ASK Italian, Canterbury

ASK Italian is an Italian cuisine chain with mediocre food.

Mushrooms Al Forno (£5.95)

We decided to order the mushrooms as a starter and I'd say it was the best dish of the night. Mushrooms were pretty fragrant with the garlic, and I liked the cold garlic mayo as well. The cheese didn't really give it much of an extra punch though.

Ravioli Marittimi (£11.96)

The ravioli lacked a proper sauce base and while it does taste a bit of seafood, the filling lacked of its individual components inside. Meshed up into one, it only felt like some kind of normal mushy crab/prawn filling. I did like the ratio of the pasta and the filling though. King prawn was alright but it didn't taste very fresh. 

Linguine Con Fruitti Di Mare (£12.50)

The most disappointing dish of the night. Like the previous pasta dish, there was hardly any sauce at all and it was very dry and also very, very bland. The seafood in the dish were overcooked and there were many empty clam shells much to our disappointment.

Margherita + Mushrooms + Seasoned Chicken (£7.95 + £1 + £1.50)

Dough felt soggy, and the overall dish just lacked flavour.

Ham and Scamorza Cheese + Marinated King Prawns (£13.50 + £1.50)

The flavour of the overall dish was alright, however the king prawns were a little under cooked.

Chocolate Etna (£6.75)

Dessert was a bit better than everything else. It wasn't too sweet nor bland, much to my liking, but the dark chocolate cup didn't melt like it should have and I couldn't even properly crack it although I tried hitting it multiple times with a metal spoon. Ice-cream inside was also pretty much completely melted, though that may be due to our request for a lighted birthday candle. But most importantly the flavours were alright so I'll give this a pass.

Service was honestly not that great, but it wasn't horrible. We used a 25% discount code, but I still do find the prices quite pricey given the quality of food we were served. The food was quite disappointing so I don't think I'll be returning.

Prices: Quite pricey

Delivery: Yes (Deliveroo)
Cash/Card: Both

Personal Recommendation: No

http://www.askitalian.co.uk

24 High Street
Cannterbury
CT1 2AY

OPENING HOURS:

MON-THURS & SUN : 11.30am-10pm
FRI & SAT : 11.30am-11pm

Padella, London

Padella is just located right next to Borough Market.
It is an Italian restaurant that serves inexpensive fresh pasta daily.

My friend and I dropped by around 11.15am on a Saturday to find that there were already people queuing, we decided to only come back at 12pm and found ourselves caught in a long line.

Photo taken from the outside of the restaurant.

Note that the menu changes from time to time.

Tangliarini with slow-cooked tomato sauce & Confini olive oil 2016 (£6.50)

A very simple pasta dish with no meat or whatsoever, yet very, very tasty. Pasta was nice and chewy, the tomato sauce was fresh and very fragrant. It tasted really fresh and had the right balance between sweet and sour. I don't think it was served with cheese (I didn't see or taste any) but I think it's better that way because it may kill the freshness of the tomato sauce.

Pappardelle with 8-hour Dexter beef shin ragu (£9)

I'm not a huge fan of beef but the flavor of the overall dish was really rich, pappardelle was well-cooked like the previous dish, nice and chewy. 

Pear & almond tart (£4)

The tart however is quite lacking. I wasn't able to taste the pear and almond, it mostly just tasted like a normal sweet tart. I did manage to find a small piece of pear after eating around 3/4 of the tart but that was pretty much it. I wished there was more pear, it would have been a lot better.


Good service, fantastic pasta, but I'd recommend to avoid the dessert. For a place that serves quality fresh pasta and a place in central London, I personally find the prices very affordable.



Prices: Inexpensive

Delivery: No
Cash/Card: Both

Personal Recommendation: Yes

http://www.padella.co

6 Southwark Street
London
SE1 1TQ

OPENING HOURS:

MON-SAT : 12pm-4pm, 5pm-10pm
SUN : 12pm-5pm

Café Rouge, Canterbury

Hellooo! Been awhile since my last post!

No excuses honestly.

I have been busy but honestly I've been very lazy at the same time.

I wasn't planning to write this post so I didn't really bother with taking other photos or trying out the other dishes my friends ordered, but I changed my mind so here's just a short post for today.

So back with another food review - this time on Café Rouge!

A chain bistro that serves French food.

So first off...

Many many thanks to the birthday girl (2nd from the left) for dinner! :)

I'm not very familiar with French cuisine so I'm not sure if certain things were supposed to be the way it was, but here's my opinion on the dishes I've tried.

Soufflé (£6.35)

The salad didn't make much sense to me, I didn't think it needed the vegetables but the apple slices were nice. The soufflé just didn't really seem or feel like one... But then again I haven't had that many soufflés yet in my life. The taste however was pretty good, the slight sweet and sourness of the apple and pear chutney nicely cuts through the savory cheese taste as well. 

Saumon (£13.75)

Everything on this dish was average. The issue I had with it however was how the bits of lemon were just thrown onto the plate like that. The description did say "lemon" but this was not what I was expecting. I thought they would have had the lemon on the side for us to squeeze it. I tried pairing the lemon with the potatoes, with the spinach, with the salmon, nothing seems to work for me, it was just extremely overpowering and sour.

Service was alright, but they seemed a little understaffed.

I saw only 2 people running around trying to serve I think 5-6 tables and even then they seemed really occupied. Service was a tad bit slow at the beginning too, but it got a bit better after awhile.

I'd say that the food isn't amazing but it isn't terrible.

This probably isn't a place that I would choose to dine in on my own accord unless I'm in the mood to but it's not so bad that I would try hard to stay away from it.

Will I visit again? Not on my own will, but yes, I would be willing to.

Prices: A bit pricey for the quality.

Delivery: Yes (Deliveroo)
Cash/Card: Both

Access to Toilet: Yes

Personal Recommendation: Worth a try.

http://www.caferouge.com/
01227 784984

Unit 3 & 5 The Link
Longmarket
CT1 2JS Canterbury

OPENING HOURS:

MON-SAT : 9am-11pm
SUN : 9am-10.30pm

Chimichanga, Canterbury

Chimichanga is a Mexican restaurant with 34 other branches across the UK.

I'd say that they have the atmosphere and interior done right for a Mexican restaurant.

We went in a small group of 3.

Chimichanga's Sauces.

We tried all 3 of them, and it feels a bit too diluted. We don't think the spiciest one (The HOTTER one) is spicy either, but it may differ for others because again, we do enjoy, and take spicy food quite well. The waitress commented on how we were brave to have chosen The HOTTER one for the chicken on our Sharing Platter (look below).

TEX+MEX Combo (£12.99)

The bacon and jack cheese potato skins were our favorites on the platter. The jalapeno bullets were packed with sour cream inside and it overpowered the taste of it. Spring rolls tasted alright and I'm not sure if it was intentional but the pastry didn't seem crispy enough to me for it to be a spring roll. Calamari was nicely cooked, complemented well with the chipotle mayo. I liked the cook on the chicken wings as well, it was tender and the skin was a little crispy, but I'm not a big fan of the sauces.

Chimichanga with Spicy Pulled Pork (£12.99)

"Fried" tortilla was a little soggy. The pork was alright but not great. The guacamole for me was pretty bad, the onions came off way too strong and I could hardly taste any avocado.

"Spicy rice" was very bland and underwhelming.

Enchilada with Spicy Pulled Pork (£12.99)

The rice, similarly, was bland.

I thought that this was better than the Chimichanga though, the cheese definitely did save the dish.

Mexican Paella (£13.49)

This dish was quite a let down as well.

It had a similar texture and taste to microwaveable rice that you can get from Tesco. 

Churros (£5.99)

Really light and nice, doesn't feel oily and doesn't have the oily aftertaste either.
However it definitely did lack cinnamon.
The caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream did complement the churros well though.


Service was good, staff were really friendly and interacted with us.
However, the starters and main courses disappointed.
We didn't think that the food was worth the price we paid.
Thankfully though, the churros turned out pretty good because that was the reason why we went into Chimichanga in the first place.

Don't think I will be returning again unless I feel like having churros.



Prices: Expensive

Delivery: No
Cash/Card: Both

Access to Toilet: Yes

Personal Recommendation: No

http://www.chimichanga.co.uk

01227 459550

29 High Street,

CT1 2AZ Canterbury.

OPENING HOURS:

SUN-THURS : 11.30am-11pm
FRI-SAT : 11.30am-11.30pm

Saint Smokeys BBQ House, Canterbury

So this is my third visit to Saint Smokeys, and they've never disappointed.

There are seats in and out of the place but I suggest that you pick a seat outside if you don't want your clothes to smell because of the open kitchen, but I don't think you would really want to do that in the cold during winter.

Saint Smokeys going a little festive for Christmas.

You're expected to order at the counter yourself,

but they'll bring your food to you if you're seated.

Service is quite alright. Since it's half self-serviced,

there's nothing much I can say about it but they do have friendly staff. :)

Saint Smokey's 1/4 Chicken Meal, with 1/2 rice & 1/2 chips (£7)

I think that it's quite fairly priced for the portion and quality of food.

The meal comes in a paper box with a wooden knife and fork.

They'll provide a serviette and wet napkin as well.

PS. Please do be nice and throw the used items to the bin by yourself after your meal! :)

I've always ordered rice and side salad in the past because the menu says "Rice or Chips and Corn or Side Salad". Forgot to choose my vegetables and said "Saint Smokey's 1/4 Chicken Meal with rice and chips", intended to order the chips as sides but it turned out as 1/2 rice and 1/2 rice on the receipt.

Didn't know that was an option, I'll be sure to order like that from now on.

I can't exactly remember how many sauces there were- 3 to 4 of them I think? The ones I remember of are sweet, hot and extra hot. I chose the one that was extra hot, but I generally enjoy spicy food and I'm quite good with it so if you're not good with spicy food, you'll be better off choosing the milder ones.

Chicken was really good. Not the most tender, but it complements well with the dish. It has a nice smokey flavor to it, I loved the sauce and the rice had a nice grainy texture. Chips were nicely done, but it gets a little soggy after awhile because of the sauce.

Waiting time's around 15-20 minutes.

It's written down somewhere at the counter. If you're really, really hungry, I suggest that you find some other place to dine in, or perhaps you can try calling in to order beforehand?

I'm not really sure if that's possible but you can try.

It's worth the wait though!

They have their menu online so you can check it out on their website if you're interested.

Will definitely return again!

Prices: Moderate/Inexpensive

Takeaway: Yes

Delivery: No
Cash/Card: Both

Access to Toilet: Yes

Personal Recommendation: Yes

http://www.saintsmokeys.co.uk/

01227 769027

17-18 The Borough, 

CT1 2DR, Canterbury

OPENING HOURS:

MON-WED : 12pm-10pm

THURS-SAT : 12pm-11pm

SUN : Closed