February started with visits from two sets of friends, which gave us an excuse to eat out a fair bit as two of the girls were pregnant and so pubs & clubs were out!
The first week of February we went to the Salt Yard (full review to follow) and then the following evening I took them for their first Byron Burger - I should be on commission for the place - which they both loved.
Later that week, I squeezed in a visit to meet a friend near Victoria and before drinking far too much and dancing badly in a dodgy club, I had a decent meal at the The Queen's Arms in Pimlico.
A good sized and tasty pork chop, which was only let down by the fat not being properly crisped and an excellent sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel ice-cream (though they could've been more generous with the icecream). The pub had a good selection of real ales in the pub and it's worth a look if you're in the area.
The next day was a trip to Polpofor lunch. It's the first time i've been and I enjoyed it much more than my visit to Polpetto. Favourite dishes were the mushroom piadina and the duck ragu. The restaurant was buzzing and it was a relaxed, enjoyable meal with good food. I'll be back...
We then crossed the road to Yu-Foria for some frozen yoghurt. The toppings were very good (I had Oreo's and choc-mint sprinkles) but at the end of the day it's just not as good as proper ice-cream!
On the evening we went to the Crack Comedy comedy club in Wimbledon. As part of the deal you got a two course meal at the local Thai place - Mae Ping. Normally these offers result in some pretty dodgy food, but I was really impressed with the quality and portion size of what we were served. The chicken satay was especially good and came with a spicy peanut dip. They have five branches across south London and I'd definitely go back to try the full menu.
I had my first trip to Tas on The Cut near Waterloo with some work colleagues and, like Mae Ping, was pleasantly surprised. It's a Turkish restaurant and we went for a meze style selection of dishes that we all shared. Everything came served with some excellent warm pitta bread and the best dishes were the fresh cold starters, such as the humus and aubergine with chickpeas. There were a few mistakes with the meat and fish dishes (mussels were badly overcooked and chewy) but overall it was a decent meal and good for a works outing where there should be something for everyone to enjoy.
Everton beating Chelsea in the FA Cup resulted in an unplanned 8 hour drinking session in Victoria. Memories of the evening are a bit blurry, but I do remembering drinking too many Jager bombs with a random group of Americans and these amazing, 10 inch pork scratchings from a pub that I can't find via google. If anyone recognises them then let me know!
Amazing pork scratchings, but where did I have them?!