Charcoal Meze House

Charcoal Meze House

by | Jan 6, 2021 | Reviews

Charcoal Meze House

42 Woolwich Road, London, SE10 0JU

Home (charcoalmezehouse.com)

The Charcoal Meze House is a small and friendly Turkish restaurant that we have visited quite a few times and it is one that we will continue to frequent as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions have eased.

When we first noticed this establishment, it had only just opened about a month earlier and we were drinking in the River ale House on the opposite side of the road. Being a bit of a geek, I googled it to see reviews on the place and was a bit sceptical when it had quite a number of good reviews and they all gave them a five-star rating.

With a cautious and sceptical mind, we crossed the road, went in sat down and waited to see what would unfold.

The service was first class, and the staff and management were very friendly and attentive, and the food was great. At the end of the meal, we were offered a Turkish coffee on the house which just topped off the evening.

At the end of the evening I was sold, and the scepticism was dismissed, and I also gave them a good Google review as well as a five star rating.

Lockdown 3

Lockdown 3

by | Jan 6, 2021 | Corona Virus

Today is the first day of the third national lockdown and the government has set it down in law for it to be enforced until March 31st. Although they say that this lockdown will not go on that long and we will probably ease the restriction sometime in early to mid-February. I am not so sure.

It is just the same as tier 4 restrictions but with the added element of the schools closing.

The Greenwich council was ahead of the game here as just a few weeks ago they tried to close all the schools in the borough of Greenwich for a period as they could see that the new variant of the virus was spreading like wildfire via the schools. Unfortunately, they caved in after the education secretary Gavin Williamson threatened them with legal action.

It is all well Boris pontificating about how safe the kids are at school, and about that he may be right, but what about the poor teachers and the parents and grandparents who come in to contact with their asymptomatic contaminated kids.

The London Borough of Lewisham has highlighted this with two teachers dying of the virus within the last few days, and it has been estimated that school staff are six times more likely to catch the virus than the rest of the ordinary population.

Last month I knew of a few people that I know who had tested positive, but this month that figure has increased dramatically and with the latest estimate that 1 in 30 Londoners are testing positive with the virus I am not surprised.

New year, new hope.

New year, new hope.

by | Jan 2, 2021 | Community

Well, there you go. Ringing in the new year 2021 while wishing good riddance to 2020, celebrated with the usual pyrotechnic display but this time from various clandestine locations along the Thames, including one at Greenwich just by the O2.

This time with the addition of precision drone formations creating spectacular aerial displays that I personally thought outshone the actual firework displays. I hope we see more such displays in the future.

To say 2020 has been a shit year would be an understatement in most people’s eyes, and we can only hope that throughout 2021 things will gradually get back to a sense of normality.

Cattleya Restaurant

Cattleya Restaurant

by | Dec 29, 2020 | Eating Out, Restaurant, Reviews

,Cattleya Restaurant

Well, Christmas is over. Nothing happened, we just stayed in as we were instructed to do by our glorious leaders and adhered to the tier 4 rules. We stayed home, ate a lot, drank a bit more than usual and connected to our families via Zoom and WhatsApp.

I honestly do not think I can stand another year like this.

One of the few enjoyments over the Christmas period is when after you have had a Christmas left over roast for the third day in a row and you are sick and tired of washing up for the umpteenth time is to call out for a takeaway.

No pots and pans or roasting trays to scrub out and all you need to washup are two forks, two knifes and two plates. Heaven.

This is leading me into my first review, and I will review this place as I usually visit this place when it’s not in lockdown or tier 4 shutdown almost weekly, and we’ve been going there for over 12 years, and lately making use of their take-away service.

Cattleya Restaurant –  52 Charlton Church Lane, London SE7 7AB

Cattleya Thai Restaurant and Takeaway in Charlton, South East London (cattleyarestaurant.com)

It’s a Thai restaurant that also does basic Spanish tapas menus, as before it was a Thai restaurant it was a tapas café called Chu and Cho, and since the tapas side of the business was so popular with the locals, they decided to incorporate it into the Thai restaurant.

Over the years the menu has changed a little but not much and you will find all the usual Thai dishes found in many other Thai establishments.’

Before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, they would have monthly live music in the form of ‘SE7’ an amateur band formed of local musicians associated to the East Charlton residence association, playing on an ad-lib basis. Before ’SE7’ there were other local acts the Los Dawson’s and Gus Glen.

When we made a trip to Thailand, we deliberately compared the authentication of the food in Cattleya to the local establishments in Bangkok and Phuket and I was pleased to confirm the food was very genuine, although it has been noted that over the last few years, they have toned down slightly the heat and spiciness in some of the dishes to accommodate a more British palate.

The owner Nittaya these days leaves most of the front of house duties to others whilst doing the actual cooking especially now that the take-away side of the business is escalating due to the pandemic.

I would recommend this restaurant highly to anyone when you can eventually start going there again. In the meantime enjoy their takeaway service on Deliveroo.

Greenwich Review Blog

Greenwich Review Blog

by | Dec 22, 2020 | Uncategorized

Like everyone else, I and my wife will probably be Skyping or Zooming or using some video conferencing app to stay in touch with the family, and just hope that with a large portion of the globe in some sort of restriction the internet doesn’t crash under the weight of hundreds of millions of video calls all happening at once. I bet it does.

 

All the pubs and restaurants are closed and I do not think it right to review and judge any restaurant or dining establishment on the quality of their take away service so, reviews will commence once some near-normal service has been resumed, although I can and will be giving reviews on establishments that I use quite a bit and can give an honest judgement (In my view) about the establishment. 

 

 

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Blog

 

Launch day

 

 

 

Here we are just 3 days into tier 4 covid-19 restrictions (a lockdown by any other name) and it’s depressing. Come Christmas day we cannot see our families or share a fantastic meal with them, but that’s life at the moment.

 

Like everyone else, I and my wife will probably be Skyping or Zooming or using some video conferencing app to stay in touch with the family, and just hope that with a large portion of the globe in some sort of restriction the internet doesn’t crash under the weight of hundreds of millions of video calls all happening at once. I bet it does.

 

All the pubs and restaurants are closed and I do not think it right to review and judge any restaurant or dining establishment on the quality of their take away service so, reviews will commence once some near-normal service has been resumed, although I can and will be giving reviews on establishments that I use quite a bit and can give an honest judgement (In my view) about the establishment. 

 

 

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog

 

Launch day

 

 

 

Here we are just 3 days into tier 4 covid-19 restrictions (a lockdown by any other name) and it’s depressing. Come Christmas day we cannot see our families or share a fantastic meal with them, but that’s life at the moment.

 

Like everyone else, I and my wife will probably be Skyping or Zooming or using some video conferencing app to stay in touch with the family, and just hope that with a large portion of the globe in some sort of restriction the internet doesn’t crash under the weight of hundreds of millions of video calls all happening at once. I bet it does.

 

All the pubs and restaurants are closed and I do not think it right to review and judge any restaurant or dining establishment on the quality of their take away service so, reviews will commence once some near-normal service has been resumed, although I can and will be giving reviews on establishments that I use quite a bit and can give an honest judgement (In my view) about the establishment.