La Tasca (Watford) – restaurant

Last Wednesday I took advantage of an offer sent straight to my inbox regarding 50% off La Tasca’s ‘Tapas to Share’ menu (basically, the tapas menu), on Sunday to Thursdays. Drove there with my mum. She had the beer! I’m so used to being ferried around I was a little bit heartbroken at not having alcohol. They got my Fruitiser order wrong as well, although what I had was nice enough.

Empty restaurant meant brisk service, but with non-pushy waitresses who allowed us to take our time. We ordered chicken and seafood paella, deep-fried calamari, mushroom croquettes, chorizo in red wine, king prawns and a mixed salad (again, they got the salad wrong, but again we let it slide. It was probably my dodgy attempt at Spanish).

• Calamari – not quite as crispy on the outside as we would have liked but excellent taste and definitely non-chewy.
• King prawns – big and suspiciously sweet – my mum loved these (I’m a bit too lazy about peeling prawns to totally enjoy them LOL).
• Salad – lovely refreshing  mix of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pine nuts (I think) and avocado. Good and not overpowering dressing.
• Mushroom croquettes – nice. Not whole mushrooms, but a creamy mushroom filling inside a crunchy breaded outside.
• Chorizo – Good, but not the most flavoursome chorizo I’ve ever had. My mum was a bit scathing about the portion size, but I thought it was OK.
• Paella – Will make a mental note never to order the paella from the tapas menu at La Tasca, they’re never that good. Worst thing was the lack of chicken and seafood! Two mussels and a shrimp do not constitute enough seafood and the chicken was in absolutely tiny and few pieces. I’ve had the main course paella before and it was much much better (but not in the offer of course!)

Total bill for two – above dishes with a large Peroni and a Fruitiser came to £18.20 including discount but not service. Good value with the discount, edging on expensive for what you get without. Overall 8/10 taking into account the discount (bearing in mind we wouldn’t have gone there if it weren’t for that!).

Jom Makan – Restaurant

Between the dash between Duke of Yorks theatre and the Barbican, my parents and I went to Jom Makan for their pre-7pm £5 deal.

Jom Makan interior

Jom Makan is a Malaysian restaurant right near to Trafalgar Square. Decor is simple and classy, except perhaps the paper table mats with their illustrated explanations of Malay culture – wayang theatre, the Petronas towers, durians etc.

Both my parents had the nasi lemak – coconut rice with an assortment of bits like beef rendang curry, hot squid sambal, fried anchovies,  peanuts and cucumber. They were both happy with it – especially the squid – although my mum said that the beef wasn’t cooked for as long as she would have liked it, so it was slightly tougher than the ideal, but still edible.

I had the nasi biriyani kambing – biriyani spiced rice with lamb curry, a potato dahl, prawn crackers and a garnish portion of pickled vegetables. First of all these are not the white polystyrene prawn crackers you get free from the takeaway! Instead they are tasty and crunchy. The rice disappeared far too quickly (by which I don’t mean it was a small portion!) and was perfect accompaniment to the lamb so tender I could cut it with my spoon. Dahl was mild – maybe not spiced enough if it were on its own, but it was a good foil for the curry. Vegetables were sweet and not harshly pickled (I don’t generally like pickled stuff but these were nice – I’d have liked more of them).

Bill with three small Tigers came to £24, because of the pre-7pm deal – it would have been about £35 without the deal, which isn’t particularly cheap but for classy atmosphere, good service (it wasn’t busy though) and authentic food it is worth it.  Other dishes include satay, roti canai, nasi goreng etc.  No kuih (petit-four type of sweets) but there are several desserts with strong Malay influences, if not fully authentic.

Jom Makan has become somewhat common knowledge among the Malays we met at the theatre and general comments are favourable.  Could take anybody here and as long as they enjoy this type of food they would enjoy it – not too upmarket for anybody who just wants a quick bite and not too scabby for those on a date!  Will be going again whenever I get an excuse.