Rog T's Food Blog - When I eat out, where do I go?

 At the weekend, I was asked what my favourite cuisine and my favourite restaurant is. I thought about it for a few moments and said "Can I get back to you on that?" I have my favourites, but it is horses for courses. I would choose a different restaurant and cuisine for a romantic dinner with my wonderful wife, to a night out with the boys. So here are my choices.

1. Romantic dinner with Clare

My go to place of choice would have to be The Bleeding Heart near Farringdon. Not cheap, but the food and wine are excellent and it is somewhere you can relax and have a nice evening. The restaurant changes and there are cheaper set meal options, which you generally have to ask for. We've probably been going for the best part of 20 years and never been disappointed. Sadly it's mostly birthdays and anniversaries. As I've not won the lottery yet!

2. Dinner with friends which won't break the bank

If we want something nice, but not overly expensive, we go to the Wet Fish cafe in West Hampstead. It is only ten minutes down the Thameslink line. They have very reasonable early bird deals. Check for the details as it does change. As the name implies, they are very good at fish and the meals are well cooked and the contents fresh.

3. Lunch on my own.

I love a nice Pie and Mash. I am making my way around London trying to visit as many as possible, when I have spare time. Sadly I am not making the progress I hoped. I've blogged about my love of a greta pie and mash. My personal favourite is Castle's in Camden and that  isn't just loyalty to North London. Pie and mash is very niche, it ain't posh. I like places where you can pretend the last 40 years never happened, if only for five minutes. Be warned, they only take cash.

4. Dinner out with my mates.

This will surprise no one. It has to be The Mill Hill Tandoori. It isn't posh, there are better Indian dining experiences, but it is unsurpassed for a night out with your mates for beer and curry. If you are a bit noisy, no one gives you a skunk eye. And a few of the dishes are actually as good as you'll have anywhere, notably, the Tandoori Salmon and the Tarka Dal. The Naan's are pretty good as well.

5. Family meal out with the kids.

This has to be The Good Earth in Mill Hill. It is expensive, but the food is as good as anything I've had. It is one of the few restaurants that always seems to be busy. I love their duck and the Kung Po Prawns. It has been the restaurant of choice since the 1980's for family do's. The old boss witnessed my Dad being robbed at Lloyds Bank in Mill Hill in 1984. His testamony saw the assailants arrested and sent to prison. Sadly, him, Dad and Lloyds are all long gone!

6. Breakfast.

I love a good full English. Sadly many of my favourite cafe's have gone. I will actually give you two as I can't make mind up. Until recently I'd have just said "Cafe Anglais in Colindale". There's not much to say about a proper full English and they do it! Recently, I've also had a few tasty breakfasts at The Little Portland Cafe, on Little Portland St. Again it's excellent. A word of advice, if you buy a cheaper breakfast and add items it can work out better value. Most enjoyable.

7. Great value Italian.

I'd thoroughly recommend Rosella in Kentish Town. It is just down the road from my favourite pub, The Southampton Arms. The food is fresh and reasonably priced. 

All this talk of grub has made me feel hungry!

 

Edgware: The Canary in the Coal Mine for London's Suburbs - Guest Blog from Anuta Zack at the Save Edgware Campaign

Guest post from at the  Anuta Zack Save Our Edgware Campaign

Edgware is under threat — and so is the future of London’s suburbs.

Ballymore and Transport for London (TfL) are pushing a high-density mega-development that doesn’t just endanger Edgware — it risks setting a dangerous precedent for speculative, unsafe, and unsustainable redevelopment across the capital.

This isn’t just a redevelopment of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre. It includes the bus station, the surface-level bus garage, and the town’s only public car park. All of these vital assets are being swept aside in favour of over two dozen tower blocks, unaffordable housing, and infrastructure that doesn’t even meet basic safety standards.

Please voice your objection by filling this simple form: https://saveouredgware.co.uk/object/by-form/

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An Underground Garage With No Safety Regulations

At the heart of the scheme is an untested underground electric bus garage — located directly beneath thousands of new homes.

There are no UK building regulations that support this type of structure. The London Fire Brigade has raised serious concerns — including the risk of high-intensity electric fires, inadequate ventilation, and even structural collapse of the buildings above in the event of an incident.

Equally alarming: Ballymore and TfL are proposing, as a fallback, to use the space for a diesel bus garage underground — despite the fact that no such facility exists anywhere in the UK. Why? Because the idea of diesel buses running underground has always been considered dangerously unviable — due to carbon monoxide, explosive risk, and lack of air circulation.

This isn’t regeneration. It’s reckless experimentation with public safety.

Outrageous Density: A Town-Sized Development Within a Town

Ballymore is proposing 3,828 new residential units — in a ward that currently contains just7,212 households.

That means increasing the local population by more than 50% in a single development, without proportional investment in infrastructure, healthcare, education, or transport capacity. This isn’t solving a housing crisis — it’s creating a services crisis, while setting a dangerous precedent for hyper-density in suburbs not designed to absorb it.

And yet, despite this immense scale, essential transport facilities are being reduced, not expanded.

A Model That Destroys Local Economies

Edgware’s high street and town centre economy are facing destruction.

The proposal would:

• Remove all commuter car parking, and cut public parking from a capacity of 1,035 spaces to just 292 — barely enough for a supermarket, let alone a town centre with a catchment of 400,000 people;
• Close the covered bus station and instead run all buses along a series of bus stops on Station Road — Edgware’s main shopping street. This would turn a busy pedestrian and retail area into a noisy, polluted bus corridor, making the town centre less safe and less welcoming, particularly for older residents, families, and people with mobility challenges;
• Cause up to 20 years of phased construction, choking off footfall and displacing long-established small businesses.

Station Road, the spine of Edgware’s economy, cannot survive this scale of disruption. The “new shopping centre” model Ballymore proposes has already failed in nearby towns — producing hollow retail spaces beneath towers, disconnected from the communities they are supposed to serve.

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A Town That Will No Longer Qualify as a Town

In 2013, Barnet Council’s own strategy documents stated:

“The average weekly footfall through the centre is estimated to be 130,000, with a broad catchment population of 400,000.”

It was these figures — along with Edgware’s strategic transport interchange andregionally significant shopping centre — that earned it designation as a Major Town Centre in the London Plan.

This scheme removes the very features that justified that status.

Without a functioning integrated bus station, without adequate parking, and without a viable shopping core, Edgware will no longer qualify as a Major Town Centre — even as it is forced to absorb one of the largest housing increases in the borough.

This is not regeneration. It is planning vandalism.

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A Dangerous Precedent for All of London

TfL is now functioning not as a public transport steward, but as a land developer — one willing to:

• Eliminate critical transport infrastructure,
• Gamble with unregulated, unsafe experimental designs, and
• Funnel public assets into speculative private development.

If this scheme proceeds, it will become a template for unsafe and unsustainable development across outer London — undermining community integrity, reducing infrastructure, and accelerating the breakdown of suburban town centres.

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Edgware Deserves Better. So Does London.

We are not anti-development. We are pro-safety. Pro-economy. Pro-community.
This scheme fails on all three counts.

• You do not build thousands of homes on top of a fire hazard.
• You do not destroy a town’s transport interchange and shopping economy.
• You do not erase a community to test a speculative model.

Edgware is the canary in the coal mine. If this goes ahead here, it will not stop here.

#SaveOurEdgware

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Anuta Zack is a memb er of the Save Edgware Campaign. Guest blogs are always welcome.

The Sunday Reflection #55 - Flashbacks and the end of the world

 As weeks go, this has been a difficult one for me. Nothing bad has happened to me personally (other than the leaders of our race seem intent on starting world war three), but it has been challenging in the extreme. On Tuesday I wrote of the challenge that visiting the chapel at the hospital where my mother had treatment for cancer in 1970 posed. I had a major and very disturbing flashback, which I have to admit had affected me deeply this week. On Thursday night, I had another flashback. A more pleasant one, but all the same, in the context of the week, it was a little bit disconcerting. I went to see John McKay's Reactor at The Lexington. John was the original guitarist in Souixsie and The Banshees and his guitar defined their style. As I watched the band, I was transported back to 1978 and the Roundhouse. His guitar style and sound is to me a very fixed moment in time. 

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All of this has put me in a very reflective mood. It seems incongruous to me that there was only eight years between me going to see my mother having cancer surgery as an eight year old and going to see Siouxsie and the Banshees at the Roundhouse. The gap seemed like a lifetime. I had gone from being a child to an adult. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be in a band. I wanted to make music. I've changed very little since then. Of course I have more experience of life, I've matured, I am less impulsivre and my body can't physically do what it could then. But in the moments when I am making music with my band, I am exactly where I was. In recent months, the band has re-imagined a couple of songs from our earliest incarnation. I think it has worked rather well. The songs captured our teenage angst. The re-intepreting has added a new dimension. 

I'm 62 years old now. If I make the same age as my father, I've got seven years. Maybe I won't, or maybe I've got 20 more years where I can do the stuff I want to do. Who knows. In the few years, since lockdown, many of my friends have started to seem quite old. I find this difficult. I asked a mate recently if he fancied going to see a band we both rather like. His response "I don't do gigs anymore". That scared me. There is nothing physically wrong with him. He just has decided he is too old for live music in clubs. The Who once sang "Hope I die before I get old". What is getting old? I've not really given this too much thought. Maybe it is when you stop doing things you like, for now other reason than a number in the age box? 

I'm sitting here, looking at a Jay on the tree in the back garden. I envy his lack of worry. He is living in the moment. He doesn't worry about growing old, about Trump and co. If he finds some tasty morsels for dinner, he's happy. I wish life was that simple for me. 

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The Saturday List #487 - My top ten barbeque tips

 

Hoo-Ray!!! It's barbeque season. Spark up the charcoal grill and get grilling! There is nothing I enjoy more than having a barbeque and I like to think I'm a bit of a whizz at it. There are many tips I've picked up over the years, so I thought I'd share some with you. I have some views on what a proper barbeque is. Firstly I have no truck with gas barbeques. For me, it is charcoal or nothing. I also believe that you can barbeque anything that you can cook (apart from soups etc). The second thing is to always keep in mind that the aim is to provide the tastiest food possible. You have to love the food you are cooking. There is nothing I hate more than people who use cheap sausages, bargain burgers and other sub standard ingredients. Being given a cheap sausage, that tastes of nothing, is burned on the outside and raw in the middle is not only disgusting, it stands a good chance of making you ill. If you are going to do it, do it properly. If you live in Mill Hill, get your meat from Boucherie Gerard on Daws Lane. Sadly, we lost our great fishmonger in Mill Hill East, but a trip up to Burnt Oak on the 251 will see you sorted for great fish.

1. Lighting the charcoal. I have got lazy in my old age. If you are doing it properly, start the grill with paper and twigs and then add the charcoal. However the self lighting bags are much easier. However, they are infused with petrol, so you have to let them burn for 20 minutes or you will get a bit of petrol taste in your food. I tend to light a bag and then top it up with extra charcoal after 15 minutes, once it is well alight. Leave it until the flames have died down and the charcoal is a bit white. If there are big flames, the charcoal is too hot and might still have propellant. Use your nose. If it smells of charcoal and is white, it is ready.

2. Timing is everything. The perfect barbeque sees the food arrive at the same time. So work out how long each item take. For instance, Sausages take a bit longer than burgers etc, so start them first. Work out your timings. 

3. Get a good quality barbeque grill, with a lid. One with a ledge to keep food hot, but not right above the flames is also a good idea. You have a lot more control over the cooking. If the flames flare up, put the lid on with the air flow. This stops the burning. It is the heat, not the fire that cooks the food.

4. Pre cook your chicken. If you don't want to give yourself and your guests food poisoning, Cook the chicken through in the oven and simply finish it off and crisp it on the barbeque. If you want to marinade food for flavour, I always do it 24 hours before. If you just slap on something before you stick it on the barbeque, it will not flavour the chicken. I rather like a chilli and lemon marinade, with smoked paprika. Make it up and marinade wings in it for 24 hours. Cook the wings for 25/30 minutes and then just brown them on the barbeque. Delicious.

5. Barbeque your spuds on the grill. The best way is to use small salad potatoes. Bake them for 35-40 minutes until soft. I salt the crusts. To do this, prick the skins and put in the oven, after about 20 minutes in the oven, take them out and dip them in a solution of cold water and salt for a few seconds. then sprinkle some more salt on and put the back for another 15-20 mins. Put them back in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Just before serving the food, put them on the grill for 2-3 minutes to brown. BTW The very best way to do a spud is in silver foil and put on the embers for about an hour. A great way to have a few snacks for later on!

6. Be imaginative for vegetarians. You can do great grilled food for veggies and vegans. One of the things I especially like is grilled aubergine. Take a whole aubergine and slice down, leaving the strips still attached at the stem. Then smear with tomato and garlic paste and add cheese (I use parmesan). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then finish it off for five minutes on the barbeque. Large flat mushrooms are also good. Fill them with garlic butter and parmesan. For vegans, olive oil, garlic and and tomato paste works well

7. Have a special centrepiece. One of the best things to do on the grill is a special centrepiece. A leg of lamb is a brilliant one. Season and wrap in silver foil. Bake in oven for about 75-90 mins (depending on size). I like to stab the skin with a knife and add slivers of garlic into the th fatty skin. When it is ready. remove from the foil and  finish on the grill, crisping and slightly blackening the skin. Then carve. Use the meat juices to make a barbeque gravy source. Lamb is a bit better than beef as it is a bit more fatty, which works best on a grill. I use the lid when I do this to control the flames.

8. Fish. Fish is great on the grill, but don't cook it with meat. It will make the meat smell and taste of fish. My favourite is tuna steaks. Get best quality (sushi grade) tuna from the fishmonger and use really thick cuts, so it is blackened on the outside and pink in the middle. Even my eldest brother Laurie, who is disdainful of everything I do admitted this was the best tip ever!

9. King Prawns. These are brilliant on the grill, but them absolutely must be fresh. I do like to marinade them (see above lemon & chilli marinade). 

10. Keep a small knife by the grill and check the sausages and burgers are not pink in the middle. Don't burn the food, but make sure it is cooked. 

Friday Fun and local music round up 20th June 2025

 As ever, we start with The Friday Joke. This one rather tickled me, from our old mate Robert Wilkinson, purveyor of fine Dad jokes (check his bio for details of his books)

I'm glad it's not snowing.
Imagine shoveling snow in this heat?

— Robert Wilkinson (@robertwlk) June 20, 2025

And onwards and upwards with the music round up.  Youc an keep up to date with all the latest Barnet Music news at the Barnet Music facebook page. 

We'll start with a date for your diary! My band, The False Dots are hosting a Ska night with DJ Rebska at the Builders Arms in Barnet on Satuday July 12th. It's free! What could be better. 

And we have the East Barnet Festival coming up. One of my fave local bands Rangoon are playing. Follow the festival on Facebook for more details

And on to this weeks gigs etc

Friday 20th

Mickey Rose (Karaoke) at The Three Wishes, Edgware 

9pm - 11.30pm

Lord Kitchener 8.30 – late The Vinyls

Butchers Arms 9 – 11.30pm Odyssey Blues & Soul Band

Barrington 8.30 - midnight Karaoke with Neil/Johnno?

Monken Holt 9pm – midnightDJ Bob Storey

The Haven 8 – 11pmDenis Cook (Musician, vocalist and DJ)

Saturday 21st

East Barnet RB Legion 8.30pm – 11.30pm Peace and Love UK

Butchers 9 – 11.30pm The Cavaliers (60s, 70s, 80s and 90s Covers)

@ Barrington 8.30ish- Groove Rats (Rock/blues)

The Arkley Club 8 – 11.30pm £5 cash on the door Rons Karaoke

Ye Olde Monken Holt 9.30pm – midnight Alex Kennedy (Acoustic Covers)

Maddens 9.30pm Joshua Blues

Sunday 22nd

Butchers 8.30 – 11.30pm Butchers Arms Jam Electric/Blues/Rock (Full backline available)

Toolans 9pm - midnight Billy Henegan

Monday 23rd

!

Mon

Jun

23

Jan's North London Jam at The Three Wishes, Edgware

9pm - 11pm

Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) Barnet Acoustics Session

Wednesday 25th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 11pm Open Mic Night

Thursday 26th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 10.30pm Irish Session

@ The Sebright Arms 7.30pm – 11pm Open Mic Night (4th Thursday of month)

Have a great weekend!