Latest reviews by cubicgarden's friends

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:48:11 +0000

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Rating: 4.0

Location: 5 The Colonnade, SL6 1QL, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Phone: 01628 788 661

Website: http://www.wutang-restaurant.co.uk/

Tags: comfortable, good value, chinese

We went for an impromptu celebration early on a Sunday evening and we were very pleased with the 'just-right' service and the excellent food. Although they were missing several wines from the list, the bottle we picked seemed a fine choice for the food. The prawns were to die for - huge, meaty, and perfectly cooked - and the vegetarian crispy duck (hooray! I found a local place that does it!) was delicious.

We have promised ourselves to go again, and hopefully with regularity.
Also, excellent value for quality food and service: we had veggie crispy duck, two prawn mains, double portion of steamed rice, and an Â£18.50 bottle of wine and the bill was a very reasonable Â£46 total. Well worth it.

Oh, and they do takeaway too!

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:48:11 +0000

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Rating: 4.0

Location: 5 The Colonnade, SL6 1QL, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Phone: 01628 788 661

Website: http://www.wutang-restaurant.co.uk/

Tags: comfortable, good value, chinese

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:48:11 +0000

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Rating: 4.0

Location: 5 The Colonnade, SL6 1QL, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Phone: 01628 788 661

Website: http://www.wutang-restaurant.co.uk/

Tags: comfortable, good value, chinese

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:48:11 +0000

Wu Tang - review by regularjen

Rating: 4.0

Location: 5 The Colonnade, SL6 1QL, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

Phone: 01628 788 661

Website: http://www.wutang-restaurant.co.uk/

Tags: comfortable, good value, chinese

Juuri Sapas - review by fommil

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:12:20 +0000

Juuri Sapas - review by fommil

Rating: 4.0

Location: Korkeavuorenkatu 27, 00130, Helsinki, Finland

Website: http://juuri.fi

A modern (and miniature) take on traditional Finnish dishes, tapas style. Definitely worth trying, especially if you're just visiting Helsinki.

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

Tags: Mexican, burrito, good value

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.

O Jango - review by fommil

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:21:18 +0000

O Jango - review by fommil

Rating: 5.0

Location: Rua de Santa Maria 166, 9060 291, Funchal, Portugal

Website: http://ojango.net/

Tags: seafood

If this were a restaurant in a big city, I'd probably give 4 stars... but given that it's in the holiday town of Funchal, Madeira, I'm giving 5 because it is the best restaurant on the island.

The thing about Funchal is that all the restaurants have the same menu, the same badly cooked fish, the same vegetables that have been boiled within an inch of evapouration, the same dessert source, and the same aggressive waiters who will literally run down a street to hound you into dining at their establishment... except O Jango.

At O Jango, you can expect fresh fish cooked perfectly, decent side dishes of local vegetables and desserts made on the premises (although, please ignore the hilariously misplaced "cottage pie" below the seasonal tropical fruits on the menu). You can't really ask for more than that when you're on holiday.

Expect to pay around â¬60 in total for 3 courses and wine to share for two.

On more general Funchal advice... the area around O Jango (the old town, which is 100m east of the cable car in the centre of town) is home to the best dining area. Don't even think about eating anywhere else unless you're desperate.

Sam's Brasserie - review by RachelC

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:58:54 +0000

Sam's Brasserie - review by RachelC

Rating: 3.6

Location: 11 Barley Mow Passage, W4 4PH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8987 0555

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

I've used this place a lot during the day. Great lunches and most importantly free wifi with no pressure to move on.

I've also been along to some of their wine tastings, which are a good night out.

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.

Fredericks - review by razorshine

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:05:33 +0000

Fredericks - review by razorshine

Rating: 4.3

Location: 106 Islington High Street, N1 8EG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7359 2888

Website: www.fredericks.co.uk

Great restaurant - definitely recommended. Great ambience good food, and not as busy as other places. Great for business lunches.

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.