Latest reviews by Mez

Osteria Stecca

Mez — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:14:42 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 1 Blenheim Terrace, NW8 0EH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7328 5014

Website: http://www.osteriastecca.com/

Tags: italian, business, good value, romantic

Great contemporary ItalianFantastic Italian food with a contemporary spin.

The portions are smaller than usual but the menu is designed so that you can taste several dishes without burning your wallet. I indulged in a beef carpaccio starter, a lobster pasta main, a fillet & mash main and a dessert for less than Â£25-30, and the food was wonderful.

The waiters are all Italian, very friendly and with great attention to detail. The service was fantastic.

The restaurant itself has large windows and a terrace for the summer days.

Highly recommended!

Fresh & Wild

Mez — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:40:37 +0000

Rating: 2.5

Location: 49 Parkway, NW1 7PN, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7428 7575

Website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com//UK/camden/index.html

Tags: expensive, natural, organic, healthy

Fresh and Wildly ExtortionateTasty and healthy food but ridiculously priced. I know so many people who come back shocked from their first (and last) shopping experience and literaly feel robbed.

For that I've had to ditch it as a good place to get lunch and slap it down to 2 stars.

LOWER YOUR PRICES!!!!

Bumpkin

Mez — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:31:30 +0000

Rating: 3.5

Location: 209 Westbourne Park Road, W11 1EA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7243 9818

Website: http://www.bumpkinuk.com

Tags: lively, gastro pub, family & home feel, expensive

Good but overpriced gastropubThe food is good but not spectacular, so at 35 quid a head (inc. just one glass of wine), I personally don't think it's worth it.

Nice pub atmosphere though and good service.

VitaOrganic

Mez — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:15:23 +0000

Rating: 4.5

Location: 74 Wardour Street, W1F 0TE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7734 8986

Website: http://www.vitaorganic.co.uk

Tags: lively, wheet free, gluten free, international, family & home feel, cheap eat, organic, fast food, crowded, soho, healthy

Super healthy fastfood!This place is pretty unique. Other than resembling a mini-rain forest (hot and tropical!), it's also the only totally nutrition-focused restaurant in the UK (I think) that serves healthy and organic food and drinks with no compromise on flavour (pretty delicious in fact).

How? no chemicals/artifical ingredients, no dairy/animal products, no carcinogens, no wheat, no gluten. Basically no-anything that could be remotely bad for you!

Everything is steamed (not baked nor fried) and the pastry is even 'cooked' through a surprising method: air-dried (both for pizzas and cakes!)

The food is varied, ranging from Mediterranean lentils to Thai curry. It took me a few visits to realise that the food was completely vegetarian (with vegan options). Says a lot coming from an avid carnivore!

Value for money is excellent. Everything is measured on the number of scoops you have from the hotpots, meaning a fast, delicious, nutritious and filling meal for a fiver or less.

Oh and they do all sorts of fresh natural juices..

I just ADORE this place!!

El Parador

Mez — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:06:37 +0000

Rating: 4.8

Location: 245 Eversholt Street, NW1 1BA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7387 2789

Tags: lively, best tapas, family & home feel, good value, mediterranean, spanish, tapas

BEST tapas in LondonYes, THE best of the best and an all time favourite. If I started to write about it properly my rave would spread over 40 pages.

Enough said!

Randall & Aubin

Mez — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:58:38 +0000

Rating: 4.7

Location: 16 Brewer Street, W1F 0SQ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7287 4447

Website: http://www.randallandaubin.co.uk

Tags: lively, seafood, family & home feel, good value, crowded

Best fish in town with no reservationsI'm trying to swap the usual essays for a more succint style - the title therefore says most of it. If you'd like to find out more however.. read on..

Key points:

- GREAT FISH/SEAFOOD - indulge and go for the Lobster

- NO RESERVATIONS needed - on the downside, this means queuing. So either go at lunchtime (like I did.. clever me ;) or take a friend whose company you really do enjoy ;)

- FANTASTIC ATMOSPHERE: Designed/feels like a parisian bistro and the staff is a mixture of French and Italian.. great fun. Warning: the music tends to be a little too loud for my liking in the evening though (again, lunchtime seems to be a v. good option).

- CENTRAL: in the heart of Soho. A lively, dynamic and fun-packed area in itself.

Enjoy!

The Salt House

Mez — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:49:23 +0000

Rating: 4.3

Location: 63 Abbey Road, NW8 0AE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7328 6626

Tags: relaxed, roast, gastro pub, excellent pub food, independent pub, young and fun, fish & chips, friendly

Great gastro pubMy friends are going to kill me for writing this review as they wanted to keep it secret (they did warn me), but I am compelled to share it in true TrustedPlaces spirit and style.

Iâ¬"ll keep it short: warm and cosy atmosphere, friendly staff (albeit a little slow sometimes), and delicious food make it a favourite of mine. Especially great for Sunday relaxation, fish & chips nâ¬" roast (not all to be consumed in one go!). The desserts are also to die for...

Have always eaten in the â¬Üpub/barâ¬" section (instead of the restaurant section) as I find it more informal, but great to be given the option for more special occasions..

Moroccan Tagine

Mez — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:26:29 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 95 Golborne Road, W10 5NL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8968 8055

Tags: moroccan, tagines, family & home feel, cheap eat, north african, meat

Great moroccan foodLove this place and have been going there for the past 5 years or so.. one of my favourite moroccan restaurants.. decor is nothing special but the food is v. nice, great value for money, and the management and waiters are genuinely friendly and welcoming.

Great meat and fantastic fresh juices/smoothies (try the berber cooler)

Terranostra

Mez — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:24:10 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 27 Old Bailey, EC4M 7HS, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 3201 0077

Website: http://www.terranostrafood.co.uk

Tags: italian, homely, pasta, sicilian, family & home feel, good value, warm, friendly

Fantastic pastaLoved this place for the warmth of the service, the homely atmosphere and the fantastic pasta and wine on offer (I had gone for a simple pasta dish with crab and olive oil and my pasta was cooked to perfection).

Simplicity at its best. Loved it.

Sahara Restaurant

Mez — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:08:43 +0000

Rating: 3.6

Location: 39 Hereford Road, W2 4AB, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7792 0770

Website: http://www.sahara-restaurant.co.uk/index.html

Tags: expensive, family & home feel, north african

Nothing to write home aboutI wish I could agree with curlynewf as her review was pretty inspiring and made me want to discover the place, unfortunately my experience was vastly different :(

We organised a dinner amongst a large group of North africans and this review is representative of the unanimous view shared that evening: the quality of the food really wasn't all that special. The soup we had for starters tasted burnt (the response we'd been given was that we were late (which we were) and that it had been reheated for us, hence the result - I'll leave it to the reader to make their own mind up on whether that's a reasonable explanation. I had my views!). The couscous which came at a hefty average price of Â£12 was of standard quality at best, whilst its presentation left much to be desired (to give you an idea, a good couscous at a typical north african restaurant should cost no more than Â£7). We only sampled those two meals to keep the logistics simple so I am not able to comment on any other dishes. I would have expected the bill not to include the soup starters or at least give us a discount given every single person on the table complained of the same thing, but that wasn't suggested by the owners (big no no on that one.. this is a very good example of how one can lose customers for life).

The 2 restaurant staff who provided the service that evening were friendly (they were probably also the managers), which slightly alleviated the poor culinary experience, but that's about all I can say about the place unfortunately. It's pretty small so feels intimate although something was really missing in the atmosphere. It felt dreary and in need of an injection of joie de vivre.

I really don't like writing negative reviews but I wanted to balance out curlynewf's review as our experience was unfortunately very different :(

Wahaca

Mez — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:51:49 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 66 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7240 1883

Website: http://www.wahaca.co.uk

Tags: lively, birthday, family & home feel, cheerful, good value, fun, mexican

Ole LondonSeeing that there is already a significant number of positive reviews on this place (except for the one from a Mexican himself which I guess counts for a few..), I won't be too long on this one since it's clearly not the way I'm going to be getting my Xmas San Lorenzo goodie bag this year!

I loved the place and everything about it: the vast space, the colourful decor, the varied seating arrangement, the music. The food was varied and tasty, although not being a Mexican food expert, not much of an idea if it was close to the real deal or not.

The service in general looked good and attentive (although we were less blessed with our somewhat over enthusiastic waiter. Singing loud opera whilst waiting for me to enter my pin number was a highlight I could have happily done without).

Great place to organise a birthday/family/big friends' meal at. It's fun and cheerful and I'd definitely go back there again.

Delicatessen Yoshino

Mez — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:51:36 +0000

Rating: 4.7

Location: Japan Centre, W1J 9HG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7434 3610

Website: http://www.yoshino.net/delica

Tags: cheap, cheapest, bargain, rare finds, delicatessen, sushi, shop, japanese

Cheapest sushi in LondonThis place is tucked away, in the Japan Centre, itself a 2 seconds walk from Piccadilly circus.

The Japan centre houses a restaurant on the ground floor (which is always busy, offers good food albeit pricey, but that's a review for another day!), and a Japanese delicatessen/shop downstairs - the subject of this review.

The sushi @ Yoshino's is the cheapest I've found. It's of a decent quality and variety too (to give you an example, you can get a pack of 8 Salmon & Avocado maki/roll for Â£2.95. BAR-GAIN!).

The place is always full of people, esp. during lunchtime, but their super efficient order processing system won't make you wait for more than a couple of minutes.

It's THE place to go to pick up a packed sushi lunch at more than an affordable price.

NB. When I went today (29th Nov 07) the shop was being revamped. Not sure what they're planning there but it used to offer everything you needed to make your own Japanese meals. I'll try to update when I find out what they've got in store (pun intended ;)

Nordic Bar

Mez — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:12:51 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 25 Newman Street, W1T 1PN, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7631 3174

Website: http://www.nordicbar.com

Tags: posh, cool & smart, young professionals, young and fun, expensive, trendy

Could do so much betterAll I can say about this place, other than its elegant yet simple decor and its friendly staff, is that the selection of nordic sandwiches on offer at lunchtime is tiny and v. expensive for the portions on display. Could really do better as quite a unique concept in the area. I feel like they're just not making any effort when they could really stand out.

Joy King Lau

Mez — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:50:52 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 3 Leicester Street, WC2H 7BL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7437 1133

Tags: lively, leiceister square, best, dumplings, dim sum, family & home feel, cheap eat, chinese

Best Dim Sum in London?I would say so. A friend (Nikos) introduced me to it yesterday and all I could bring to the conversation was the word 'awesome', uttered at every bite I had of whatever I was sampling at the time

I travelled to China recently and had made a stop in Xian, home to the incredible Terracotta warriors and also famous for its dim sum. I obviously loved what I tried there, but I can say confidently that although Iâ¬"m by no means a subject matter expert, what I tried in this restaurant yesterday was of equal if not better quality. The texture of the steamed dumplings was perfect, the fragrances subtle and never overpowering, and anything fried was cooked to perfection. Fantastic thin crispy pastry, goldened in just the right amount of oil.

I tried the prawn, the scallop, the beef with onion and ginger dumplings, the Vietnamese spring rolls, the fish cakes, the fried prawn wraps, and ended with an exquisite bean curd dessert (a Chinese version of an elegant doughnut.. See the pictures).

The restaurant is just off Leiceister square (which made me raise an eyebrow initially) but don't worry about any tourist invasions. It's literally a palace in terms of size (something youâ¬"d never guess from its pale entrance) and stretches over 3 or 4 floors. Its clientele is overwhelmingly Chinese which made me feel I was right back in China. Although the dÃ©cor is bland and rather uninspiring, it makes up for it by the incredibly good value for money it offers with a great meal for just under a tenner.

Just writing this makes me want to pay it another visit todayâ¬¦ and I probably will..

Galicia Restaurant

Mez — Mon, 07 May 2007 19:19:42 +0000

Rating: 2.7

Location: 323 Portobello Road, W10 5SY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8969 3539

Tags: spanish tapas paella tavern cosy homely friendly authentic porto

Viva Espana!One way of measuring the quality of a restaurant is by how much it makes you forget which city you're in. It's one of my favourite tests, and Galicia passed it with flying colours. This Spanish restaurant not only offers great food (the Paella Marinera was really good - that's the other acid test for a spanish restaurant), but what really makes it special is its atmosphere. It's cosy, homely, and very Mediterranean. Its clientelle is largely Spanish (yes, you guessed, yet another telling test :) and its waiters also (male, middle-aged, barely speak a word of english and rather grumpy and slow-moving, but no one hold it against them.. they added character to the place).

The tapas were of varied quality (although when they were good, they were very good) and the sangria was an absolute delight.

The only downside to the place if you're a non-smoker is, well you guessed it, the smoking.. but again, that's all part of the Mediterranean atmosphere, and not long to go til the smoking ban anyway right..

To sum it up, if you miss Espana, head straight to Galicia and you'll feel like you're there in no time..