Reading Roars!

I went to central Reading bar Pavlov’s Dog the other evening - and what a surprise I got!

Pavlov’s used to be one of my favourite drinking spots in Reading. I moved on because I felt that I was too old for it. I popped in the other evening for a quick drink and was stunned to see how much had changed.

A revamp has ditched the bright and colourful interior in favour of a more subtle design. I could no longer find the foosball table. The lighting was more creative (there were beer glasses clumped together to form one light decoration). On the whole, Pavlov’s no longer looks like a hang-out for first year university students, in my opinion, but has instead taken on a look similar to the Oakford Social Club by Reading Station. Like Oakford, Pavlov’s now also sells fruit beer Fruli.

Pavlov’s has grown up.

An apology to those whose submitted comments have either appeared on the blog later than anticipated or not at all (I’m trudging through my inbox now).

I’m getting a tremendous amount of spam every day (mostly related to gambling, sexual enhancement drugs and mortgages - none of which I need), which is obscuring the messages that matter. I will look for a solution to deal with this problem. As a short-term measure, I will go through my inbox much more carefully.

I’m not a Telegraph reader. I’m more of a Guardian man. But the still-not-very-compact paper’s Footballer’s Wines, written by the ubiqituous Adrian Chiles, is delicious.

Prior to a big game, Chiles writes about the two contesting teams as if they were wine products. Different, and funny. As you might have guessed, the clubs this week getting the vinicultural treatment are Reading and Newcastle.

Interestingly, both Reading FC and Newcastle Utd “wines” are Spanish. This isn’t explained by Chiles. Reading is a red wine (because of the name, we’re told), a Gran Coronas with 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Tempranillo.

Now for the analysis.

fermentation happens when the sugar from the grapes and yeast react to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. This gas escapes as quietly as the Royals’ pre-season doubters. Reading’s red grapes were destalked and lightly crushed (breaking the skins to release the juice) before being placed in the fermentation tank, skins and all.

The tank’s temperature is controlled to retain the wine’s aromas and flavours. The escaping carbon dioxide pushes the skins to the surface where they form what’s known as a cap. Just as Steve Coppell seeks to improve things on the pitch with his substitutions, the wine maker agitates or removes the cap to achieve the colour and tannin required in the finished wine.

Chiles helpfully informs us that a Gran Coronas can be bought from the Co-op for £8.99. Curiously, this is twice as expensive as the Newcastle wine, Vina Sol (£4.43). Is Chiles hinting at riches to come? The other interesting thing to note is that “Corona” is the Spanish word for crown!

Let’s hope that Reading return to wining ways against the Magpies (weak, I know).

Reading Football Club are certainly ambitious, there’s no doubt about that, but how about this for a goal (excuse the pun), suggested this week by the club’s chief exec Nigel Howe:

I would say [the club] has the potential to be bigger than Arsenal because its catchment area is hugely beneficial…If this club started winning some serious stuff and got into the Champions League that would hugely move the Reading brand along and move the crowd on. 

It’s a gradual progression and it would take a few years to do it, but that has to be anybody’s ambition running an organisation like this - to get into the Champions League.  That might make a lot of people smile, but anything is achieveable.

That very much made me smile.  It’s more than a goal.  It’s a 60-yard-lob-over-half-the-pitch-while-the-keeper-was-adjusting-his-laces type goal.  So Reading have had a good season.  Make that two good seasons.  The Champions League, however, is seriously ambitious stuff. 

The domestic Big 4, the league within the league, have been looking pretty dominant lately, mainly, I’d argue, because of cash (Chelsea, Man Utd and now Liverpool), tradition/prestige (drawing top managers), and I suppose continuinity (Fergie and Wenger have been at their clubs for years).  Reading is an exciting club, but not prestigious, and their project has only just begun.  Also, it’d take an awful lot of cash to compete with the big boys.

I think the UEFA Cup is a realistic target for Reading, therefore.  The Champions League (a tournament increasingly dominated by the super clubs in Europe) is a realm almost impossible to reach. 

May seems like an exciting month at the increasingly interesting Global Cafe. As I’d written previously, Taste of Malaysia will be returning on Sunday 13 May. Two days earlier there will a similar event bringing food and entertainment inspired by a more southerly continent.

On Friday 11 May, a traditional Ethiopian buffet, music and dance can be experienced at the London Street venue for £15. The evening comes courtesy of the wonderful Tutu Melaku, who came from the fascinating east African country to live in Reading 14 years back.

Tutu’s food (and strikingly strong coffee, prepared in the traditional - and original - way before it was modernised by professionally certified baristas) can currently be sampled on Thursdays. This event in May promises to be even more special.

The evening after my Taste of Malaysia meal, I went East again - to Art of Siam, one of Reading’s many Thai restaurants, located at King’s Walk near The Oracle.

The Art of Siam is different. The restaurant really does look artistic, with old-fashioned wooden decorations and frescoes inside giving it a nice, traditional feel. Beautifully soft Thai music played on a loop, making the mood even more subdued. It was a shame that the location was a little less dreamlike, with the windows offering far from stunning views, but no matter.

Sitting with a bunch of others, I kicked off with a Chang, a wonderfully refreshing Thai lager (Chang is also the Thai word for elephant) with a very British price tag of £3.45. I had some fishcakes to go with it.

We continued the marine theme, ordering a Plar Gung salad:

Succulent king prawns seasoned with lime juice garlic dressing and tossed with lemon grass, lime juice, spring onions, coriander leaves and Thai chilli

The salad was fantastic, tasting unmistakeably Thai and reminding me very much of the popular Som Tum (a spicy dish containing fresh crab and papaya).

Alongside the prawn salad, we had a Pla Prio Wan (at least I think it was this), fish stir-fried with vegetables in sweet and sour sauce. This was nice, and it filled me up, but it didn’t seem as “Thai” as the salad (probably because sweet and sour sauce is an ingredient commonly used in Chinese cuisine).

Overall, I was left feeling impressed. The Art of Siam is a relaxing place to eat out, perfect for a quiet meal after work. It’s probably not the sort of place you’d want to take your kids to (or your mates for a raucous night out), but for soothing, mature sophistication, there are few other places like it.