33 The Cut
London, SE1 8LF
Nearest Transport: Southwark
020 7928 2111
Tas Restaurant serve a variety of Turkish dishes and can cater for vegetarians. They also have a live band playing traditional Turkish music every night.
A great place for a leisurely Sunday lunch if you want to talk to an old or new friend.
Outside Pleasantly decorated and understated. Not luxurious but green tubs either side of the door.
Food Lamb is their speciality.
For my main course I chose chicken with ginger. Didn't really taste the ginger, but was happy enough. Ordered a side dish of couscous.
My companion's lamb (kebab - or a work like it - looked more like huge minced meat sausages) dish came with couscous but he changed that to rice.
Desserts Baklava. I was told you accent the first syllable. Three pieces, really good nuts on top as well as inside, looked green like pistacchio. Not over-sweet and sickly. Just right.
Coffee I had Turkish coffee. You have to specify how sweet you want it. It's really thick and sludgy, in a small cup, no room for milk. You don't need to add sugar as you've already specified medium or whatever.
Speed and Timing Very leisurely. We arrived about 1.30 Sunday lunchtime, ad no starter, but were not rushed were able to sit chatting until about 4.30.
Decor Slightly echoing. Able to absorb children without noise disturbing you. Upmarket spartan. White. Cloths.
Seating Good, comfortable high back chairs. Plus a little seated waiting area in the window by the door. Tables for two by the far wall, well away from the nearest table, offering total privacy.
Staff Foreign language staff efficient enough, no conversation.
Cleanliness You can see them cooking at the back which is always fun and reassuring. Makes the place look bigger, too.
Drinks My companion was driving and not drinking so I looked for a glass of wine. Glass of champagne or I had a pink Zinfandel and lots of bottles.
Toilets Neither wonderful nor awful. Large roomy one person toilet suitable for a wheelchair. Containing a private washbasin in the toilet which is always handy for washing, cleaning teeth, whatever you like, without other watching.
Location Very convenient. Next to Southwark station. Or Waterloo. Bakerloo tube line or Northern. Only three to five minutes walk from the back left of Waterloo station (exit 4) near Marks and just beyond Tie Rack. From Waterloo The Old Vic theatre is on the corner. Cross the lights in front of the Old Vic and follow the sign to Southwark station and there it is on your right.
What else to do in the area? A few yards away is a theatre bookshop with performances and secondhand books downstairs.
Waterloo station has shops open on Sunday. I passed a musician playing a hurdy-gurdy which lots of people videoed as they passed before dropping a few coins in his hat. He was happy to explain how it worked to passers-by. He told me he was featured on the Waterloo station website.