca restaurant near Covent Garden because a fair amount of Americans and most Californians who have relocated to the UK have been unable to find any decent Mexican food.

Wahaca - Mexican Market Eating

Wahaca was opened in 2007 by chef/owner Thomasina Miers. Although I was not here to follow the series, this was a highly anticipated opening since Chef Miers was the 2005 winner of MasterChef. As you've probably guessed, MasterChef is a BBC reality program where amateur chefs compete in weekly tasks to earn the title and take home a prize of working unpaid in a top London restaurant for one year. Chef Miers is a committee member of Slow Food in London and is a huge proponent of local farm to table sourcing so I had high expectations for Wahaca. The restaurant has also been awarded "Best Cheap Place to Eat in the UK" by The Observer Food Monthly Magazine which is a huge nod since dining out in London is decidedly always expensive or fast food.

The concept behind the food at Wahaca is Mexican market eating, the simple yet fresh and diverse food you would supposedly find walking down the streets of Oxaca, Mexico. I can't vouch for it's authenticity since I've never been to Mexico but the food at Wahaca was decidedly fresh, flavorful, and inexpensive. I ordered from the selection of smaller dishes which are served "tapas" style where you choose from a list of soft tacos, quesadillas (Mexican style), tostadas, or taquitos. They also serve soups, entree salads, and larger plates but given a choice I will always go for the variety of a few smaller dishes over one large entree.

I didn't plan my afternoon very well so by the time I reached the restaurant I was starving. I ordered the pork pibil soft tacos (£3.60) and tender, marinated chicken taquitos (£3.75). All orders are accompanied by a side of tomtaillo and tomato salsas and the restaurant's homemade habenero sauce which I didn't have the courage to try. The tacos are served in a trio with each about 1-1/2 in round. They are layered with a soft corn tortilla at the bottom, a dollop of black beans, shredded pork slow cooked in their special Yucatan marinade, and then a sprinkling of pickled red onions. The pork was moist, tender, and flavorful with the right amount of spiciness for my taste and the black beans not only added flavor but kept the pork from sliding off the tortilla. The red onions did add a nice contrasting tanginess but I would have like a little more crunch in this dish. I also added the tomato salsa on top for an added bonus. The taquitos were served in two with marinated chicken wrapped in a corn tortialla and deep fried. They were then topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded Lancashire cheese, and something resembling sour cream that they call crema. Although the dish was good and I really enjoyed the texture, the chicken was a bit bland as I couldn't taste the marinade. I do applaud them for using white meat chicken, even though I prefer dark meat, since this is a cheap eats place.

I was able to finish the taquitos and two of the pork tacos and would have been fully satiated there but who could say no to churros y chocolate (£3.40). They served me three churros piped into tear drop shapes instead of the standard stick with a rich chocolate sauce. The churros were lightly sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, a little too lightly since barely any stuck to them and I would have preferred them to be a bit denser/cakier instead of doughy in the middle. The chocolate sauce more than made up for it though since it really was a rich sauce made from dark chocolate.

All in all the food was great, especially for the price and the flavors satisfied the California-Mexican side of me. The small dishes may be a bit small for some guys with a larger appertite but just come with a group and order a few dishes here and there until you're full. Also, a few points off for naming it Wahaca (the phonetic spelling of Oaxaca) presumably because they didn't trust people to pronounce it properly.

pork pibil soft tacos £3.60
chicken taquitos £3.75
churros y chocolate £3.40
agua fresca £1.25

total = £12 (+£1 for tip which isn't bad in the UK)

Overall rating:

1/2 (out of 5 tube stops)

(I chose tube stops as my rating marker since it was appropriately thematic and also represents the distance/trouble I would go to in order to dine there)

Ambience: The idea is supposed to be Mexican outdoor market so there is a hint of an outdoors brought indoors feeling. The space seems like a converted warehouse (complete with metal rolling doors) painted in vibrant yellows, greens, and turqouise blues. There are simple metal chairs and tables with some long wooden benches for a communal feel.

Drinks: I had the agua fresca which was pretty unmentionable. They do have a good list of beers, margaritas, and other cocktails which I'll have to try next time.

Price range: £ (out of ££££)

Reservations: They don't believe in them. Afterall, you're supposed to feel like you're out in a Mexican market. I tried to go another night with a friend for dinner and it was an hour wait.

Independence Day?

I have come to the conclusion that the British really really don't like Americans. How did I come to this miraculous conclusion? Well why else would the great empire celebrate the day we seceded and gained our independence? From the moment I got up this morning it's been nothing but Happy Independence Day! One of the major morning radio shows in London aired their entire program from the Chicago Rib Shack with guests ranging from the Hoffman (David Hasselhoff) to Jack Black to celebrate "American Independence Day". To top it off the human resources director in my office brought in cakes and biscuits for the entire office. I did do my duty as a true American by surveying the sweets and informing everyone that they were not at all appropriate American treats. Instead of apple pie, ding dongs, and twinkies she brought bananas, apples, cornflakes covered in chocolate.

Happy American Independence Day and don't forget to throw your tea overboard!

Ok, I "borrowed" the rest of this posting but only for the benefit of my readers.

John Cleese’s “Letter to America”

Dear Citizens of America,

In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy), as from Monday next.

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up “aluminium,” and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix “ize” will be replaced by the suffix “ise.”

3. You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’; you may elect to spell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you find you simply can’t cope with correct pronunciation.

4. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up “vocabulary”). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

5. There is no such thing as “US English.” We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of “-ize.”

6. You will relearn your original national anthem, “God Save The Queen”,

but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see above).

7. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. November 2nd will

be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated only in England. It will be called “Come-Uppance Day.”

8. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

9. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of conversion tables… Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.

12. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling “gasoline”) - roughly $8/US per gallon. Get used to it.

13. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call french fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called “crisps.” Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with malt vinegar.

14. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as “beer,” and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as “Lager.” American brands will be referred to as “Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine,” so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors as English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one’s ear removed with a cheese grater.

17. You will cease playing American “football.” There is only one kind of proper football; you call it “soccer”. Those of you brave enough, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American “football”, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a

bunch of Jessies - English slang for “Big Girls Blouse”).

18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the “World Series” for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable and forgiven.

19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due, backdated to 1776.

Thank you for your co-operation.

John Cleese

British Summer

There are several traditions that define the great British summer. Women get all dressed up and don their three foot high hats to attend Royal Ascot, people take up every inch of sidewalk space to sit outside of the pub with a pint or a Pimm's, and everyone breaks out the BBQ to cook outdoors where one minute the sun is beating down and the next rain drops appear out of nowhere. One of the greatest British summer traditions is music festivals and outdoor concerts. Yesterday I was able to partake in this great tradition by attending a Jack Johnson concert in Hyde Park. The venue opened at 2pm and the first act was scheduled for 4pm so we got to the park at 3:30pm to stake out a spot for 6 on the grass. It seemed we arrived just in time to get one of the last decent spots that was blocked by the platform for the sound guy. With the opening acts (Mason Jennings, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Ben Harper) still 30 minutes away we decided that it was a good time to start having a few drinks.

I was really looking forward to this concert because there's nothing like being outdoors in London with a pitcher of Pimm's and some good entertainment. Unfortunately, as is likely in England during the summer, the forecast was for rain that evening so it was hardly Pimm's weather when we arrived. We started with a few beers and about an hour later the heavens parted and the sun came through. It went from brollies and wellies to tank tops and sunglasses in a matter of minutes. This was definitely Pimm's weather now so we ventured off to find ourselves some. Luckily a stand nearby had them flowing freely so we grabbed our pitcher and went back to guard our spot.

Mason Jennings came on first and although I was not previously familiar with his music, the performance was very good. It was fairly mellow with just him and his guitar but it was enough to get the crowd growing. G. Love & Special Sauce came on next, whom I've also never heard of, and didn't enjoy nearly as much. It was a little too punk and irreverent for my taste. Then came Ben Harper who was fantastic. I hadn't checked the lineup so I was surprised he was opening for Jack Johnson as I would have expected him to headline his own show. He played an excellent set with mainly songs from the new album but he did close with Steal My Kisses. Finally Jack Johnson came on but at that point I was already a couple beers and two pitchers of Pimm's in. I even managed to get my way back to the bar for a final pitcher without having enough money but the gentleman was kind enough to give me one anyway. Those who know me well understand that I could have been quite happy and buzzed after the first beer so why I thought I had the ability to absorb this amount of alcohol was lunacy. I do recall Jack Johnson playing some of his popular songs such as Sitting, Waiting, Wishing and Upside Down but as my friends would say, I was three sheets to the wind at this point. Also, in my not so "indoor voice" I kept "whispering" to everyone that I was really drunk. Even to the lovely people around me whom I'd never met before.

I did somehow make it to a very late dinner after the concert with the help of my trusty companions. They even managed to get me all the way home without any episodes. As soon as I got upstairs and into my flat there was no holding back though. I rushed straight to the toilet and unleashed everything that had been in my stomach over the last 8 hours. Not one of my finest moments but life is full of exciting experiences.