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The Queensbury Kitchen – NW London’s fab new All Day Bar and Grill

April 19, 2015 by manjirichitnis 2 Comments

First impressions of walking out of Willesden Green Tube station is of a quite suburb where even the high street seems welcoming and not maddeningly crowded.  My reason for venturing into a leafy suburb in NW London that evening – an invitation to attend a bloggers review dinner at The Queensbury Kitchen – a New All Day Bar and Grill which opened to the public late last year.

We had the long central communal table with high stools reserved for the evening and a tempting selection of cocktails to start with.

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I loved the interiors which seamlessly incorporate the industrial chic feel with the understated. White tiles, rustic tables , a turntable sitting in the corner belting out numbers on the L.P’s,  tungsten filament bulbs illuminating the tables add a cosy touch this lovely new grill and bar.

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The Mango Chilli Caiprisoka (£7) is just what you need to unwind after a long day , the sweet and sour taste of fresh mango slices work fabulously well with Vodka and the chilli gives your palate a sharp kick neatly balanced by the chilled ice and lime wedges. If you want to try something quirky I recommend the Evergreen cocktail, avocado and alcohol why not!

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First up we were served several sharing platters with BBQ Chicken (for £15 you get a whole organic chicken in a selection of 3 fab sauces – BBQ, Cajun and Bloody Mary!), Blackened Salmon (£9) and mini burgers (£7) – both regular and chickpea and feta too.

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Then followed mixed leaf salads (£3) , sweet potato fries (£4) and onion rings  (£3). When the Macaroni cheese (£4) came along, it was like nothing else on the table mattered – I thought it would start a war at the table 😉

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If that is making you salivate , you can well imagine what happened when the ribs came to the table . I had waited all evening to try the  the pièce de ré·sis·tance and I wasn’t disappointed. Not bad for £15 huh?

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Though we were sure that we wouldn’t be able to eat another morsel, one look at the desserts and our defenses crumbled. After all platters of cheescake, brownies with ice cream and tall ice-cream sundae glasses are simply impossible to resist right? Just £5 each too 😉

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And it’s not just British classics and Quirky cocktails that they do well, they also serve up a good selection of breakfast menu options at great prices, am talking Eggs Benedict/Royal or Eggs Florentine for £6 – now why not go get yourself a lazy breakfast or brunch with freshly brewed coffee this weekend? Go on, you know you want to!

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This is another one of those epic review dinners that I will always remember for the fabulous food, great company, brilliant staff, fab service and the Chef for spoiling us with a great selection of food. A special mention to the PR agency and all their team members that went our of their way to make the each one of us feel well looked after, making for a really comfortable and enjoyable evening.

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So if it’s great evening out with your friends or simply chilling out with your colleagues after work that your after then head to The Queensbury Kitchen, it’s a stones throw away from the Willesden Green Tube station and good on your pocket too. Am thinking new favourite watering hole on Friday nights for those around Waterloo . Well, you got to try the ribs and the punchy Mango and Chilli Caipiroska atleast once to know what I am talking about!

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*With  thanks to Fiona who blogs at London Unattached  for inviting me for a great evening out also the PR Agency and The Queensbury Kitchen. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own. All images used were provided by the PR agency.

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Filed Under: Lifestyle, Restaurant Reviews Tagged With: avocado, BBQ Chicken, Blackened Salmon, brownies with ice cream, Cajun and Bloody Mary, cheescake, chickpea, chilled ice, communal table, Evergreen cocktail, feta, food blog, food writer, foodie in London, industrial chic feel, lifestyle blogger, lime wedges, Macaroni cheese, Mango Chilli Caiprisoka, mango slices, Manjiri Chitnis, Manjiri Kulkarni, Mediterranean, mini burgers, mixed leaf salads, onion rings, reviews from travelsfortaste blog, ribs, sour, sweet, sweet potato fries, taste, The Queensbury Kitchen - All Day Bar and Grill, travel blogger, travel writer, travelsfortaste, understated, vegetarian salad, vodka

Christmas Pudding

December 31, 2012 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

Last year we had a supermarket pudding , the intense flavours, the dry fruits steeped in alcohol the soft delicious feeling of putting a spoon through a perfectly set pudding on christmas night ummmm… I decided that the next time I MUST make one at home !After sifting through a few recipes I knew it had to be Nigella’s Ultimate Christmas pudding.

I have now promised myself that I shall plan months ahead and soak the sultanas much in advance but well this year I soaked the sultanas and a nut mix for 2 nights in sherry. The variations in ingredients recommended by Nigella are my use of a regular apple, supermarket sherry and a currant and dry fruit mix off a shelf. But the resultant mixture and the process of slow steaming gave me a deep rich colour, a lovely texture and 2 yes two puddings instead of one and that is what was the MOST satisfying part of this process! Landing up with 2 awesome well set perfect puddings , one to eat at home and one to share with a special close pal made christmas special 🙂

Oh yes and a big thank you to Lakeland for making such an awesome product, my pudding steamer with a lid that fits so well and is really easy to clean. The pudding just slipped out after a gentle tap and sigh…. I couldn’t stop admiring the perfect shape, the dark colour …I almost burst into song !

Well now for the list of Ingredients:

  1. 150 grams prunes – mine were soaked in syrup and came from a cam but they served the purpose just the same, I squeezed the syrup out before adding them to the sultanas.If yours are out of a packet they need to be snipped into smaller bits.
  2. 150 grams sultanas
  3. 150 grams currants or a currants and nut mix for puddings available in all leading supermarkets.
  4. 175 ml sherry of your choice
  5. 100 grams plain flour
  6. 125 grams white breadcrumbs
  7. 150 grams suet – I used beef suet, if you are considering a vegetarian option I haven’t used vegetable suet , if anyone has tried it please share your experience.
  8. 1/4 ground cloves
  9. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – I used a ready-made powder
  10. 3 medium eggs
  11. 150 grams dark muscovado sugar
  12. 1 teaspoon baking powder
  13. 1 lemon large zest and juice
  14. 1 cooking apple (ideally) peeled and grated , I used 2 small red apples.
  15. 2 tablespoons honey
  16. 125 ml Vodka

Method:

  • This mixture gives 2 full-sized puddings , I have a 1 litre pudding steamer with lid from Lakeland and I had enough to make two full-sized puddings.
  • I must say our pudding is still sitting on a plate as I type this on the last day of 2012 , it’s asking to be microwaved and gobbled with some Remy Martin laced cream lying in fridge left over from Christmas, we had it Champagne cream on Christmas day and I assure you we had a feast and some very sleepy house guests after that …yes made me chuckle with satisfaction too.
  • Mix the sultanas,prunes and currants into a large bowl and let them steep in sherry overnight or upto a week. I let them soak for 2 nights.
  • When you are to start making the pudding mix take another large bowl and add all the ingredients in any order and then stir in the soaked sultana mix, scooping all of it off from the bowl.
  • Fill a large saucepan with enough water such that your pudding basin is soaked in it and use butter to grease the pudding bin and the lid as well.
  • Add the mixture into the basin and steam for 5 hours, checking ever so often and add some water to the saucepan. I must add that my pudding basin lid fits real well and after 5 hours were done it was quite easy to remove the basin from the saucepan and leave it aside to cool . No tying of strings , no foil and no danger of burning, besides like I mentioned cleaning is a breeze.
  • Keep aside your wonderful pudding which is done now, I peaked inside and it looked so good I had to really take a deep breath and stop myself from turning it onto a plate and start digging right it, but NO it’s meant for the Big Day!
  • Ok so now on D-day, steam the pud in its basin for 3 more hours, yes I trust Nigella’s recipes and hence the success for me a first time pudding maker 🙂
  • Well after it has had its steam and had cooled to an extent when you can open it and turn it on to a serving dish , it needs a gentle tap this basin and Viola! a rich dark well set pudding is there for you to admire and show off.
  • I did not add any charm before I started to steam it and I did not flambe’ it either but by all means use vodka and flambe’ to impress your guests !

Do leave your comments !

The sultana currant and prune mix in sherry Ground some CinnamonThe SuetThe mix is almost ready to go into the basinTa - Dah ! Here it is !Sigh, Pudding Perfection , I loveeed making this !Thanks Nigella!

 

 

Filed Under: Desserts, Food, Recipe Index Tagged With: apple, breadcrumbs, christmas, currants, easy food, flambe', follow me, food pictures, foodblog, grate, honey, Lakeland, Merry Christmas, Nigella Lawson, pudding basin, sherry, suet, sultanas, tasty, Ultimate Christmas Pudding, vodka, well set, yummy

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