Part of my work is as a performance bartender, serving cocktails and other drinks and entertaining guests with close-up magic and flair (bottle juggling and manipulation) at the same time.
Now on Tuesday 11th November 2008 I was selected from hundreds of bartenders to create a new drink for the Bacardi Rum cocktail competition representing Bristol and hopefully to go through to the national final and represent the whole of the South.
Anyway after the comp my girlfriend and I were a little peckish so we went in search of a restaurant. Now I'm a huge Sushi fan, and the only Sushi "the Mrs" had ever tried was at Yo Sushi (which if you know know Sushi it just isn't), so we decided to give Obento a try.
Obento is quite a new restaurant found on Baldwin Street in Bristol and it was the first time I'd been in.
The layout of the place is very open and clean. Long tables with benches either side, similar to those found in Waga Mamas if you've ever been in, and ultra friendly staff.
The menu is great for those that have never had sushi before as it comes with a description of what's in it and also beautiful professional quality colour pictures of each dish that really does help in deciding what you want to eat.
We ordered a couple of bottles of Ashai, a traditional Japanese beer, to kick things off while we browsed the huge choice of sushi, sashimi, bento boxes and the usual rice and noodle dishes one would expet from a Japanese restaurant.
We decided to order Spider Roll (a gorgeous crab meat roll), California roll, Dynamite roll and a Tropical Tempera Prawn wrap.
You get all of the roll cut into eight mouth sized pieces and a generous helping of ginger, wasabi and soy sauce.
My favourite by far was the Dynamite roll, so much so I ordered a second round, which comes with a light batter coating and is just simply devine. If you try just one sushi dish in your life it should be this.
Many of the sushi dishes were marked as half price, meaning what should have been a £60.00 bill for the two of us came to £35.00 (including £5 tip). There's no info of them having any promotional sale so I don't know how long they plan to offer their food at such a discount price, but I would highly recommend you give it a go soon so you don't miss out.
One word of warning though, if you don't know how to use chop sticks I'd get a set and practice it before you go. Even though you can ask for a fork if you'd like one all the other customers that were eating at the same time as we did were using the sticks.
The final word? Just go and try try it. Even if you don't think you like sushi go and try it you won't be disappointed. I just wish ever restaurant in Bristol was as good as this one. In fact I would go so far as to say that Obento is the best Sushi restaurant I've found in the country and definately falls within my top 5 restaurants of all time!
You can check out Obento online at http://www.obento-bristol.co.uk/ where you can request one of their menus. And you can find them in the centre of the city at 69 Baldwin Street, Bristol, BS1 1QZ.
ENJOY!!!!
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Monday, 8 September 2008
Fat Jackets? Fat lot of use!
So, decided to take a little time out and do a bit of shopping in my hometown of Bristol. Between dodging the rain and trying on what seemed like an endless stream of shirts and shoes I got a little hungry.
Opting for a healthier alternative to the usual burger and fries I thought I’d give Fat Jackets in the Galleries Food Hall a try. They had a steady flow of customers, which generally suggests that they must be doing something right… WRONG!!!!
These guys know about as much about customer satisfaction as Fred and Rose West do about childcare. I’ve never known such slow and incompetent service in my life.
I joined the cue with only two people in front of me, after about 15 minutes Mohammad finally served them their spuds and medium soda and got to me. Now usually I don’t hang around in a cue for that length of time, but I was hungry and chatting on the phone so time passed a little quicker than it would usually.
Anyway, I got to Mohammad and ordered a potato with beans and cheese, a portion of garlic bread and a regular coke. Having noticed that when the young oriental lady in front of me had asked for butter and they gave it her on the side I decided to ask for it to me put on the potato before the beans and the cheese.
“I’m sorry sir but we are not aloud to do that” was the response to what I thought was a very simple request.
Mildly shocked I asked him why. His answer consisted of some nonsense about health and safety. Now, unknown to him, before I was a professional performer I used to work as a cocktail bartender and waiter in, what was at the time, one of the most high class restaurants in Birmingham so I know a little bit about whether or not a food outlet is aloud to put butter on a potato.
Plus, surely if they’re aloud to place beans, cheese and a host of other fillings on a spud they’d be aloud to place butter on it too. However, I put this down to management and asked Mo to bring me the potato and I’d place the butter on it myself before the other fillings were added. This seemed to confuse the poor lad and he started looking around at his colleague trying to glean inspiration as to what he can do. This didn’t help at all so he yelled for the manager.
Once he came I explained to him (three times) what I wanted and eventually something inside his tiny little mind sprang to life and he gave permission for the potato filling guy to add the butter first. This too seemed to cause confusion and the manager had to guide his employee’s hands in the art of adding butter to a jacket potato.
Eventually my potato arrived, some 20 minutes after joining the cue, along side my garlic bread and drink.
The quality of the potato itself was ok, not worth the 20-minute wait but was certainly edible. The garlic bread, however, was cold and tasted a little stale. The drink was typical post-mix, so would have taken a total moron to mess that up… Although I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d managed to pull that off too.
Overall I’d rate my experience as 1 out of 5, and next time I’m out I think I’ll simply order a burger and use the remainder of the time to go for a quick jog to burn off the calories rather than wait to be served by the Fat Jackets team of 2008!
Fat Jackets does not have a website that I can find, although they do have outlets in most shopping centres across the United Kingdom.
Opting for a healthier alternative to the usual burger and fries I thought I’d give Fat Jackets in the Galleries Food Hall a try. They had a steady flow of customers, which generally suggests that they must be doing something right… WRONG!!!!
These guys know about as much about customer satisfaction as Fred and Rose West do about childcare. I’ve never known such slow and incompetent service in my life.
I joined the cue with only two people in front of me, after about 15 minutes Mohammad finally served them their spuds and medium soda and got to me. Now usually I don’t hang around in a cue for that length of time, but I was hungry and chatting on the phone so time passed a little quicker than it would usually.
Anyway, I got to Mohammad and ordered a potato with beans and cheese, a portion of garlic bread and a regular coke. Having noticed that when the young oriental lady in front of me had asked for butter and they gave it her on the side I decided to ask for it to me put on the potato before the beans and the cheese.
“I’m sorry sir but we are not aloud to do that” was the response to what I thought was a very simple request.
Mildly shocked I asked him why. His answer consisted of some nonsense about health and safety. Now, unknown to him, before I was a professional performer I used to work as a cocktail bartender and waiter in, what was at the time, one of the most high class restaurants in Birmingham so I know a little bit about whether or not a food outlet is aloud to put butter on a potato.
Plus, surely if they’re aloud to place beans, cheese and a host of other fillings on a spud they’d be aloud to place butter on it too. However, I put this down to management and asked Mo to bring me the potato and I’d place the butter on it myself before the other fillings were added. This seemed to confuse the poor lad and he started looking around at his colleague trying to glean inspiration as to what he can do. This didn’t help at all so he yelled for the manager.
Once he came I explained to him (three times) what I wanted and eventually something inside his tiny little mind sprang to life and he gave permission for the potato filling guy to add the butter first. This too seemed to cause confusion and the manager had to guide his employee’s hands in the art of adding butter to a jacket potato.
Eventually my potato arrived, some 20 minutes after joining the cue, along side my garlic bread and drink.
The quality of the potato itself was ok, not worth the 20-minute wait but was certainly edible. The garlic bread, however, was cold and tasted a little stale. The drink was typical post-mix, so would have taken a total moron to mess that up… Although I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d managed to pull that off too.
Overall I’d rate my experience as 1 out of 5, and next time I’m out I think I’ll simply order a burger and use the remainder of the time to go for a quick jog to burn off the calories rather than wait to be served by the Fat Jackets team of 2008!
Fat Jackets does not have a website that I can find, although they do have outlets in most shopping centres across the United Kingdom.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
My first blog....
Since this is my first blog I thought I'd spend a few words to say hi and let my readers know a little abut myself.
First, I currently live in Bristol, UK although I've had the pleasure of having lived in many different parts of Europe including Germany and The Netherlands. I'm a graduate from Lancaster University where I studied journalism. I didn't, however, go into journalism as a profession deciding instead to turn my hobby's into a career.
My "9-5", so to speak, is as a magician and performer. As a result I get to spend very little time at home, instead spending much of my life on the road traveling to and from different hotels, eating in restaurants and hanging out in bars all over the country.
I also miss the joys of writing stories and articles. So I decided to combine the two and start writing my own blog.
Within this blog you'll find reviews on the numerous hotels, restaurants and bars I've used on my travels as well as a number of other bits and bobs that I think you'll find as interesting as I have.
I plan to write at least two entries a week, so make sure you check back often.
Until the next time, stay safe and stay happy :)
Magic Boy!
First, I currently live in Bristol, UK although I've had the pleasure of having lived in many different parts of Europe including Germany and The Netherlands. I'm a graduate from Lancaster University where I studied journalism. I didn't, however, go into journalism as a profession deciding instead to turn my hobby's into a career.
My "9-5", so to speak, is as a magician and performer. As a result I get to spend very little time at home, instead spending much of my life on the road traveling to and from different hotels, eating in restaurants and hanging out in bars all over the country.
I also miss the joys of writing stories and articles. So I decided to combine the two and start writing my own blog.
Within this blog you'll find reviews on the numerous hotels, restaurants and bars I've used on my travels as well as a number of other bits and bobs that I think you'll find as interesting as I have.
I plan to write at least two entries a week, so make sure you check back often.
Until the next time, stay safe and stay happy :)
Magic Boy!
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