Fish and Chips Kelso - The Town House

Had a late night fish and chips from this fairly new chip shop in Kelso. The other one is not very good at all but this one is not bad. I would rate it about a 5/10 The chips were big and chunky which was good , the batter a bit oily but ok. The mushy peas were awful and sweet tasting, no idea where they came from never tasted mushy peas like them before. Just like many of these place a menu that is so extensive its obvious they can't cook it all properly. Why do the new breed of chip shops think they must cook 500 dishes??

When  Chip shop brochure says they also sell cat food and aspirin one has to wonder where chip shops are going frankly!

Our Own Ooft! hot sauce

My wife and I have spent two years developing a family daily recipe into a product. Our table always had hot sauce based on my wife's fathers recipe. Friends begged for a bottle and in the end we decided to make it for sale. Well two years on and we have learned a lot but now we do have a product to sell.

http://www.ooftsauce.com/

Kweilin - Edinburgh

This friendly little Chinese on Dundas St is the best Chinese I have eaten in Scotland. It is expensive, as four of us was nearly 150 pounds. But in fairness we had a whole lobster in black bean which was very nice indeed. Do not choose sweet and sour fish as its a bit fishy I found ( menu said sea bass or monkfish but I think we were served a lesser fish), and the char sui was a bit dry, but the rice, noodles and choi sum was top class. It is noted for fresh seafood so i would suggest sticking to that, but they can cook. Seriously good Chinese in a nice room.

The true horror of British Restaurants

In the 1960's and 70's British restaurants were known all around the world by travelers as the worst. They served up awful food using microwaves, and this period has been epitomized in many cooking programs as the "scampi and chips" generations.

Unfortunately despite the efforts of the Roux brothers in the 70's until today and of many many chefs down to Jamie Oliver today the real problem has not been uncovered until my visit to Siamese Kitchen in Duns this week made me realize.

The big problem is the British people themselves who put up with rubbish and say "oh well it wasn't bad really..." when it was in fact awful. The lack of understanding of real cuisines (what can one expect from British travelers who go to Spain and order fish and chips)  has led them to accept totally awful Chinese, Thai and Indian restaurants who produce to rote their bland boring chop sueys and rogan joshs, cooked below par, with little flavor and very few original or fresh ingredients.

The number of times we have been recommended restaurants by people and when we tried them we were shocked at how bad they were is almost 100%.  In this blog I have tried to be very fair to all the restaurants reviewed but if you read them there are VERY few who have not had serious problems. You get what you pay for is not true. You get what you deserve is maybe closer to the truth, if we don't complain and ask questions we will get this rubbish forever...think about it!

Siamese Kitchen - Duns

Oh dear what to say about this, the only Thai restaurant in the area? Two lovely ladies run it and they have spotlessly clean kitchens and are lovely people. Unfortunately they have either allowed their cooking to deteriorate to locals tastes, or they fail to cook properly. I think the latter as the pad thai had echoes of the real thing, but sadly lacks all flavor. Thai cooking is all about the use of FRESH herbs  peppers and they have eliminated all that. Also the chicken with basil and peppers has no basil and no peppers so as you can imagine is pretty bland! What a shame, they are both Thai I think and they probably cook great food for themselves but serve up this watered down bland concoction for guests. I cannot recommend it which is a great shame as the Borders desperately needs alternatives to haggis and neeps!!

Amazing Elephant - go to France to see!

Our family have just returned from a 3 week trip to France and visited Les Iles de Machines in Nantes which is a life changing place. Art is very definitely alive and well in this commune of artists designers. What incredible steam punk vision of the world of Jules Verne (born in Nantes). The elephant is over 30 foot high and walks the streets with you on its back in a cabin of polished mahogany and huge pistons and rods all working as its huge frame moves ponderously along the streets. It is a great life experience. The artists vision which is now in the making for 2019 is a world tree, all made of metal with creatures alive in the tree is breathtaking. They have a scale model and the elephant can walk beneath the branches, which have caterpillars and birds that fly. Awesome and well worth going to France just to see this vision coming alive!

Website address for the Elephant

Jehovah's Witnesses good tenants

I was surprised this week while talking to a manager of a large estate in the Borders with some 100 houses rented out. He told me that many of his tenants were Jehovah's Witness and that he liked them as tenants because they were law abiding and good tenants often spending their own money to improve properties rather than expecting the landlord to do it all. "We get no trouble from these tenants at all and as every landlord knows a bed tenant can can cost an estate a lot of money, not just in fixing up the house after they leave but even in getting them out in the first place. Plus bad tenants breed problems with other nearby tenants when the house deteriorates and they often have unkempt and overgrown gardens". Overall we find this group to be ideal tenants, they are quiet and even their children are well behaved.