Latest reviews by helenlauralewis's friends

Canteen - review by PhotographyJim

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:38:21 +0000

Canteen - review by PhotographyJim

Rating: 3.5

Location: 2 Crispin Place, E1 6DW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 0845 686 1122

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

Tags: lively, british, crowded, restaurant

Meeting up with a good friend for dinner, we decided to choose somewhere different from our regular haunts and thought the Canteen looked rather interesting.

When we turned up it was packed and I suddenly realised that it wouldn't have been a good idea to have booked before hand. However, within a couple of minutes a waitress had found us some space on a communal table and presented us with some menus featuring some rather promising food.

All the food sounded good and it didn't take long to pick from the relatively small menu (Not that this is a bad thing. I'd rather a restaurant do a few things really well, then a lot of dishes badly. ) Mains included Macaroni cheese, roast chicken, tarragon and walnut salad, freshly baked pies and smoked haddock, spinach and mash.

So while we waited for someone to take our order, we started to have a chat and a gossip.

And we waited...and we waited some more...

After about 15 minutes, we realised that no-one had asked us if we would like a drink, let alone asked if we wanted to place our order. Admittedly, the restaurant was rather busy, but this seemed to be rather poor, especially from a place which had won Best Restaurant in an Observer Food award.

My friend managed to grab the attention of the manager and explained the situation and to his credit he looked a bit shocked, apologised and immediately brought us our drinks order as well as fetching a waitress to take our food order.

I ordered the rump steak with roast tomatoes and chips and my friend ordered haddock with chips. The food arrived pretty quickly and my steak was good and a decent size....nothing outstanding, but perfectly acceptable. I didn't try the haddock, but my friend said it was rather good.

So we finished our mains and then waited, and waited some more, and waited some more.

We eventually caught the attention of the manager and asked for the bill.

The bill came and we noticed that they had lumbered us with a service charge...With a large group of people I think service charge is acceptable, but charging 12.5% extra (If I remember rightly) for bringing two main courses and one round of drinks (throughout the meal no-one asked if we wanted any more drinks) rather stuck in my throat.

We decided to pay the service charge, but not leave a tip as I don't believe in tipping poor service.

Overall I had a good night, but that was largely the company I was with, rather than the location.

So summing up...The food was fine, but the slow service would put me off from returning, which is why the place gets such a low grade in this review.

My advice for those who are thinking of going would be: If you aren't in a rush and you want some good quality traditional food then Canteen is fine....having said that, I would suggest finding a nice gastropub in the area and order food there. The food will probably be just as good, you won't have to pay service charge and you can get your own drinks!!

Whole Foods Market - review by helenlewis

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:46:04 +0000

Whole Foods Market - review by helenlewis

Rating: 3.2

Location: 63-97 Kensington High Street, W8 5SE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7368 4500

Website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/uk/kensington

Tags: food, twats, rich people, supermarket, ethical, organic, shop

Whole Foods - it's a supermarket, for posh people!

You would not believe how excited the denizens of Kensington were in early June when Whole Foods opened. There were queues to get in, scrums over the biscotti and literally thousands of yummy mummies with Anya Hindmarch ethical bags and Jimmy Choo flats, desperate to talk about nanny problems and work-life balance over falafel.

I sort of see the excitement: Whole Foods, split over three floors, is a veritable temple of consumerism, albeit an extremely refined ten-quid-for-some-air-dried-ham consumerism. In the States, smug macrobiotic celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Brangelina and Madonna get their weekly rations there and I can imagine Whole Foods Kensington attracting oligarchs and A-listers too.

On the ground floor, there's a deli, plus a mound of cantaloupes, a florist, various expensive foods, people handing out cheese, a pile of Icelandic bottled water and a stack of Veuve Cliquot bottles. Oh, and some queues. I probably should have mentioned them earlier, as in the first week of the store being open, the queues took up a quarter of the ground floor. There was even a sign up indicating how long you could expect to queue for the pleasure of being charged extortionate prices for (fairly readily-available, these days) organic food.

The second-floor reminded me of the world's most expensive service station. There are various 'bars' (Oyster bar, sushi bar... juice bar) and lots of seating. Oddly, though, you can't eat from the 'bars' unless you are sitting at the 'bars'. "So what's all this seating for?" I asked a flunky. She pointed mutely at the take-away shelves. "So, you can eat your takeaway food here, but not the food that's served here?" She smiled grimly in reply.

There's also a basement. God knows what they have down there. Perhaps some authentic artisan peasants chained up and forced at gunpoint to make high-quality individually fashioned loaves in the shape of this season's It-handbags... darling, the mini-Paddington is just just perfect for a dinner party!

Imli - review by PhotographyJim

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:09:34 +0000

Imli - review by PhotographyJim

Rating: 4.0

Location: 167-169 Wardour Street, W1F 8WR, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7287 4243

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

Tags: lively, restaurant; modern; friendly staff; great food; soho;, good value, indian

My first experience of Imli was when I saw its website. Clean design, uncluttered navigation and great images...things looked promising, especially after I read it had been awarded Best Indian Restaurant in the UK by the Good Curry Guide.

The question was, how would it fare in reality?

Situated at the top of end of Wardour Street (the part closest to Tottenham Court Road), Imli's location has two distinct advantages:

1) It is easy to get to on your way into Soho for a night on the town, but&
2) It is unlikely to be discovered by drunken lads and lasses who have spent several hours on the lash and now want a "ruby murray" before they stagger off home.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's nice to think that people are visiting the restaurant for the food, rather than they've got the munchies and want to get into an competition with their mates about who can eat the Phal.)

As with most restaurants in this area, if you go on a Friday or Saturday night it's advisable to book...although we only had to wait 10 minutes before getting a table - which gave me and my mate a good opportunity to see what was on the menu and try to get our heads around the concept of Indian tapas - it turns out its rather like Spanish tapas...you order a series of dishes which turn up when they're ready and you share them with your friends.

The menu was pretty broad and divided up into "Light and Refreshing" (e.g. mushroom tikki, spiced potatoes cakes and samosas), "New traditions" (e.g. seafood platter, grilled coley fish and masla grilled beef) "Signature Dishes" (e.g. Goan Pork and Southern Lamb curry), a "Taste of Imli" (four dishes selected by the chef which changes each week) and of course deserts - everything from rice pudding to carrot fudge and chocolate and orange zest ice cream.

Drinks are reasonably priced for a restaurant central London and range from Cobra and Kingfisher beer to passion fruit and mango & strawberry lassis.

Service was friendly and efficient - all our tapas had arrived with 5 minutes of each other meaning you could mix dishes together if you wanted.

And as for the food...the chef obviously knows what he's doing. The dishes were delicious and full of flavour and lacked the excessive fiery heat I've experienced some other Indian restaurants, which not only obliterates the true taste of the dish, but makes also makes it more a challenge rather than a pleasure.

Individual portions weren't massive, but even a committed foodie such as myself couldn't finish everything. (Personally I would go for the five dishes between two people, rather than the recommended six)

And six of the main dishes, wine and a couple of beers will probably set you back around £25 a head - a bargain!

A great place if you want to impress, but don't want have to spend too much money doing it!

The Yellow House - review by helenlewis

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:56:19 +0000

The Yellow House - review by helenlewis

Rating: 5.0

Location: 37 Plough Way, SE16 2LS, London, United Kingdom

Tags: italian, british, family & home feel, good value, romantic, lively

This is everything a neighbourhood restaurant should be - friendly, intimate and with a short (but stunning) menu.

The Yellow House is an Italian restaurant in SE16. Actually, it may be the ONLY restaurant in SE16, if you discount Arbuckle's and Pizza Hut.

The outside is a garish yellow (hence the name) but the inside is much more soothing, in reds and dark wood. There are probably less than 30 covers, and the place is full every night it opens (currently Wed PM - Sun brunch).

The menu is bijou: Half a dozen starters, half a dozen mains, and eight or so pizzas from the wood-fired oven. There are also usually several bits of paper floating round with a few specials on, plus the daily-changing dessert menu.

There's a similar scattiness about the wine list, which comes supplemented with a 'special wine list' and another bit of paper - presumably with really, really special wines on.

Luckily, the quality of the food makes all that wanton tree-destruction quirky, rather than irritating. On our last visit, the boyfriend and I had between us an oyster and asparagus soup; asparagus and parma ham with a satsuma hollandaise; entrecote and chips; venison with parsnip crisps; and an assiette of chocolate.

Of those, the only bum notes were the satsuma hollandaise (didn't taste of satasuma - and why would you want it to?) and the parsnip crisps, which I suspect are done to make the chef feel 'chef-y' rather than to enhance the dish.

Everything else was delightful, though, and it ill behoves me to carp because this is clearly the best restaurant for miles around and I'm almost supernaturally lucky to have it within bloated-staggering distance of my house.

Eiffel Tower - review by helenlewis

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:00:27 +0000

Eiffel Tower - review by helenlewis

Rating: 4.6

Location: Champ de Mars, 75007, Paris, France

Website: http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/

This being France, the lifts to the top were closed due to strike action.

Nevertheless, the view from the bottom was magnificent.

Chez Bruce - review by helenlewis

Thu, 31 May 2007 13:28:39 +0000

Chez Bruce - review by helenlewis

Rating: 4.7

Location: 2 Bellevue Road, SW17 7EG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8672 0114

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

Tags: lively, summery, michelin star, family & home feel, good value, traditional, french

Trust me, I'm a (reformed) restaurant critic - this is the best restaurant in London.

Yes, getting there is a bit of a performance (involving, horror of horrors, National Rail) but coming out of the train station at leafy Wandsworth Common feels like leaving grimy London far behind and stepping into a scene from a washing powder advert.

That impression continues when you walk into Chez Bruce as the decor is traditionally French, with acres of crisp white linen and judiciously placed mirrors giving the small dining room the impression of freshness and space.

Chez Bruce has a Michelin star, and rightly so. I've never had a bad dish here (and it's become me and my boyfriend's 'occasion restaurant') and the sommelier is charming, friendly and not in the least snooty, ensuring you can get the perfect glass (or bottle) of wine to match your food.

Highlights from the last meal I had there include the foie gras with brioche (a staple of the starter menu), served with a glass of dessert wine and the perfectly-cooked entrecote and chips.

Chez Bruce is so good that I almost don't want to tell anyone else about it; it's hard enough getting a table there as it is.

The Garden - review by helenlewis

Thu, 31 May 2007 13:14:29 +0000

The Garden - review by helenlewis

Rating: 3.3

Location: 179 Upper Street, N1 1RG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7226 6276

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

Tags: live music, pub chain, late license, standard pub food, beer garden

The Garden has a reputation as - how shall we put this - a chav pub. Still, it shows that some chavs have extremely good taste, because there are very few pubs in central London with an outside seating area. It's not exactly a beer garden, as it's at the front and paved in concrete, but they've prettied it up nicely with trellises and vines.

Inside the L-shaped pub has a look optimistically described as 'shabby chic', but it's none the worse for it. Food and drink are both cheap (this is part of a chain) and cheerful.

The Alma - review by Teddanson

Wed, 30 May 2007 14:22:16 +0000

The Alma - review by Teddanson

Rating: 3.0

Location: 95 Church Road, SE19 2TA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8653 3223

Tags: live music, independent pub, pool

Newly renovated pub - which looks much better than it did before. Pool table, regular live music (sometimes good) and a casual/easy going atmosphere. new landlord seems friendly and it appears to be worked on/improved every time I go past it.

Give it a try for a beer befor you head out into town.