I was wondering why I got to work so smoothly the week before…it was half-term, of course.
Not so this week, of course, with delays every step of the way.
But it was the first sunny day of spring (well, winter) so who cares. Everyone happy. Everything good. Even office. Maybe.
Given the sunshine, I decided to eat outdoors at Katsu King – one of the food trucks on the Paddington Basin canal.
For my tastes, it was a choice between katsu salad or katsu fries, so I went for the slightly healthier option.
The salad was a mixture of salad leaves and grated cabbage – it added crunch but nothing else.
The crispy chicken wasn’t so crispy with the katsu sauce on – the sauce kind of reminded me of the taste of gravy, though neither of these should be considered a criticism.
Indeed, the chicken was really nicely fried, where there was no sauce, the crumb was crunchy, and satisfying.
Some sriracha sauce on top – not especially hot or spicy, and some coriander gave it some fragrance.
Priced at £9.50. Pretty decent, I’d say. Katsu King is worth a whirl.
My score of 7.20.
And then a bird shat on me. Bring back the rain and indoor dining.
Here’s a surprisingly little story about a pub called The Union.
What wasn’t a surprise was my train being delayed in the morning.
But at least I was on my way for my weekly trip to the office to collaborate by myself because all my meetings had been moved to the next day.
Oh well. I collaborated with myself in choosing to go to The Union, a slightly garishly modern “pub”, with exposed air vents, and far too much bright red for a pub. A spacious place though, and plenty of empty tables to make a solo diner comfortable enough.
The more interesting things were probably on the starters menu, quite how I eschewed the chorizo croquettes I’m not sure, plus I ignored the Greek salad, honey and sriracha chicken (gosh I love sriracha), halloumi, avocado on toast…yet I didn’t even look at the starters until I’d ordered.
My eyes were on the chicken schnitzel – it seemed kind of not too unhealthy for a lunch. Maybe bar the truffle mayo.
And then the surprise happened. Really fresh tomatoes and actually tasted like tomatoes that you get abroad – not just the mass-produced Greenhouse shit from the UK.
The fennel worked really well together with the rocket, along with some lemon juice.
Oh and the truffle mayo was banging. I thought I was done with truffle. I wasn’t.
Finally, the chicken schnitzel – well, I’m guessing it was probably re-fried as I’d had fresher fried chicken, but I still enjoyed the crunch of the chicken, it was juicy inside too.
There was no pecorino though. Not sure what happened there.
Lunch including an apple juice and service charge came to £21.38.
Surprisingly good pub food, but then again…maybe it isn’t a pub. My rating is an 8.10 out of 10. I will be going back in due course.
After a week in the sun it feels like a lifetime ago but I did find a little gem before I went away – Bonata, on the little road that used to end in Pergola.
Apparently a Middle Eastern Mediterranean fusion grab and go concept, if the term fusion doesn’t scare you like it does me… almost as much as the phrase “we need to change our corporate culture”, you rock up and pick a grains or salad base, then add some meat (or not), followed by multiple sides and a sauce.
It’s a shame I couldn’t be arsed to post this the same day as my memory is now stretched, but I had a spinach base, with some harissa lemon chicken thighs – which were succulent and flavoursome.
Followed by butter beans, tomatoes, cucumber and a spicy harissa dressing.
Was a little spicy (more would have been fine), everything was fresh, good quality ingredients…yeah I enjoyed Bonata.
Rating of 8 out of 10.
I do wish I had smuggled a proper knife and fork from the kitchen at work though.
Yo yo Bizarro I was back in the corner of the office trying not to speak to anyone, enjoying the 56kb dial up modem WiFi that we are blessed with.
And then I went for a bang average Italian at Bizarro near Paddington station.
They had a million things on their menu as is common in restaurants with no specialities, so I mistakenly ordered from their specials menu.
I could have had pizza, pasta, loads of different varieties of chicken or veal meals…but ended up going for chicken, peppers, ham and goats cheese special, thinking it might actually be special.
Nope.
To be fair, the grilled goats cheese actually was quite special, it had some depth to the flavour and a slightly crispy outside.
Alas the ham was like sliced ham from a pack of 100 slices at Tesco, peppers and chicken were decent enough but it didn’t work well together as a dish. Why such basic ham?
Average boiled vegetables to the side with slightly tough and dry potatoes, but edible. The tomato sauce was pleasant but nothing special. Nothing really was apart from the name of the corner of the menu I ordered from.
Quick and friendly service, there was certainly a buzz about the place for 2pm on a Wednesday…if I run out of places to try then I might go back for pizza perhaps.
Another week another average caff near Paddington, Sandro’s Sandwich Bar, though at least this week I had a cold so I could spread it around as per corporate culture 2019…or corporate culture 2024.
But as long as the data knows I’m in the office, that’s what matters.
Sandro’s Sandwich Bar is highly rated on Google but I’m not sure why. There was a friendly welcome, and I paid just £6.80 for my toasted panini sandwich which is definitely reasonable…and they didn’t charge me for the privilege of sitting down. Bonus!
And another bonus…free vibrations from the tube line underneath…hmmm vibrations.
Yet otherwise it was just fine. Pleasant crispy chicken, some mozzarella, thin slices of manufactured chorizo and I think a tiny bit of spinach.
It’s ok. It’s affordable too. But don’t expect to be overjoyed.
Rating of 6.5. Could be one to try for a fried breakfast on a hangover perhaps.
They made me go back to the office. Aaaargh. But I made them go for lunch at Mihbaj a ha ha ha.
Starting my hopefully very occasional story of lunch spots around Paddington with a trip to @mihbaj which is a super cute Palestinian cafe on Pread Street.
No I didn’t choose to go to a Palestinian café because I’m woke and wanted to make a political point. I went because the food looked tasty. Don’t worry GB News fans, I might go to KFC next.
Confirm the chicken salad was as good as it looked, slightly spiced chicken, creamy avocado with lettuce, tomato and a dried pitta…. cannot say I’m fussed about dried pitta though.
Carrot, apple and orange juice was delightful too. No booze on offer…fine by me.
10 other colleagues were forced to join me but not one photographed their food. It’s 21st century…why you not photographing every meal? Most were happy though the food took a while to arrive…hence maybe not the spot for large groups on a tight 1 hour lunchtime turnaround.
Service helpful, plenty of options on the menu, some wraps to take away if you wish too.
Mihbaj was a good start to the adventure… maybe let’s give them an 8.0 out of 10.
Will there be a second post or will I decide to upset the CEO and refuse to come back to the office?
2026 update:
I went back!
On my own this time, the way I like my office collaboration days, commute by myself (and 1,000 other people in the same tube carriage), meetings by myself, desks by myself and lunch by myself. All so I can collaborate and bring that magic buzz of my silence to the office to make the CEO happy.
How on earth did I cope pre-pandemic? How on earth are others coping with 5 days a week in the office?
I totally didn’t learn my lesson from last time I visited Mihbaj, as I forgot how huge their portions were.
I went for the musakhan – because I wanted to try something new.
There was way too much food. Sure I didn’t need to eat it, and it was £21.00 so maybe that could have been a hint for me.
However, the chicken was really juicy – two sizeable chicken legs.
The caramelised onions didn’t taste that sumac-y, the onions on top added crunch.
And the flatbreads to bottom were very crispy in places, but also there was so much cooking juice from the chicken that they were luxuriously swimming in it. A tad too crunchy for my preferences.
It was another very, very good lunch – though I really need to remember how huge their portions are. My score is still an 8.00.
