Tag: Community

T.E.D. Restaurant, Kings Cross, London

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word: Delicious
Food:  Really tasty dishes with a focus on seasonal, local and ethically sourced produce. Deservedly in Opentable’s top 100 restaurants in the UK for 2014
Service:  Effective although a little bit stretched at time
Presentation:  Nice simple décor, great colour palette, with pretty things to catch your eye. Simple unfussy food styling
Ambience:  When it’s busy, it’s really buzzy…great for a boozy supper with friends, not so for a romantic meal for two where you struggle to hear each other talk
Location:  A 3 minute walk from Kings Cross station.  The restaurant helping to lift the reputation of Caledonian Road, the southern end at least!
Value for money: Not too bad at just under £40 a head for two courses of really delicious food and a glass of wine. However, I’m still miffed at paying £14 for an entrée-sized Winter Salad, which has left an unpleasant taste in my mind
Worth a visit?:  Yes, for the delicious local and ethically sourced food and booze, just chose wisely!

TED Restaurant at the King’s Cross end of Caledonian Road is a great new-ish offering in the centre of town. Caledonian Road doesn’t have the greatest of reputations food-wise, however, It’s just a stones throw from King’s Cross station and on the better end of the road where cute little café’s have been popping up in recent years; Drink, Shop, Do and Pattern Cafe.

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The Skip Garden, Kings Cross, London

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word:  Enterprising
Food: Proper local, home grown, home cooked, rustic and full of flavour
Service:  Unobtrusive
Presentation:  Urban rustic, with skips! 
Ambience:  A little garden oasis
Location: Just take a stroll around the back of the King’s Cross station
Value for money:  Good, with profits going back into the initiative
Worth a visit?:  Get down there to support an awesome initiative and chow down on truly local fare!

The Skip Garden in Kings Cross regeneration area is a community gardening initiative that serves home grown, home made food from their onsite kitchen, the Hatch Café. The Skip Garden is an organic gardening initiative by Global Generation, a charity focused on skilling up youngsters by encouraging the values: I, We, The Planet; the development of the sense of self, of building community engagement, and taking a global perspective.

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Amba Estate, Ambadandegama near Ella, Sri Lanka

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word:  Refreshing
Food:  A delicious healthy change
Service:  Fantastic
Presentation:   Simple, elegant, no frills
Ambience:   Colonial calm
Location:  A little tea plantation house on the top of a hill overlooking the vibrant green Sri Lankan hills as far as the eye can see
Value for money:  Absolutely
Worth a visit?:  Yes, please go a visit these guys, buy as much tea and jam as you can carry in support of the Amba Estate, their business model and the initiatives they support.

We visited Amba Estate Tea Plantation near Ella in the Uva Central Provence of Sri Lanka on the back of a recommendation from a couple we’d met during our stay at Polwatte House in Kandy.  The couple talked about the estate’s ethos for sustainability, organics and community initiatives.  I was sold.  Amba Estate sounded right up my street so we booked ourselves in for lunch and a tour of the estate.

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