Latest favourites and wishlist by amandakate

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by sparklepants

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:28:44 +0000

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by sparklepants

Rating: 4.3

Location: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7930 1408

I love, love, LOVE this place. It has absolutely bundles of character! With a fantastic wine list comprising of affordable (starting at around Â£14) bottles right through to pure indulgent ones! They have a great selection of cheeses, cold meats, pickles and breads to accompany a bottle or two! Perfect for a relaxed afternoon, away from the hustle and bustle of central London. The candle lit cellar makes a perfect romantic setting. Get there early so you can grab a table, they donâ¬"t allow bookings unfortunately. Itâ¬"s very easy to miss as itâ¬"s so make sure you keep your eyes peeled!

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by rich42uk

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:54:04 +0000

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by rich42uk

Rating: 4.3

Location: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7930 1408

Tags: posh, mature, cool & smart, young professionals, standard pub food, beer garden, young and fun, pretentious, underground, friendly, relaxed

Now this is a date venue if ever there was one... The wine-only bar ensures that the usual lager jackasses aren't in attendence and the dark, candlelit cellars are conducive to getting close...

Beyond that though, it's one of the few places that serve Port, Sherry and other fortified wines by both the glass and bottle and what's more doesn't break the bank. The wine list in general is so wide as to be a little bit intimidating but the bar staff and knowledgable and helpful when it comes to ordering.

If the hot and sometimes sweaty cellar is too much, it's also got a nice outdoors area overlooking the park by Embankment tube. Food is served too and looks good, but I've not actually sampled it myself.

Yauatcha - review by sue

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:48:40 +0000

Yauatcha - review by sue

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: lively, tea, dim sum, cakes, cocktails, chinese, unique, expensive, trendy, good service

Why did it take me so long to visit Yauatcha? I think because I thought it was some sort of pretentious, expensive place where only the 'beautiful' people could get a table. I was so wrong, well they let us in didn't they!

Booking in advance, we got a table at Yauatcha for a Sunday lunch. After some serious browsing in Carnaby Street before hand we were ready to sample what we hoped would be some pretty special dim sum, and happily our experience lived up to expectation.

We had booked a table on the ground floor, and I'm glad we did. The downstairs, whilst interestingly decorated, looked a bit cramped and dark, especially on a sunny day. The service was friendlier than I was expecting and I was impressed with their efficiency considering how busy the restaurant was.

Knowing the menu was going to be large, and not being dim sum experts, I did some research in advance to see what dishes others recommended. This did indeed make the ordering process easier, though we still took our time, starting with a couple of interesting sounding cocktails - the Kumquatcha and the Lalu (or something like that), neither of which I was too keen on.

The food we ordered was:
Har Gau
Scallop and Kumquat Dumplings
Baked Venison Puffs
Prawn Cheung Fun
Pork, Prawn and Tofu balls
Pork and Century Egg Congee

My favourites were the Prawn Cheung Fun and the Venison Puffs - those tasty little venison parcels were as good as everyone says. The congee wasn't something I had had before - a type of creamy, rice soup with pork and preserved egg, the latter tasting better than it looked!

Can't believe we didn't have room for dessert, as they have amazing looking cakes on display which you can buy to take away too. My next visit may well just be for tea and cake sampling. And perhaps a cheeky serve of Venison Puffs too...

Cafe Kick - review by chrisp

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:41:07 +0000

Cafe Kick - review by chrisp

Rating: 3.9

Location: 43 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7837 8077

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

Tags: relaxed, excellent pub food, young and fun, friendly

A characterful, energetic little bar that serves excellent cocktails and spanish tapas (from Brindisa, no less, just across the road). The bar men & women seem to really know their stuff and the cocktail list is in a state of constant change, although people come back for expertly made mojitos and caipirinhas. Don't miss out on the food though, if you get a chance - the chorizo in white wine is delicious.

Be At One - review by chrisp

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:27:24 +0000

Be At One - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.0

Location: 85 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7978 6595

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

Tags: trendy, pop, late license, cool & smart, young and fun

A victim of its own success, B@1 serves great cocktails in a funky little room and the staff are charming, but if you can squeeze yourself to and from the bar to order a Caipirinha in less than 40 mins on a Saturday night, you're a better man than me. The options in this area are pretty limited and you can understand why every South Londoner has decided en-masse to patronise B@1, I just wish it wasn't always so bloody busy. Oh, maybe I'm just getting old.

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by chrisp

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:03:50 +0000

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.3

Location: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7930 1408

Tags: posh, young professionals, different pub food, underground

If you are ever lucky or early enough to get a table, Gordon's is a fascinating slice of grimy London history and a fantastic place to bring timid foreign tourists, if only to freak them out so much they'll want to get on the next plane home. It's literally a shallow, sweaty cave underneath Charing Cross station which sells port, wine and cheese by candlelight, and has to be seen to be believed. Trusted Places' "underground" keyword has never been so apt.

Yauatcha - review by chrisp

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:03:35 +0000

Yauatcha - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: lively, good value, chinese, crowded, romantic

It's certainly been a month or two of ups and downs around these here parts. I had barely got over the shock that the once-great Fox and Hounds gastropub on Latchmere Road seemed to be no long able to cook duck properly when my other favourite restaurant the Food Room was taken over by a semi-celebrity chef who constructs dishes out of a revolutionary new ingredient called "bland". It was all very upsetting, and coupled with my new self-imposed budget I could see no easy way of the restaurants of London redeeming themselves any time soon. And then, out of nowhere, a delightful meal at an unpromising location in Parson's Green got the whole thing back on track, and this weekend the successful streak continued with a pleasing and pleasingly inexpensive meal at Yauatcha, Soho.

The word for the interior is "glamorous" - Yauatcha is a stunning room, all blue glass and tasteful lighting with a huge aquarium along one wall. And, hilariously, glamorous is the word they used themselves when we called to make the booking and enquired about a dress code. "Casual glamorous" they specifically replied - presumably this doesn't apply in quite the same way to the male diners, although this is Soho after all so who knows. Perhaps they just felt they couldn't get away with saying "no riff raff". I managed to sneak in under the radar anyway.

The menu was huge and baffling, but fortunately we had with us someone of Chinese heritage (who had also scoured the internet for tips beforehand) to guide us through and I was happy to leave most of the ordering up to them. I won't describe every dish in detail as there were about 100 of them, but highlights included crispy venison pastry puffs which I think had chocolate in there somewhere, impossibly light and silky prawn dumplings, astonishing scallops topped with bitter kumquat and some superb Cheung Fun (sort of a long floppy ravioli - that's them at the back of this shot):

Once the dim sum were over with we were presented with a rather more prosaic Chinese dish of beef noodles, although even this had its merits. Also I should say that the jasmin tea-smoked spare ribs were a bit tough although the flavour was good. But the best surprise of all was that the whole kit and caboodle (including a cocktail and a few beers) came to little over Â£25 each including tip. Considering the effort that must have gone into each individual dish, this is very reasonable - and particularly in comparison to Hakkasan where I spent twice that on food which wasn't any better.

Desserts - and apologies for the lack of photos but I was probably too busy eating - were very pretty and the best by common consensus was one involving passion fruit. Another tasted like Southport public baths and was somewhat less successful but at least they looked the part. All the desserts, along with a mouthwatering selection of macaroons, are displayed in the front window and the takeaway service appeared to be doing a roaring trade throughout the evening.

So add in smiley and attentive service (itself somewhat of a minor miracle in a Chinese restaurant in the UK) and you have yourself a great evening out. Yauatcha, along with Barrafina and Busaba Eatthai, has just been added to my list of places to eat in Soho, and is probably the best Chinese restaurant in London at the moment so you can do at lot worse than mosey on along and check it out for yourself.

Cafe Kick - review by Sarah_W

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:29:52 +0000

Cafe Kick - review by Sarah_W

Rating: 3.9

Location: 43 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7837 8077

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

Tags: relaxed, sporty, friendly

CafÃ© Kick bills itself as a continental-style table-football cafÃ©, and that seems fair enough! It presents an eclectic, almost jumbled appearance, with old wooden furniture, several table football tables and walls adorned with football cuttings and memorabilia from all over Europe. You can get light, Spanish-influenced meals such as salads, sandwiches and tapas, and a wide range of beers. Weâ¬"ve never eaten here, but have found to a great place to stop for a beer while strolling Exmouth Market, a characterful street in Clerkenwell. On a recent sunny afternoon we sat outside watching the world go by and I enjoyed the first Brahma beer Iâ¬"ve had since our trip to Brazil eight years ago.

The table football is taken pretty seriously here, it seems, though no games were in progress when we visited (perhaps because it was the middle of a working Monday afternoon). The tables are original French Bonzini tables with beech wood, cast iron figurines and the proper World Cup cork balls. If you want to play youâ¬"ll need to buy a token from the bar at 80p per game.

Yauatcha - review by gogmagog

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:21:28 +0000

Yauatcha - review by gogmagog

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: lively, oriental, chinese, expensive

We went for lunch and were seated downstairs in the sumptuous basement. Sleek and stylish but without being stuffy. The bar with in-built fishtank is great. Possibly not the best place for a lunch on a sunny day - it is one of those rooms that you could happily emerge from hours later, half-cut and wondering what happened to the day.

Other reviews below have mentioned bad experiences with waiting staff? There was no sign of this when we went. None of us at lunch were experts on dim sum so we asked the waiters to suggest dishes for us. They were helpful and polite, even though, out of a table of four, there was one vegetarian who did eat fish and one meat-eater with a serious allergy to seafood. A tricky situation when eating dim sum. Not only did they advise us well, they also remembered to point out exactly what was in each dish as it came to the table.

So, is it expensive? Yup. It is. But it's supposed to be a step or several up from your standard Soho dim sum house and that's what you're paying for. Was it value for money, though? Well, I guess my view is coloured slightly. I'm not a huge fan of dim sum, as a rule. It's easy for it to end up greasy and stodgy and although Yauatcha's food was never either of these things, I can't say that it was a Damascene revelation for me. It was beautifully cooked and very tasty, but ultimately rather unmemorable.

The venison puffs (as mentioned by other reviewers) were fine, but not to die for. Various prawn and chicken dishes went past, although it's now 2 weeks later and I'll be damned if I can remember anything about any of them. There was nothing wrong with them; in fact I remember them as being nice, but nothing stood out for me. An ostrich chow mein was interesting, but mainly because it was a first try of ostrich, rather than because it was an incredible dish. There was also crispy duck, but it was no better or worse than one you could get on your local high street, unfortunately.

Take a fan of dim sum and I'm sure they'll love you for it. It's a beautiful restaurant, with friendly and attentive staff. And the food is, well... fine.

Electric Brasserie - review by mazphd

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:19:08 +0000

Electric Brasserie - review by mazphd

Rating: 4.0

Location: 191 Portobello Road, W11 2ED, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7908 9696

Website: http://www.electricbrasserie.com

Tags: lively, seafood, international, east european, good value, crowded, brasserie

This place is pretty cool actually. And the staff are super helpful!

The menu is a diverse range of bistro dishes that includes some very fresh seafood - myself and my party were sat next t to the very live lobsters!

I ordered a rather fabulous 'light beetroot and hazelnut salad' - sounds hum drum and run of the mill, oh contraire! was a delight and LARGE! ( ok i 'supersized' my salad option) and as it was eaten not only by myself, but also tucked into by my dining partners, both ladies and gents alike, it was agreed that this (despite being based on leaves) was a very wholesome and unique meal in itself.

Other members of the party were tempted by goats cheese tart (very tart , petite, and 'just right' to spoil yourself with!) as well as some very 'posh' looking and tasting burgers complete with several round of chips to feast on!

The best thing about electric, is that it does live up to its name, all the 'trendies' of portabello and nottinghill are hill 'chillin out and relaxin' and adding to a rather electric (i know easy pun) atmosphere!

so stay feast amongst the fresh (and live) lobsters, maybe order one, or rescue one to take home , but whatever happens you wont be bored, and youll be spoilt for choice from the menu!

And don't get me started on the wine list; stupendous!

Yauatcha - review by MartyDiBergi

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:57:01 +0000

Yauatcha - review by MartyDiBergi

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: lively, good value, chinese, crowded

It's crazy to say Yauatcha is expensive - what do people expect to pay for some of the best cooking in London, certainly of its kind?

When put into the context of other similarly feted places - River Cafe, Nobu etc - it really is not expensive at all. Ok so it's more expensive than Busaba but the quality and obvious care and attention is much higher too.

I've eaten there on many occasions and the best advice i would give is to just try various things off the menu that you like the sound of, you will rarely be disappointed.
Having said that, the Venison Puffs are a must.

Other Prawn (and indeed all the other) Cheung Fun, prawn and date dumpling, salt and pepper squid, jasmine smoked ribs, mango spring roll, Shumai, duck and shitake dumpling, prawn toast - are all excellent and i would go on if i could remember them!

Just try it - it's great.

When busy service can sometime be variable but on the whole they are very prompt and the little desserts in the tea parlour are great too. In spite of the much famed 90 minute table time, i've never yet been asked to move on and i must have been 10 times now.

Also best to go in a number divisible by three as almost evry dish comes in 3's.

And anotehr tip - a lot of the wine list can be pricey but there is a very reasonable fizzy pink whose name escapes me for about Â£26 a bottle i think? Good value for London and brightens up the meal without costing the earth.

Enjoy

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by NickR

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:10:46 +0000

Gordon's Wine Bar - review by NickR

Rating: 4.3

Location: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7930 1408

Tags: wine, port, cheese

If you want to take a visitor to London anywhere, then I recommend this. They won't beleive it passes any health regs at all and that you are actually allowed in. It has character oozing from every crack and peeling of paint.
This is the best and last great winery in London. There is a dark dank under pavement cellars that you practically have to crawl down. Fantastic, you can drink port by the pint! If you get there and stay sober long enough you may even line your stomach with some fantastic cheese and bread, which I can heartily recommend. Saved me more than once. Great quality cheeses and breads and classically simple.
I love this place.

Yauatcha - review by russ9595

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:21:22 +0000

Yauatcha - review by russ9595

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: chinese, good value

Excellent service, delicious food, and reasonably priced given the quality.

After some last-minute Christmas shopping on a late Sunday afternoon, I popped in here because I felt like indulging myself. It was relatively quiet here at this time day and time, and was seated immediately on the ground floor.

I ordered the pork and Century egg congee, kumquat scallop dumplings, pan-fried turnip cake, mango spring roll, and Dragon Well green tea, which came to Â£30 including service.

I have a large appetite, and I had been shopping on an empty stomach, so you can imagine how hungry I was. Regardless, I have to say that my appetite was definitely satiated by the end of my meal.

The portions here were welcomingly larger than expected. The congee is deliciously flavoured and appropriately garnished. The turnip cake was definitely a dish to share for two and was just like the ones I had in Singapore. The scallops were okay, a little tough for my liking, and I felt the mango spring rolls could have done with 30 seconds more in the oil.

The atmosphere on the ground floor is calm, and perfect for people watching. The chairs are nicely designed, with an arm rest on one side, which I thought was a nice touch. When you sit back, the angle of the back of the chair is just right so that it supports you without falling into a slouch.

I've read a lot of negative reviews about the service here ever since it opened in 2004. In almost all of the reviews, these people came on a Saturday evening. My advice: come here on an early Sunday evening, order the congee, turnip cake, and tea, and you will have a enjoyable experience. I know I did.

Yauatcha - review by lenalouise

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:20:06 +0000

Yauatcha - review by lenalouise

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: romantic, dim sum, cocktails, chinese

I've been wanting to go to Yauatcha for ages and was put off by how expensive everyone claims it is...oh why did I listen? lol. This place is great! I'm not sure I like the decor though, it feels like sitting in the jazzed-up courtyard of a church and the fishtank set into the bar is too brightly lit up.

The food is spot on. The dishes that I tried that I haven't had elsewhere were delicious and the ones I have regularly in other places matched the level of dim sum in China. Plus the accompanying chilli sauces were mouthwateringly divine. For me, a good chilli sauce is something with flavour as well as being fiery and they certainly managed to achieve this. I ended up just eating the chilli sauce by itself :p

We had pork and prawn shu mai, prawn and enoki mushroom dumpling, pork and century egg congee, prawn cheung fan and fried taro cake. We were trying intentionally not to order too much because I usually do but we knew the dishes were more expensive. However, this amount was actually enough to fill us up.

One thing I was surprised about was how big some of the dishes were. The fried taro cake was one big square (about the size of 2 normal portions) and the dumplings were huge. They crammed so much prawn into them that they were well worth the Â£4.80 we paid really. The congee was more flavoursome than the watery stuff you usually find in Chinatown and I was glad to see they had some authentic toppings on it. For those who don't know what congee is, it's basically rice cooked for ages in loads of water until the rice grains break down and you end up with a sort of porridge. (It's also what the chinese eat when they're ill lol).

They don't have any desserts in the restaurant (I was disappointed to see they don't do egg custard tarts) but we were allowed to go upstairs and choose some cakes to eat downstairs because there was a private function on in the teahouse. They look so pretty! I didn't really want to dig in and ruin it. They were nice but they tasted quite similar to each other. Both of them were some sort of mousse with a raspberry coulis centre. I definately think that they look better than they taste.

Anyway, all the food with green tea came to about Â£50 which is not bad for a 1 star michelin restaurant! It is twice as much than your normal dim sum but it's probably twice as nice in the majority of places. Will be back to try more of their exciting menu!

P.S. Almost forgot to add that I've tried their scallop shu mai at taste of London and it's highly recommended!!!

Yauatcha - review by nikosk

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:15:04 +0000

Yauatcha - review by nikosk

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 8888

Tags: lively, good value, chinese

I was surprised to see people suggest Yauatcha was expensive for what it is...sure, prices are higher than most Chinese restaurants in China Town, but then again none of the restaurants in China Town have a Michelin star... When compared to other places in its league, I would say that, if anything, Yauatcha is quite reasonable. And with pots of tea starting at Â£3-4, one could get away with less than Â£30 a head without wine, for fine dining quality food.

As far as the food is concerned, Yauatcha is excellent. The traditional dim sum dishes are made to perfection, and the menu features a wide range of more unusual options that are well worth trying. I would recommend trying the following dumplings:

steamed plain prawn
fried prawn and date
some of the cheong fun
venison puff
crispy duck roll
the one with lobster and something else

I would normally not bother with the noodle dishes. Not that they were bad, but they never impressed (and were always far inferior to the dim sum).

Also, the cocktails are very good. Try the kumquatcha (there's another really good one but can't remember the name...something with "lai" in it).

Finally, the cakes at the tea room upstairs taste nearly as good as they look. Although not for daily consumption (due to their price being somewhat higher than a block of cadbury's), the chocolates and truffles are also really good.

Table-turning can be a bit annoying, service is sometimes on the cold side, the basement can sometimes be a bit noisy and I still don't get why they insist on not serving the upstairs cakes in the basement. The quality of the food though in my opinion more than compensates these relatively minor problems. Have been there numerous times and I expect I will continue to visit yauatcha semi-regularly.