Latest reviews by cbetta's friends

Chilango - review by walid

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:40:49 +0000

Chilango - review by walid

Rating: 4.2

Location: 142 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7353 6761

Website: www.chilango.co.uk

I love this place for so many reasons. The venue is funky, well laid out, and clean. The staff, are friendly, efficient and great to practice my Spanish with ;-)

Now as for the food, well so many places claim to offer authentic burritos, but too often they end up to be tasteless and soggy. The burritos at Chilango's are definitely tasty, fresh, and have a great texture. Without a doubt they are some of the best ones I've eaten in London.

It's amazing what the co-founders of Chilango have done, I'm really happy that we celebrated our "Day of the Dead" Party at Chilango and can't wait to go back there for my favourite burritos.

Hummus Bros - review by mseckington

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:54:30 +0000

Hummus Bros - review by mseckington

Rating: 4.4

Location: 37-63 Southampton Row, WC1B 4DA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7404 7079

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

If you've never tried hummus before, you should: it might look a bit weird, but it's delicious.

The hummus here is served in a deep plate, with the topping served in the middle of it. You get two pita breads (white or brown) next to it and chili sauce and garlic/lemon juice to add to it if you want. I think it really depends on which topping you choose. I've tried a couple now and there are some I prefer more than others. I love the Greek Salad topping (feta, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers) and the Guacamole. I wasn't that keen on the mushrooms and chicken. Keep an eye out on the specials, cause some of them are really good too (especially the meatballs in tomato sauce).

The drinks are also pretty different and nice. They've got Aloe Vera juice which I think also contains little bits of floating grapes in it. Then there's the Mint tea, prepared with actual mint leaves.

Definitely try it out, cause it's a yummy (and cheap!) place. Tip: check out their website and become a member; sometimes they have offers like vouchers for free drinks.

Ooze Risotto Bar - review by mseckington

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:17:57 +0000

Ooze Risotto Bar - review by mseckington

Rating: 4.0

Location: 62 Goodge Street, W1T 4NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7436 9444

Website: http://www.ooze.biz

I love Italian food, but I worship risottos. Every time I visit Italy I try to find restaurants with good risottos. Some time ago I was wondering why most Italian places here only serve pastas and pizzas. Just think about it: how many Italian restaurants do you know will serve risotto? A lot of pubs will, but actual Italian restaurants? Not that many.

I was telling this to my boyfriend, when discussing where we would go for our 5-year anniversary. Just for fun he typed in "risotto restaurant" in Google. Not even with 'London' added. And Ooze restaurant rolled out...

So we tried out Ooze. We had theatre tickets booked for 7, so came to the place quite early. It was (of course) still empty, but then we had the choice to sit anywhere we wanted. In the back there are nice comfy benches, but a bit too close all together. You're practically sitting in on somebody else's conversation!

The food though was perfect. We had bruschetta as a starter and it was the best brushetta I've had. Warm, crisp and crunchy and served with a yummy pesto, it's a great precursor to the rest of your meal.

For the main course, I had the Coda di rospo con zafferano - Pan fried monkfish and saffron. It was creamy and silky, exactly what you want from a risotto. My boyfriend had the Frutti di Mare and that too was great.

It was a bit on the pricy side though (about Â£60 for 2 people) and as students we can't really afford it for non-special occasions. Plus the place itself isn't as romantic and cosy as you'd expect it to be. The food though is great and if that's what you're mainly going for, you'll love this place.

Patisserie Valerie - review by mseckington

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:38:02 +0000

Patisserie Valerie - review by mseckington

Rating: 4.0

Location: 44 Old Compton Street, W1D 4TY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7437 3466

Website: http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk

I had passed this place a couple of times, but never thought too much of it. The cakes and pastries in the window looked divine, but I don't really have a sweet tooth. Much to my surprise though they also have some more "normal" lunch food.

I've been there now two times, and both times I loved the food. The first time I had a standard English breakfast with poached eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and toast. And a delicious cappuccino. The second time I had the Eggs Benedict. This was served with salmon and toasted brioche: scrumptious! I had the Cafe Mocha and even this was done perfectly. Besides the good coffees, they also do a wide selection of teas for the tea lover.

I'm definitely going to go back to this place. It's in the middle of Soho, but never feels too busy or touristy. The staff have always been friendly and the food is served quite quickly.

Pierre Victoire - review by walid

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:28:43 +0000

Pierre Victoire - review by walid

Rating: 3.7

Location: 5 Dean Street, W1D 3RQ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7287 4250

Tags: french, good value, soho

I've been to Pierre Victoire a few times over the past few years and always found it to be a relative safe bet. What characterizes Pierre Victoire is pretty good food at a very good value. I went back there last weekend for a meal and had a fairly good experience. As mentioned the food at Pierre Victoire is pretty good French food but it isn't exceptional. I had one of my favourite dishes bavette with shallots. Now for me a bavette is a good fairly chunky piece of great beef. The one from PV looked as though it had been flattened. For dessert I had the tiramisu with amaretto biscuits, which was alright. Overall I like this place and would probably return there if only it didn't get as noisy as it usually does.

Busaba Eathai - review by walid

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:28:22 +0000

Busaba Eathai - review by walid

Rating: 3.8

Location: 106 Wardour St, W1F 0TR, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7255 8686

Website: http://www.busaba.com

Tags: good food, chance encounters, good value

I'll always have a very fond memory of Busaba Eathai as it's actually in this restaurant that I met this girl dinning a few tables away from my table... was a good moment.

Anyway the food is fresh, tasty, and thoroughly enjoyable. I also like the dark wood paneling across the venue. This place is obviously very popular as there's always a queue of people wanting to enjoy their great food.

The Cumberland Hotel - review by walid

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:38:53 +0000

The Cumberland Hotel - review by walid

Rating: 2.0

Location: Great Cumberland Place, W1H 7DL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 0870 400 8701

Website: http://www.cumberlandhotel-london.co.uk/?gclid=CK6Ope2MkJUCFQ5NQwodEWbcgQ

Tags: bar, slow service, Marble Arch, cocktails, swanky, expensive, trendy

As you enter the Cumberland hotel you're quite impressed by its massive entrance that has this modern scifi feel to it. Anyway this review isn't about the hotel itself but the Kua Bar. The Kua Bar at first site looks trendy, spacious, comfortable, trendy and swanky. I was there attending a Courvoisier event and looked forward to trying out a few new Courvoisier cocktails including the one picture which had chocolate. The cocktails themselves were great, well prepared and well presented. Now if I stopped my review at this point I'd give the Kua Bar a 4 stars... however... and that's a big however the service was extremely slow. Not because there was too many customers or not enough staff but from what I understand misunderstandings and bad management by the staff. Both my drinks and the other guests with me took 15 - 20 minutes to arrive which is completely unacceptable, so because of this I'd give the Kua Bar a 2 star and probably won't be returning.

L'Esquisse - review by walid

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:30:09 +0000

L'Esquisse - review by walid

Rating: 3.0

Location: 73 avenue de Suffren, 75007, Paris, France

Phone: 01 47 34 90 56

Tags: jazz, steak, Paris, good value, italian

Had lunch at l'Esquisse with my mom last Saturday. L'Esquisse is conveniently located 200 meters from my mom's home and as it was a sunny day we decided to give this place a try.

As it's found on l'Avenue du Suffren you get quite a few tourists who come to l'Esquisse for a bite to eat. We sat outside on the terrace to have our lunch as it was sunny and not too many cars were passing by... it is August and all Parisians flee Paris.

First impression of l'Esquisse is that it's a nice clean and relaxing venue. Second impression, is was a funny waiter we had from Bayonne. He was just super friendly, funny, and entertaining, his presence tempted me to give this place a 4 star. As for the food, it was pretty good. I had ordered an onglet with shallots that was quite good, tender but I would have expected a little better.

I think the best time to try this place is at night as they regularly have a live jazz band and/or a piano player to entertain the guests.

Cafe Arabe - review by walid

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:14:29 +0000

Cafe Arabe - review by walid

Rating: 4.0

Location: 184 Rue el Mouassine, , Marrakech, Morocco

Phone: +212(0)24429728

Website: http://www.cafearabe.com

Tags: moroccan, mergez, marrakesh, couscous, free wifi, middle eastern, good value, lounge, cocktails, romantic

My brother, his wife, my friend and I were in Marrakesh about a month ago and whilst walking around in the Medina we came across this attractive looking entrance. It instantly reminded me, from the outside, Buddah Bar in Paris. So without further to do we went in and climbed the steps to go to the terrace. There we sat down on the comfy white sofas with a beautiful view of the old city of Marrakesh with the Atlas mountains in the background. The setting was perfect. As it was night we ordered a few cocktails, me having my traditional mojito which turned out to be pretty good.

The overall ambiance of this place is definitely one of a cool lounge with a mixture of tourists and Moroccans. The place is owned by an Italian and you can see some Italian influence in the decoration but also in the food, as I came back the following day to try out the restaurant. I ordered a Mergez Couscous which was divine, the couscous was perfectly cooked and the Mergez were very tasty, juicy and not overly spicy.

I'd strongly recommend you try out Cafe Arabe if you're in Marrakesh whether if you'd like a nice meal or simply an oasis of peace upstairs in the terrace with a few cocktails.

They also had free wifi which is great if you can't stay away from your work whilst on holiday ;-)

Maison Bertaux - review by walid

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:30:51 +0000

Maison Bertaux - review by walid

Rating: 4.5

Location: 28 Greek Street, W1D 5DQ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7437 6007

Have been there for coffee and cakes a few weeks ago with a few friends. I love the decoration, it's quite original. As for the cakes I found them to be average and overpriced for the quality. If I wanted just cakes and no funky decoration then I would have gone to Paul down the street.

Le Pain Quotidien - review by walid

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:29:28 +0000

Le Pain Quotidien - review by walid

Rating: 4.0

Location: 18 Great Marlborough St, W1F 7HS, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7486 6154

Website: http://www.painquotidien.com/

Not to bad, but I personally prefer Paul which is close to Le Pain Quotidien

Gerry's Off Licence - review by walid

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:28:41 +0000

Gerry's Off Licence - review by walid

Rating: 4.4

Location: 74 Old Compton Street, W1D 4UW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7734 4215

Friendly off license place run by a Greek I believe. Seems to know a lot about the area.

Piada - review by walid

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:17:40 +0000

Piada - review by walid

Rating: 4.0

Location: 12-14 St John Street, EC1M 4AY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7253 0472

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

Tags: italian, piadine, farringdon, good value, crowded

As littlevegemite's review explains, paidines are filled flatbread which with the right ingredients taste delicious. I've been there before and today had the chance to have another bite at one of their famous Piadines. They have 16 different varieties of piadines. Piadine zero for example has salame milanese and stracchine cheese, piadine nove has bresaola and parmesan and the one I had today is the piadine uno which comes with prosciutto and mozzarella. Whatever piadine you take you can pretty much guaranteed that the filling ingredients are quite fresh and tasty.

Prices are reasonable and vary between Â£4.10 and Â£5.00. If you find yourself in the area and want a little something different then try out Piada.

The Diner - review by walid

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:04:24 +0000

The Diner - review by walid

Rating: 3.2

Location: 18 Ganton Street, W1F 7BU, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7287 8962

Website: http://www.thedinersoho.com

Tags: relaxed, american diner, carnaby street, french toast, pancakes, young and fun, noisy

A friend of mine brought me to The Diner this afternoon as she wanted French Toasts.... ooohhh French Toasts hmmmmm. I love French Toasts but I also love pancakes, especially a pancake tower American style. Fighting our way up Regent Street we approached Carnaby Street where tucked to the side you can find The Diner.

The decoration is what you'd expect a traditional American diner to look like abroad, ie. close to the real thing, but trying a little bit too hard.

My friend ordered the French Toasts and me my pancakes. Now I make French Toasts, and I love them when they're crispy from the outside and soft in the inside. Her pancakes looked nice, except that they weren't crispy from the outside and had some cinnamon which may please some but not me. As for my pancakes as you can see from the picture it was a good portion but not what I would describe as a pancake tower.

Overall we had a good experience, the food was ok, the service was fine, the pricing is good, but the music was getting too loud. So I'm giving this place a "small" 3 stars.

Viet - review by walid

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:52:17 +0000

Viet - review by walid

Rating: 3.4

Location: 34 Greek St, W1D 5DJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7494 9888

Tags: vietnamese, bad service, cheap eat, crowded, soho

After reading the reviews by coldclimate and lenalouise I was very much looking forward to trying out Viet.

Ok lets start with the good points, as lenalouise wrote in her review the warm beef salad is indeed quite nice and excellent to start working your appetite for the main dish. The spring rolls that coldclimate had were also quite good. I had the King Prawn with noodles which was quite good and of course the pricing is excellent at Â£10 per head for a shared starter and a main dish.

Now what brings this place to a 2 stars and very nearly a 1 star is the incredibly poor service. I had reserved a table for 4 and left them my name + mobile number. Because we arrived 8 minutes late they had canceled my reservation without calling me to check if I was coming or running late and gave our table away. Luckily for them they managed to squeeze us into a smaller table.

Mistake #1, Mistake #2 the waiter seems to have no clue about the food he served. My friend can't eat flour and thus we tried to identify dishes that were flour free, which of course he had no clue. Mistake #3 taking forever to take our orders and bringing our dishes one at a time instead of all together, thus we waited for everyone to be served before eating our meal.

I would have given this place a 1 star if the food wasn't so cheap, but I prefer paying extra if it means receiving a better service.