• Added: 16th of March 2007
• Area: San Francisco
• Category: Restaurants

San Francisco 94105

NikoTheFinn said
Stunning sake and sushi
learn japanese, eat great sushi. that would be my summation of this place.

for some bizarre reason, the toilets have japanese lesson tapes playing in the background, so if you are bladderally challenged you will have the opportunity to pick up some key phrases that might come in handy. i was hoping to time my fourth visit to the little boys' room with lesson 6, "ordering at a restaurant", but unfortunately my timing was a little off and i had to make do with lesson 7, "buying a train ticket". imagine the surprise on the waiter's face when i fluently asked for a roundtrip to osaka instead of the soft-shell crab.

as for the food, which is really what you should be here for, it is amazing. expensive as a bugger, but fantastic. everything we ordered was perfect, and, as is always the case with sushi, we over-ordered quite significantly, so i have a lot of reference points to base that claim on. the sake was exquisite, but again, pricey. we ordered 2 small bottles of sake, and even asked for recommendations - the first one was $50 and the second $75! that'll teach me to order without checking the price first.

at the end of the night, we were satiated, slightly pickled, $300 poorer but hey, at least i learned that if i am ever stranded in yokohama i know i can make it back to tokyo on the bullet train.

• Added: 14th of March 2007
• Area: San Francisco
• Category: Restaurants

San Francisco 94111

NikoTheFinn said
Fantastic French
wow, great place! i've always been a sucker for french food anyway, but these guys just go above and beyond the call of duty in their eye for authentic detail, interesting menu options and impeccable service. all that was left wanting were the oh-so-sophisticated french accents.
the chef sent out a fantastically tender and juicy prawn appetizer on the house (though i have a feeling it was because i ordered a ludicrously expensive bottle of wine - you can't really get anything on the wine list for less than $50), which we followed up with a a very tasty starter that i can't remember, finishing off with a trio of rabbit meats that were just delicious. they had a great port selection for the post-dinner tipple, and made a pretty damn good latte too. you just can't go wrong with les amis, though be prepared to spend a good chunk of change, especially if you are going to make any kind of forays into the (extensive) wine list. highly recommended.

• Added: 26th of October 2006
• Area: York
• Category: Nightlife

York YO1 6JT
01904 620203

NikoTheFinn said
As far away from real toffs as can possibly be
more memories. like the gallery, this is just one of those ever-so-blurry images i have seared into my mind's eye in indelible (searing) ink. (yes yes, ink doesn't sear. but this ink does. so stop bitching.)

bottles of champagne won on numerous occasions purely for wearing a calvin & hobbes t-shirt. it's that kind of place. btu being a poor student i milked it for all it was worth, wearing one of my two (i'm not that skanky) calvin & hobbes t-shirts week in, week out. when it got to the stage that the dj was no longer spontaneously giving out the champagne for the t-shirt, i actually took to walking up to the dj booth to remind him of his duties under article 312.56(b) of the "dj at a crap club" declaration, i.e. don't start to get too big for your own damn boots.

i wonder if they're still giving out free champagne? i may have to rummage through my old clothes and see if i can pull out those calvin & hobbes t-shirts...

• Added: 26th of October 2006
• Area: York
• Category: Nightlife

York YO1 9RD
01904 647947

NikoTheFinn said
Them were the days...
aah, to be 20 and drunk again. for twas that that kept us going back and back and back to the gallery. always drunk before we got there, always approximately equally drunk when we left, on account of the horse's urine that they liked to call "beer". a sacrilege, if you ask me.

but what more can i say? happiness was so simple then, watching niggle roll rollie after rollie and sulk in the r&b/hip-hop "lounge" downstairs, looking down on all those young whipper-snappers making tits of themselves, but enjoying their pants off in the process. and then a rowdy rendition of robbie williams' "angels" to close the night off, all smiles and off-key chorus renditions and arms around shoulders, rubbing our youthfully pink and healthily inebriated faces in the armpits of the invariably sweat-drenched ouce100.

indeed, those were the days. i'm getting all misty-eyed just writing this.

but i still can't get myself to give this place more than one star.

• Added: 13th of October 2006
• Area: San Francisco
• Category: Restaurants

San Francisco 94111

NikoTheFinn said
Office lunch will never be the same again
just the best lunch place in the world. ever.

where to begin? salads made from whatever your heart desires, fresh fruit, gourmet sandwiches piled high with the toppings and fillings of your choice, hot meals of roasted meats, creamy mashed potatoes, tender asparagus, rich gravy. you can come here every single day of the week, week in, week out, and never have the same thing twice, that's how much choice they have.

this place is a veritable cornucopia of condiments, a hot food haven, a salad and sandwich sex shop.

and the prices are good too - about 6 bucks for a sandwich, and a hot meal will only set you back 8 greenbacks. the only two things going against this place (and these are minor niggles) are the long lines at lunch time and the fact that you can't eat in.

• Added: 13th of October 2006
• Area: San Francisco
• Category: Bars and Pubs

San Francisco 94111

NikoTheFinn said
English pub grub in California?
pretty decent pub grub (the alaskan halibut version of the traditional fish & chips was really quite tasty, and compared favourably with the real deal from england) and a good selection of beers and ales.

the one thing that pushes this venue to a four-star rating is the pool table downstairs, a feature i have been trying to find in the financial district for a while now. and there it is.

now don't you lot go hogging the table when i want to play a few frames after work, ok?

• Added: 9th of October 2006
• Area: San Francisco
• Category: Restaurants

San Francisco 94111

NikoTheFinn said
Great Greek Grub
when is going to the toilet at a restaurant as enjoyable an experience as eating in the aforementioned restaurant?

only when that restaurant (and accompanying toilet) is kokkari.

the toilets are just brilliant . you have to take an elevator downstairs to visit them, so for those of you who like to leave it to the last minute i recommend beginning your journey a little bit earlier than you usually do, just to make sure that you don't have an embarassing "incident" along the way, in full view of a hundred diners. once in the toilets, you are greeted by gentle greek muzak, a soothing lighting and colour scheme and tasteful pottery arranged in the classical greek style, on shelves above the urinals. i tell you, i spent a good extra minute there just enjoying the ambience, something i usually try to avoid in most toilets.

and as for the rest of the place, this greek restaurant is huge, and popular, and busy at lunch time, but somehow they manage to juggle all the guests and their needs with style and pizazz. the food was exquisite (stuffed calamari perfectly cooked, not chewy at all, and the lamb souvlaki succulent and tender and juicy) and, i would contend, for san francisco financial district prices, very reasonable ($15-$20 mains, $5-$8 appetizers). the waiters were plentiful and organised and friendly, and did the whole "and how are we enjoying our meals today?" visit after exactly two minutes and thirteen seconds into our main course, the exact right moment, i thought.

but really, who cares about the food and the ambience and the service when you have that toilet to look forward to? it's going to take some beating.

• Added: 28th of September 2006
• Area: New York
• Category: Arts and Culture

New York 10012

NikoTheFinn said
Best fake news site, ever
The Onion calls itself "America's finest news source", but they're being a bit modest there - i think they are the finest news source in both the whole wide world and the world wide web (excuse poor effort at WWW humour).

With headlines like "Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self" and "iranian Science Teachers May Be Enriching Students", this is one of the few places in America where you can enjoy those, until now mainly European, qualities of "satire" and "irony" (and no, the Brits don't have a monopoly on those).

• Added: 27th of September 2006
• Area: Kensington
• Category: Food and Drink

London W14 8PB
020 7853 7100

NikoTheFinn said
Big-ass supermarket
The Tesco store on Cromwell Road, about halfway between West Kensington and Earls Court tube stations, is one of the best i have ever been to. Of course it's big, but the main attraction of this store for me (apart from being really close to where i lived) is the fact that they do an excellent range of "exotic" foods, spices and condiments, a claim that most supermarkets can't make. Want to cook Chinese food? No problem, all the ingredients are here. Mexican? Good to go. Azerbaijani? i should think so (not that i ever tried). Yes, it's a big chain store, and yes, it undermines the efforts of small local grocers trying to sell local produce, but damn are they well stocked! And if you accidentally broke all the crockery in your cupboards, Tesco has that eventuality covered too. And a wide range of crappy childrens' DVDs to boot, just for good measure.

• Added: 27th of September 2006
• Area: Broadgate
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London EC2N 1HQ
020 7877 7842

NikoTheFinn said
Bar with a view
The Vertigo Bar at Tower 42 (the NatWest Tower) is a yuppie paradise. With an extensive wine list, a SECOND wine list for those who don't think they can spend enough money per bottle from the first wine list and a flunkie in the chrome and stainless steel toilet, this is the place to see London from up on high, and the place to be seen. When i was here (the one and only time), there was an indian business man, banker who just got his bonus i presumed, who was buying bottles of Cristal for two blonde ladies, hookers i presumed. i thought to myself: "why the Cristal? they're hookers, for crying out loud, you don't need to impress them!" instead he impressed me with his spendthrift and care-free ways.

But, if you fancy a quick (but expensive) drink in a bar with an unparalleled view of London, then this is a good place to check out.