Lone Star Restaurant in Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand

 We did a tour of the North Island of New Zealand, January 2025, featuring the Gisborne region around the waterside town, hardly a city, of Gisborne, which grows fresh fruit for miles, sold at Farmers' Markets.

We happened upon the Lone Star restaurant by lucky chance, sometimes called happenchance, or more grandly called serendipity. We were in Gisborne, a waterfront town, on a sleepy Sunday night, and we were hunting for a restaurant. New Zealand restaurants close early. Like Australia, I understand. End work at five. Drinks. Eat at six. Bed by ten. Up at six. Many are at work at seven in early daylight on the farm, or at school to teach by eight. 

Down on the waterfront we spotted lights and heard music.

I am partial to tasty food, large portions, and popular music so long as it is not too loud. At first sight, we were not in a gourmet restaurant, but an average pub style restaurant. Small wooden tables. The place dominated by old posters of old days. We identified long-dead American singers and guitarists in their heyday, my youth, in the nineteen sixties and seventies like a time warp. I later learned that lone star is the flag of Texas. The decor and food were not instantly New Zealand but American style - however, the food fulfilled my dream.

We heard music by Prince and Stevie Wonder.

Good choice - Chicken

I like chicken. This was not just chicken. The chicken was in the tastiest sauce. 

Perfect Pudding

Our marvellous meal ended in a dessert 'to die for', as the saying goes. Like treacle pudding, but better than the so-called modern puddings which often resemble insubstantial sponge cakes. Instead, what Lone Star is a lone supplier of, is - a proper, solid pudding. 

What is Lone Star? An American style brand name. The Lone Star is the flag of Texas. It had a lone or single star, the flag after achieving independence from Mexico. 

I wish we had lots of these Lone Star restaurants in London, like they do in New Zealand. The reason is that, according to their website, the restaurants were started in New Zealand in Tex-Mex style. They got my vote.

I think of it as a budget version of Hard Rock cafe, pictures of rock stars, music, food. Nobody troubled us for our next order. Nobody noticed what we wore. Nobody noticed us at all. It's not a gourmet place with silver service and napkins, a dress code, a booking system.

(We went to a smarter CRK around the corner the next night. Alert service. But for two days afterwards I wished I had eaten every meal every day at Lone Star.) 

Yes, the food is great. If you like American music, and good food, this is the place for you.

The restaurant decor featured famous US singers and bands and jokey posters. As the New York Yiddish phrase goes, what's not to like!

Useful Website

https://www.lonestar.co.nz/restaurants

Kiyoto Restaurant For Sushi, Soy Sauce And Japanese Surprise in London

Kiyoto Restaurant, Hatch End, Middlesex. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The Kiyoto sushi restaurant in Mill Hill was already a favourite of one branch of our family for a treat. Another couple have lived in the far east and eat sushi regularly as a lunchtime snack. So we were all agreed that the new restaurant branch, opened in July 2023 in Hatch End, north west London, would suit all of us. 

How do you remember the restaurant name, to look it up on public websites or in your own computer files? Kyoto is a pretty city in Japan, a former capital of the country. The word kyo (京) means capital (capital city) as in Kyoto. Kiyoto, spelled with the added vowel i,  is a boy's first name.

The restaurant menu has changed slightly this year, 2023. For those of us, like me, new to this chain, that made no difference. 

What did I like? Smiling service from two or three girls who helped us and beaming from the manager who came past to ask how everything was three times.

Which food did I like the most?  And least?

Starters - Seaweed!

Kiyoto restaurant. Seaweed. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

My seaweed starter was luminous, moist, translucent green strings. Not the crunchy dried seaweed I used to get in Chinese restaurants. This Kiyoto version is probably fresher and healthier but I have not yet acquired a taste for it. However, another member of the party loved it and finished it off. He said, "It's like cucumber."

Fortunately, the duck dumplings, soft and traingular pasta parcels with minced duck inside, a bit like ravioli, were served at the same time, enough to share. These suited me. They were my favourite and a favourite all round.

Main Courses 

The thick cut raw salmon. Pink. 

All our three set meals were on one large platter so that it looked large and appetising and suitable for sharing.

Kiyoto Japanese restaurant. Main course platter. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Delightful Desserts

The novelty desserts. The biggest success were the oval twisted deep fried fritters - with chocolate sauce. 

Disappointing Desserts

The three ice creams were mango, which did not taste of mango, strawberry which did not taste of strawberry, and chocolate which tasted less of chocolate than the chocolate sauce.

 All three were small, one or two bite size. Not melting like the ice cream I expected. Instead, solid, and, I frown at the thought, were encased in a rubbery, tasteless covering. Japanese food is famous for having subtle tastes. However, I like teriyaki and soy. But when I was expeting melt in the mouth ice cream I was not excited by something so subtle and small and chewy. However, I didn't like yogurt the first two times I tasted it. And when I was younger I did not like tomatoes, pickles, nor olives. Who knows? One day they might be my favourite and yours. 

Even so, both desserts were a novelty for me. Satisryingly,  the chocolate sauce was a good, sweet end to the meal.

Toothpicks, unwrapped, were provided on request.

What more could they have done? 

Something sweet with the bill.

Something memorable to take home, such as a fancy shaped address card. Explaining the namee of the restaurant on the menu or in a frame on the wall. 

A glossary.

Good Toilets

The toilets are on the ground floor, which is the case everywhere in Hatch End, which suits me. Modern, bright, black and white, gleaming and clean. Spacious. With plants. And wonderful sweet-smelling hand gel and lotion in two bottles. Full marks for the toilets.

Noise Level Helps Privacy

The restaurant was echoing and noisy. That suited us because it meant our two-year-old did not cause any annoyance or distraction to other diners. We had the circular window seat which was quite private and isolated with a partition. The tables are down both sides of the long restaurant with a wide space in the middle near the front door. 

Happy Hatch End

They were busy. So was Hatch End, teeming on a Saturday night. Another pearl in the necklace of restaurants circling the high street. A short downhill walk from Hatch End station which is on the Euston line in NW London. Several of the restaurants extended with outside tables for smokers. Then, some of them encased the outide area in glass sides and roofs. The result is double size restaurants, more happy people. 

Frontage

Looking back at my photo, I see the phone number on the restaurant fascia.

The front also shows a pair of chopsticks. You are automatically given disposable chopsticks. Good to learn how to use them. Watch out for splinters. Two of our group of five got splinters in fingers. 

Lessons Learned

1 Check chopsticks for splinters

2 Check Soy Sauce for salt and thickness

Soy Suace bottles come in two colours. Green top for less salt. red top for more salt. 

When buying sushi, you might get free sachets of soy sauce. The sachets given to you might contain watery soy sauce. 

The short pour on bottles contain thicker soy sauce. 

The huge gallon type containers contain a different thickness again. 

When buying or using soy sauce, check the label. Decide if you want the more flavoursome salty soy sauce, or if your diet requires you to choose less salt for health reasons.

Useful Websites

www.kiyotosushi.co.uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi

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Teta's Lebanese Restaurant In Belsize Park - Highlights and Low toilet

Teta's restaurant in Belsize Village, Belsize Park, London, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Teta's restaurant is in a quiet location, an easy, uphill walk away from the bustle and traffic around Finchley Road station. We had booked a table for ten, a family reunion, on the recommendation of a relative who is a regular diner there. 

The owner or manager immediately met us, quick to pull out the tables to give us access to the banquette at the back. We had a selection of dishes all tasty, with lots of vegetables, which is important to us as we are health conscious.

Our starters included hummus. I wanted to try the potato starter and the moussaka. But our food was chosen for the whole table by one of the group.

The toilet is down a steep flight of stairs. There is only one toilet. On the plus side, the soap dispenser and moisturiser were a good brand. You won't run out of toilet paper because they have spare rolls on the shelves.

We had kebabs of lamb and chicken. The pieces of meat were large. I am glad I ordered the chicken because the lamb was tough, so tough that I did not eat it.

Drinks

I was pleased to have Prosecco. The lemonade in a bottle, ordered for children aged 7 and 9, did not impress me. I would have liked to try the Turkish coffee.

Best of all? The desserts we bought to take home. We took two of each of the three types. I was not so fond of the little dome shaped pastry, rather hard, with a nutty centre. The moist syrupy cube was my favourite.

Leftovers

We had enough leftovers for two meals. They gave us takeaway boxes, and, when I asked, a paper carrier bag.

Useful Websites

https://tetaslebanese.co.uk/

tel: 0203 903 7010

Sunday to Saturday 12 noon to 10 pm.

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Patisserie and Desserts Display of Competition Contestants and Winners

 

Adarna. Tiers.

Cinderella.

Mushroom.

Character

Playing cards and clocks

Arresting gaze from a face

Where myth meets reality. Chinese/Asian motif. The products used by the professionals are displayed alongside the creations.

A collection of colours displayed in neat lines

Useful Websites

www.fhaHoReCa.com

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Secret Sweets and Sweet Treats - map and recipes of what you'll enjoy on holiday in Europe

Salzburger Nockerln from the Goldener Hirsch Restaurant, In Salzburg, Austria. 

Photo courtesy of the Salzburg tourist board.

Problem
What shall I eat next? What's for tea? The British are famous for having a sweet tooth. We consume more sugar per capita than any other country. (We also have notoriously bad teeth, say the Americans.) We have imported cakes, biscuits, desserts and ingredients from all over the world.

In England you can eat: Banoffee Pie. Danish pastries. Rice pudding. Spotted Dick. Sticky toffee pudding. Treacle Tart. Christmas Pudding (which the Americans eat all year as plum pudding). At Christmas time we import seasonal specialities such as Stollen from Germany.

But why not enjoy local desserts on holiday to add to your memories and kitchen repertoire all year. And we keep inventing new things. Christmas pudding with hidden fruit in the middle at Waitrose supermarket. What if you are going away for Christmas, New Year or next year, what can you try?

Which sweets (desserts) can you enjoy in Europe? A wonderful interactive map has been designed. Click on it and you'll see the top three favourite desserts in each country and find recipes.

The movers behind this idea are Thomson Lakes and Mountains. They are part of the TUI group, an umbrella organization which includes lots of famous travel companies who you have probably travelled with or passed in the High Street:

Anyway, back to the sweet treats.

Jessica Fairfax of Kaizen Search marketing has sent me a neat summary of what you will find in 9 hotspots of Europe. These include (I've re-ordered her list of countries alphabetically.)

Austria – 

If you’re in Salzburg, be sure to sample the Nockerl, a "dumpling-style dessert" iconic to Austrian cuisine. The powdered sugar dusting is meant to signify the snow-covered mountain peaks.

Belgium

Waffles. Made in a waffle iron. The American version of waffles is different.

France – 

The Clafoutis is the baked fruit dessert from Limousin packed with black cherries, supposedly derived from the Occitan word ‘fill’. Fill up, indeed!

Germany  - 

The Berliner Pfannkuchen is the dessert responsible for JFK calling himself a doughnut, which, while not strictly true, adds some humorous history to a tasty treat.

Italy - 

The nougat-like treat Mandorlato Torrone is local to a small commune named Cologna Veneta. The region in the Province of Verona even has its own annual nougat festival!

Portugal - 

Lisbon’s Bolo Rei is a traditional cake covered with candied fruit often eaten around Christmas time.

Slovenia

Spain – 

The Torrija serves up what is essentially a variation of French toast, originating over 500 years ago and often made with alcohol.

Switzerland.

Fondue. Not just cheese. Also strawberries dipped in hot chocolate.

Fascinating. I thought the JFK story was about a sausage. Oh, well. As the popular saying goes: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

Salzburger Nockerln
I can vouch for the splendour of a Salzburger Nockerln.

We hesitated to order it because it was expensive. But we had to try the local dish.

When we tried it, we were so delighted by it that we tried to track down the recipe. We could not find Salzburger Nockerln anywhere. Then we realised - that you simply look for Nockerln. When in Salzburg, call it Salzburger Nockerl.

I think the difference is that they serve it as one huge platter. It was a bit like a 'snow' with peaks of whipped white. When we ordered it, we were expecting to get a small plate each. The giant oval dish was enough to feed several.  After eating about a third, we were forced to give up.

We then had an awful thought. Maybe it was a platter for the whole restaurant!

Maybe we were supposed to have taken a small slice each. At the price we were charged per person, it would be a fortune if we were charged for three pieces each. Alternatively, if they were simply nice, they might be shocked by our ignorance and effrontery.

We called the waitress over. She told us that, no, the entire plate was for us. That explained the price.

The magic website:
www.secretsweets.com
http://www.secretsweets.co.uk/sweets/tarta-de-santiago

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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How to understand a menu in Romania

Problem
What is the vocabulary? How do I ask for something? How do I understand the answer?

Answer
Vocabulary is easy. translate with google and find words on Duolingo.

English - Romanian
breakfast - mic d e j u n
butter - u n t (notice the u and t in both words)
cake - t o r t a
cakes - torturi
cheese - branza
chocolate - c i o c o l a t a
cocoa - c a c a o - notice in English .O.OA but in Romanian .A.AO
coffee - c a f e a
dessert - deserturi
eggs - oua (there should be an accent like a bowl on the a. Although I have added the Romanian alphabet or keyboard to my Macbook preferences, I don't have the letters.
fruit(s) - f r u c t, /f r u c t e
juices - s u c u r i
knives - c u t i t e
pie - p l a c i n t a
sandwiches - sandviciuri
sugar - z a h a r (bowl shape accept on second a)
teas - c e a i u r i
water - a p a
wines -vinuri
yogurts - iaurturi

Romanian - English
cu - with
c u t i t e - knives
d e s e r t - dessert
iaurturi - yogurts
m e n i u r i - menus
m i e r e - honey (like miel, French for honey)
pahare - glasses
p l a c i n t a - pie
r o s i e - red / tomatoes
s a n d v i c i u r i - sandwiches
torta - cake
torturi - cakes
usturoi - garlic
v i n u r i  - wines

Do you want a newspaper while you are waiting?
z i a r e - newspapers

If you learn in Duolingo it reminds shows you the accents and if you mis one out it reminds you. The letters with accents are supplied under the box in which you type.

noi - we

N o i  a v e m means we have. However, the Romanian negative, n u  a v e m we don't have, sounds similar.

Tips
http://romaniatourism.com
https://www.duolingo.com/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,a author and speaker. See my other posts about
Romanian and other languages. Save useful posts and share links to your favourites.

Honey of a restaurant, Incanto, at Harrow-on-the-Hill

With some trepidation I went to Incanto Restaurant, Harrow-on-the-Hill because it had changed hands and had mixed reviews. I am glad to report that we had a delightful meal. Beyond the deli which overlooks the street is in the upstairs restart, secluded, but brightly lit by overhead windows. The mirror along one wall adds to the spaciousness.

We were immediately shown to our booked table. The dishes started with bread and oil served on a wooden platter. Then came the amuse gueule of white cheese creamed in a teeny shot glass. I assumed it was sweet but it was cheese. Tasty, like blue cheese.

My starter of pea soup had a line of fresh peas in the middle which was pleasing to the eye and mouth. Green asparagus contrasting with yellowy cream sauce was wonderful on the eye and tongue.

My main course of veal with creamed potatoes was pleasant. With three main dishes I was able to sample some of the thick steak and thick chips, as well as the third exotic looking main course of duck.

Honeycomb

Chocolate and fruit

Desserts
The highest point was the desserts.Chocolate with a melting middle and raspberries on the side. We'd seen it carried past and two of the three of us chose that. I oped to have something different on principle. By process of elimination I decided not to go for the cheeses, nor the mixed ice creams, although the flavours sounded lovely, and the dessert with meringue sounded just too sugary. That left me with a dessert which featured honeycomb. Wonderful.

For drinks I started with Prosecco. Can't go wrong. The other two shared a bottle of red wine. Too much for two, as one was driving. But the staff provided a cork so we could take the leftovers home. i had looked at the wine list earlier and noted a glass of muscat which did not appear on the dessert menu. So you have more options to go with your coffees, or instead, before or after.

The only disappointment was that although I had phoned earlier to point out that one of us had a birthday and to ask if we could have a candle, the person answering the phone had not noted this. I thought I'd also mentioned that 'The birthday boy is parking the car'.

However when the desserts had appeared without a candle, and nothing immediately after that, and the others were asking for the bill. I rushed back to the desk to ask where was the candle.

After a quick confab, that the desserts had already been served, somebody said, 'with the petits fours'. We had not ordered coffee which I presumed came with petits fours, but they brought another dessert with the honeycomb with a candle which was very welcome. We liked the petits fours of chocolate, soft nougat and ice cream.

Service from Irish Liz from Belfast was all smiles. We were all very pleased with our evening.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.