Monthly Archives: July 2010

Nico’s Cafe-Diner

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So my meandering lunch visits took me recently to Cambridge Heath Road, the border that divides lovely Stepney and Whitechapel. On the western side of this important traffic artery sits Nico’s Cafe-Diner, a little treasure trove of all things food. Not limited to the usual greasy spoon fare, they offer greek specialties, grilled bits and all sorts of other goodies.

The condiments are placed strategically at the heart of the table, like a group of Russian Energia rockets.

The eggbaconchipsandbeans is truly magnificent and clearly is so far the best I’ve had in the whole of London and now nudges Mr G off his long held number one spot as the best EBCB in the capital. Just look at this:

These are not chips, but lovingly sauteed potatoes hiding under this magnificent bacon and egg arrangement. The beans are almost hiding in shame, confronted with all this magnificence. The bacon and eggs are placed in a bit of an oppressive fashion, with the plebeic potatoes almost asking for more air. All in all an amazing display, and well worth every penny.

All hail our new favourite ebcb.

Bap vs The Boss

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If you ever wondered whether there’s a connection between a mediocre Rolling Stones tribute band from Cologne and The Boss, don’t look no further. Yes, that’s Bruce Springsteen hugging a sweaty German.

Astro Star Cafe

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Today my travels took my into the western East End and I was in need of breakfast. When I saw the sign, I knew this had to be tried. Who knows, the owner might be a famous science – fiction writer or an astrophysicist (or a Zoroastrianist).  The amazingly and appropriately named Astro Star Cafe is situated in the middle of hip and happening Bethnal Green in the almost East End of London (also colloquially known as the centre of the known universe). As you can see, the Cafe is rather blurry and has a distinctive right shift. A physical phenomenon directly attributable to its name.

The food is as great as the name of the place. After being greeted with a friendly smile at the counter (and they are so outworldly trustworthy that you don’t even have to pay in advance) you order and sit down and read your ipad Guardian. The food soon arrives, and my god, it’s gorgeous:

Look at the extact geometrical placement of the hashbrowns (it was a bit too early for chips) and the geometrically correct semicircle of this sea of beans. The egg looked like a fiery sun with a golden corona, just about to be attacked by the threatening crispy bacon. And delicious it was as well. The cafe was clean, the swearing factor of the punters moderate (about 3 f-words per minute on average) and service efficient and courteous.

I think I might use this as a permanent deep space docking station.

What to do with an Ipad

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So I had my Ipad now for 4 weeks, and it’s been an interesting experience, to say the least. People still stare at the thing (not so much at me, thanks heaven) when I fire it up on the train and can’t seem to be able to peel their eyes away from it. Initially I was a bit concerned about its potential uses and that I might have bought the most overprived email reader ever, but over the last 2 weeks or so I have slowly but surely started to appreciate its strengths.

So, what is it good for?

Reading

You might think that’s a bit obvious, but since you can import pdf’s into the book reader, I carry a lovely little collection of white papers, studies and manuals around with me that I can read at leisure on the train without showering everybody in paper. The ebooks available on iTunes are still a bit few and far between (not if you’re a Jeremy Clarkson fan though), but if you keep looking you can pick up some pretty good deals. Reading is a joy, especially on busy train rides, as you can use the iPad one handed and switch between pages with your thumb.

Video

Thanks to the iTunes store I now carry a 2 or 3 seasons of my favourite TV shows always around with me, which makes train journeys and flying much more fun. It’s also much easier to watch than with my Macbook. Try unfolding a Macbook on Ryanair or Easyjet! With a good set oh headphones you can forget the world around you and enjoy watching a group of total strangers hunting another group of strangers on a desert island after a planecrash.

Music

As a pure music player it’s a bit bulky, but if you’re reading anyway, it serves this purpose as well

Email and Web

With a zippy 3G connection or Wifi no complaints. Flash would be nice, though.

Everything else

I have suddenly started to take notes during meetings, as text entry is quite easy. Killer applications like Korg’s ielectribe halp with creating beats on the train.

Is it worth the 700 pounds? Likely not.

Is it oodles of fun: Definitely.

Should you have one? It depends. If you have a long commute on the train or if you travel regularly, definitely!

Otherwise, spend half the money on a decent netbook.