I'm not by nature a list writer, but to my embarrassment I have a to-do list of London Restaurants. I'm sure we all have some sort of mental list but I was struggling to remember mine, and tragically committed it to my laptop. The problem with the written list is that it becomes too fixed an entity, and I'm reluctant to eat "off-list".

The reason I tell you, (my probably imaginary reader) about this is that I have a friend who I often have ad-hoc dinner with. Except, more often than not what we actually have is a two hour unfocussed debate about where to eat and the list adds a whole new layer of complexity. The problem is price, the reason being that rather inevitably, ad hoc dinners occur in the centre of town and I've rather ran out of affordable options that I'm keen to try.

Salt Yard is on the mid priced part of my list and so thats where we ended up on a Friday night at about 9.30 having been through the usual debate. We didn't have long to wait for a table, despite it being packed. We ordered a bottle of the house red, a perfectly decent and well priced Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I also ordered a glass of Manzanilla Pasada from Hidalgo. I have drunk this several times before, and again found that whilst its an undeniably good sherry, it doesn't really justify the price increase over its sister, La Gitana, a sherry I go through phases of drinking gallons of.

The menu at Salt Yard is what might be called modern tapas, its got some Italian as well as Spanish influences and the menu has got a lot of interesting sounding combinations. We started with “Acorn Fed Extremaduro Iberico Ham”, and since I love ham I was really looking forward to it. Sadly it wasn't that great, ok, not the depth of flavour I'd expected. I'm not going to write any posts from distant memory but I do recall that the Iberico ham they have just round the corner at Fino was much better.

We shared “Roasted Spring Chicken with Pea Shoots, Peas, Broad Beans and Lavender Honey” (its great having online menus, from memory that would have been spring chicken with assorted peas). This was a tasty dish, and the combination with the peas was good, but, its here we first noticed that the restaurant had not been named in vain. Obviously it was to be expected that the ham was salty, but the chicken skin was staggeringly over salted. In case you think I'm some sort of prissy not-a-Dr Gillian Keith type, I'm not, but there really was too much salt.

The theme continued with over salted courgette fries, which came with a not very garlicky aioli. Much better were “Pan fried baby artichoke with vinaigrette and mint”, simple and delicious and a reminder that I should eat more artichoke. The Padron peppers were also tasty, but hard to get wrong and patatas bravas provided some necessary stodge, but were no better than those you would get in most tapas bars, indeed they could have been a bit spicier.

I enjoyed “Slow Roasted Rabbit wrapped in Serrano Ham with Chestnut Mushrooms”, the rabbit was subtle, and the flavours well matched but again just a little too much salt was in evidence. My slightly more health conscious companion didn't enjoy it finding it “gamey” and “much too salty”. I didn't think it was gamey but did think the flavours were slightly wintery, especially as the dish came with black pudding, possibly the main source of the excess salt in this dish. That said, wintery felt perfectly appropriate as the wind howled outside and the rain hammered down.

We finished the meal with a “Selection of three manchegos with membrillo”. One of the manchegos was very young and bland but there was one with rosemary and an aged one which seemed very good. It was hard to tell however, as they were served in thin slices which give nowhere near the flavour of cheese served in chunks.

I know this place has had rave reviews allround, and I don't expect anyone to listen to my views over the pros, but for me this place didn't quite live up to expectations and won't be making it on to my (thankfully not committed to paper) “must go again” list.

I live about a ten minute bus drive from the Thai Corner Cafe and having read good things about it, have been meaning to try it for some time. Seeing as its BYO with a small corkage charge, on a weekday evening when several other plans had folded my flatmate and I decided to get over our lethargy, get on a bus and give it a go. On a Wednesday night the place was packed to the rafters, it doesn't have many covers, but there is no room between the tables, and the narrow gaps are crammed with people trying to get a table or waiting for takeaway. We had booked and should have had a table waiting, but it was difficult to communicate this to the staff, standing as we were outside in the rain queuing to get in. Once inside there appeared to be no obvious order to how tables were allocated, but eventually we were seated and got glasses for our wine. The noise volumes were enormous due to the wooden floors and furniture, packed in tables and tiny space. And of course as everyone has to shout to be heard the noise escalated further over dinner.

All this could be forgiven, even the niggardly charge of 50p for a glass of tap water, if the food had lived up to expectations. I decided to keep my ordering unambitious in keeping with the surroundings and started with thai fish cakes. They had the texture of rubber and the smell of artificial crab, bounded by some stringy substance keeping their shape. They were the only item we had all night that was genuinely poor, and were not even saved by the decent spicy dipping sauce. My flatmate had ordered a chicken satay, and whilst the chicken was oddly slimy, the peanut sauce was undeniably good, a delicious mix of sweet and savoury.

For our main courses we had stayed with the keeping it simple theme and I'd opted for a prawn green curry. At first glance there appeared to be only two prawns, miserly even at these prices. Two more were eventually found but I'd probably rather pay a few quid more and have another couple. The curry itself was a watery sauce but tasty enough, with a liquorice or aniseed hit and oddly, bits of fig floating around. So far so ok, except that someone in the kitchen had forgotten to order any chillies, leaving the sauce far too bland. The chillies normally provide the green colour, so I'm not sure where that had come from. Perhaps it had come legitimately from green pepper, as there were chunks of it bobbing around. However they hadn't been grilled or cooked in anyway, and if the intent was to poach in the liquid, it hadn't worked. I'm in no position to comment on whether uncooked green pepper is authentic in Thai food but in any event its not pleasant and should be abandoned. This dish was perfectly edible but it could have been a lot better with a little more effort, and cost can't forgive everything.

I had very little of my flatmates chicken red curry, but that again appeared to be rather short on chicken. It too was thin and with figs and uncooked peppers in it, but the taste of this was more robust, not spicy but with a better combination of sweet and savoury. It seemed a slightly better dish than the green curry, but was still a long way from being special. At this point then I add a caveat, this review is not intended to be a slating, and if I lived within walking distance I would probably go to the Thai Corner Cafe again. I just wouldn't travel any distance, not even ten minutes on the bus.

Since we had made the journey we decided to finish the evening in the Green & Blue wine bar, thinking this would at least end the evening on a high. We shared a half bottle of BA Domaine Wachau, an Austrian sweet riesling. The reasonable mark up policy and delicious wine did make for a pleasant end, but calling it a high would be pushing it. We had got there at just gone 10 but were told we could not have a cheeseboard as there was no food after 10. I'm not sure cutting cheese in a restaurant is much more difficult than doing it at home and am unconvinced that the waitress couldn't have managed it. The service was also slightly erratic but given the range of interesting wine, I would definitely go back. I'll have to find somewhere else to eat nearby first though.

I am not a vegetarian, and in fact would usually eat almost any part of any animal, often at the cost of watching friends eat something clearly nicer when I've been unable to resist a menu oddity. Nevertheless, in arranging to meet a veggie friend I hadn't seen in a while, I thought I would go somewhere where she had a decent choice for once. “There are a couple of Indian vegetarian restaurants I've been meaning to try for a while” I told her, “One in Wembley and one in Tooting.” Was she grateful? Was she hell.

At first she refused to go to any destination so unreasonably far into the sticks. [She lives in Bermondsey, not exactly WC1 so the criticism seemed a little unreasonable]. I reminded her that when I had dragged her all the way to Rasa in Stoke Newington, which she had considered dangerously close to the pillars of Hercules, we had both enjoyed an amazing meal. Eventually she agreed that it might be theoretically possible to get to Tooting, what with it being on the tube and all.

I harboured hopes that Kastoori was BYO but a phonecall told me that was not the case. The winelist was uninspiring, but in fairness, equitably priced and a damned sight better than many an Indian restaurant, relying as it did on generic brands which are at least an improvement on god-awful cash and carry own-brands. There was also an Indian fizz on there, which is a longstanding item on my to-do list, but as it was vintage dated 1993, the inevitability that this would be fucked ensured Indian fizz will, for now, remain a gap in my wine knowledge. I'm afraid I stuck to Cobra beer. I'm aware that Riesling or Fizz are the preferred matches, or Gewurz, which in my experience, never actually works, but I am culturally programmed to want lager with curry. Sorry. [Actually I'm not, it works for me and its even oddly authentic due to the staggering duty on imported wine in India. Anyway, I digress...]

I met the veggie and another friend at Tooting Bec tube station and headed up the high street towards Kastoori. En route we passed several very tempting looking options, and not for the first time I wished I had chosen a different part of London to live in. The staff at Kastoori were polite and helpful, if occasionally a little slow, and soon enough we were tucking in to our first course. Its at this point I have to beg your indulgence, I had not planned on finally starting as a blogger with this meal so I took no notes and the review is in danger of degenerating into a Winner-esque parody.

I had a type of poori, I think Pani Poori, that was described on the menu as “exploding in the mouth”. It wasn't markedly different from the pooris available on Drummond St however, with the yoghurt being dominant, and would not in itself justify the trip. The veggie [a more or less offensive descriptor than “the blonde”?] had chilli paneer. Paneer is an ingredient that I had previously had no great love for, and this did nothing to change that, although another dish later in the meal would. It was subtly spiced though and pleasant enough, but had the chewy pointlessness that I associate with Paneer. The third member of our group had ordered a set Thali and therefore started with the pickles and poppadoms. Spicy, but a long way off great chutney. There was far too much oil, I have read this as a criticism of the restaurant generally, but happily in our experience, the excess oiliness was confined to the chutneys.

The start to the meal had been very much better than average but by no means great, but things took a big upswing with the mains. The thali came with a potato curry which wasn't special, but also with the vegetable curry of the day, in our case aubergine, which came in a delicious tomato sauce. I had ordered a tomato curry, and it would be amiss for me not to point out that the sauces bared some considerable similarity. They weren't identical however, the tomato curry being sweet, with mustard seeds and incredibly delicious.

Because I have a tendency towards fatness, and of course because I wanted to give Kastoori a fair try, I'd ordered a second main course. Again descending to Winner, I forget the name, but it was historic, and involved Paneer in a melon seed creamy sauce. The paneer was not chewy, and was sandwiched with spinach and pine-nuts, in effect it tasted as if it was spread with a tasty pesto. The sauce was a little too heavy and creamy, but was still delicious. The veggie ordered a dish which I forget, I had a small taste and it was good so it seems the main courses are reliably good.

By this point my companions were stuffed, but I selflessly ordered not only a dessert but also a sweet lassi, billed on the menu, rather ambitiously the best ever. I have to admit that normally I drink my lassi salted alongside the meal when I'm too delicate for alcohol, and the best I've had have been the Turkish namesake Ayran in the middle of nowhere in Anatolia, followed closely by the salt lassi in Tamarind. The sweet lassi didn't really agree with me, tasting really like melted ice cream with cardamom, and it was really a bit heavy going. The veggie whose rather more a fan of these things preferred the sweet lassi at Rasa.

My dessert was a small but perfect portion of Kheer. Normally I struggle with the sweetness of sub-continent desserts but I have always been partial to an exotic cold rice pudding and the one on offer here was a fitting end to a great meal. The damage for me with my multi main course, multi dessert and a couple of beers was £25, for my rather more sensible companions a mere £15 each. At those prices, I can't recommend the place enough for a delicious taste of Gujurati vegetarian food. Well worth the travel, though as i said to the veggie, “Wembley next time?”. A word of advice, they take credit cards but not debit, necessitating for us a trek to a cashpoint, so go prepared.

I have thought about food blogging for a while, as I read several of the London blogs. Reading about food is a pale substitute for eating it, but it keeps my waistline and bank balance within reach of acceptability. Hopefully my blog can add to that service for others, but possibly not for the reasons set out below:

I did write some terrible reviews on a open-submission review site a few years back, but caused them to be pulled when I realised they came up when my name was googled and that they were embarrassingly badly written. I also tried to submit an article I wrote last summer on a couple of Padstow restaurants but quite understandably, no publication wanted it. Suffice to say then, I am well aware of the limitations of my current writing style. But practice makes perfect, or at least hopefully makes a-bit-better so I'll have another go, here's the first...