York – Hotels & Holidays – Hotels
If you’re tired of over-elaborate hotel rooms and service offerings then you’ll absolutely adore the York Central Micklegate Travelodge.  It’s also ideal if you’re keen on visiting the Reflex 80′s bar, which is conveniently located right across the road.
You certainly wouldn’t stay here under any other circumstances.  Although, in its defence, the shower worked.
There’s not a great deal to say – the room was a basic rectangular affair, with 2 utilitarian coat hanging nubs protruding from the wall.  The end of the room featured …

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurant – Spanish
So, from what we can gather, this place is located on the site of a former burrito joint – and its new incarnation is… a Spanish place, which does burritos!
(I’m reviewing this place purely on the strength of its burritos, by the way – couldn’t comment on the rest of what’s available, although the chicken looked nice from what we could see)
Fans of convenience and thrift will probably enjoy Padron if they work in the neighbouring area, but it’s not somewhere that …

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurant – Italian & Pizza
The plan was to meet at the pub next door, then pop over to Ciao Bella for a low-key bite.  And what an experience!  There’s seldom a vibe that can be matched by a bustling cheery Italian restaurant – this place was absolutely heaving, filled with happy, chatting people and fuelled by the boisterous waiters rushing about despatching plates to tables with a certain brash informality.
The piano player was over on one side of the room, standing behind …

Bristol – Eating & Drinking – Fastfood & Takeaway
It’s hard to really know what the best part of a McDonald’s visit is – we got back from the Bedminster branch about an hour ago, and I can say with honesty that I certainly don’t feel like eating anything else for quite some time.
It’s been so long since I’ve been to one – I’d forgotten the level of artistry that the place embodies.  The photographs of the food on the menus match the presented product only under the most exact lighting …

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurant – Japanese & Sushi
For someone with “tapas baggage”*, the idea of a “tapas style” place can be fraught with angst and a sense of impending disaster.  Although as Tapasia describes itself as “Japanese Tapas” the agony’s a little lessened…  after all, sushi and sashimi are easily shareable small-portion format food.
Initially I was a little hesitant about the place, I’ll admit – walking past a well-stocked cocktail bar, we wondered if this was going to be a bar which did a sideline …

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurant – Other Asian – Korean
Having worked in the area for a while, Kimchee is typically referred to as a landmark with the description, “That Korean place that always has the queues out the front”.  If you have the good fortune of spending any time inside, the reason for the queues becomes abundantly clear.
It’s really, really good.
I’ll readily confess that I didn’t really notice the names of all the dishes and drinks that were flying around the table, but that’s possibly no bad …

London – Eating & Drinking – Cafes & Coffee Shops
Damson Café replaces a fairly forgettable Italian bistro, and though some might claim that this area’s already got loads of choice where coffee is concerned I think the addition of Damson is no bad thing!
Even on a murky day it’s a bright, airy space which would be pleasant to sit in – sadly I was in a rush and had to take my cortado and muffin away.

The range of food on offer all looked lovely and appealing, and the banana & …

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants – Mexican
Atmosphere-free refit of an atmosphere-free refit of a former Pret: El Mexicana seems to churn out a solid burrito, although doesn’t come near some of its neighbours.
Nevertheless, the Barbecoa meat was flavoursome and mid-way between dry & moist. The wrap was performed a little naively and felt a bit too wide to be considered ideal. Chipotle salsa imbued a wonderful smokiness, which mainly covered up that the Mexican Rice tasted like it’d either been made from a supermarket …

Following the recent post on the books I read in 2011, here’s a roundup of all the movies that I saw this year.  I’ll highlight the ones wot I saw in the cinema, somehow.  As mentioned previously, this is sort of inspired by Billy’s post of a similar nature last year.
And because it’s not just going to be a dry list, you’ll have to endure my commentary along with it.  Who wants to just read a damn list, anyway?
Films I saw in 2011
(* means watched on a plane, ** means …

I’m not sure that I get massively turned on by end-of-year retrospectives and Top Tens (you can put together a top ten ANY time – why limit it based on some arbitrary calendar point?).  However last year I was interested whilst reading Billy’s blog to see that he’d kept lists of all of the books he read in 2010, and all of the films he watched in 2010.
It struck me that this might be an interesting exercise, and so for your reading pleasure…. here are my lists!
Books I read in …