Latest reviews by ilovelucy

Sadya

ilovelucy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:33:05 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 90 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HR, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8673 5393

Tags: indian, good value

A local curry house to go back toWent to Sadya with my dad last night as it is 50% off with the Tastelondon card and only round the corner so we thought we'd give it a go rather than venturing out to the usual suspects in Tooting. Sadya is a small homely restaurant specialising in Southern Indian cuisine so it was a nice change from the bog stanadard jalfrezis and tandooris. The menu was varied and there were lots of dishes which we could have ordered. Dad had the lentil soup and we also ordered a rice pancake with a prawn filling. Both were delicious and had interesting flavours. For the main we had the masala chicken, the grilled king fish plus a side order of okra. Portions were good. Food was fresh and surprisingly not greasy. Everything was made with care and tasted like home cooking. The lady serving was lovely and explained the dishes. It wasn't busy but when we where nearly leaving a large group came in and it took ages getting the bill. Anyway we were very stuffed and for Â£26 with the discount, for 2 large cobras, 2 rice, 2 starters, 2 mains +vegetable and chappathi we were more than happy. Looks like this one will be our local, can't wait to try other dishes.

The Stag Indian Restaurant & Take-Away

ilovelucy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:08:37 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 96 Westbridge Rd, SW11 3PH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7223 7516

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

Tags: indian, cheap eat

Miles better than TootingMy family are avid curry fans but after a few bad experiences at Tooting curry houses I decided to take them to The Stag in Battersea - for which I could use the Taste London Card to get 50% off. Bargain.

The restaurant is off the beaten track nestled amongst some ex-council estates. Formerly a pub, the restaurant has adopted its old name. Inside, it is tastefully decorated, chairs are very comfortable and they give you cloth napkins - definitely one-up from the places in Tooting. The menu was extensive and had the usual suspects as well as some very interesting dishes. The waiting staff were able to help us select our mains - and tell us about each dish.

We ordered the Tandoori mixed grill to share and also samosas - all very good and freshly prepared. Mains were excellent - fresh and not the greasy fayre you find in most curry houses. We had the garlic chilli lamb, rogon josh chicken, a fish curry and the bindi bhaji. DIshes tend to be on the mild side so if you like yours hot then ask for extra chillis. One minor thing was that the portions were quite small - especially in proportion to the rice that you get. There was only a few pieces of fish in the fish curry so that as a group of four people we could only try one bit each. However, we left the restaurant feeling quite full and were pleased with the choice of restaurant especially since we paid Â£40 in total including 2 large bottles of cobra beer (with TT card). So in effect cheaper than the Tooting curry houses and much better eating experience on the whole. Can't wait to go back!

Cantaloupe

ilovelucy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:48:17 +0000

Rating: 3.3

Location: 35-42 Charlotte Road, EC2A 3PD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7729 5566

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

Tags: brazilian, good value, lively

Thoroughly enjoyable night outCame here last Friday night for dinner with my good friend Giselle. Really didnâ¬"t know what to expect as Iâ¬"d been to the bar many a time on a Friday night after a hard slog in the City but never tried the food. I guess the saying back then was â¬SEatingâ¬"s cheating!â¬

Beirut Express

ilovelucy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:48:34 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 63 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3JS, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 75910123

Website: http://www.maroush.com/

Tags: lively, cheap eat, middle eastern, good value

Delicious meal for small priceI come here quite often as it is close to work. You can sit by the bar and eat your sandwiches/sharwarma at lunch without all the fuss of eating at the tables. Everything is very fresh and fragrant. I would usually have a mixed sharwarma - which consists of marinated lamb and chicken grilled meat from the spit roast, with tomatoes, mayonnaise and gerkins wrapped with lebanese bread. Absoultely delicious with all the different flavours and textures combined- and also very filling so its enough for lunch and only Â£4! I brought my Chinese friend here the other week so he could try lebanese food and he loved it. I've also eaten the vine leaves, tabouleh and hummous and a few other plates for dinner. Reasonable prices and it is very healthy foods. Another nice thing is that like tapas or Dim Sum, you can select a few dishes to share amongst friends.

Kwality Tandoori

ilovelucy — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:56:03 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 38 Thurloe Pl, SW7 2HP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7589 3663

Tags: indian, cheap eat, good value

Fresh but non-spicy curriesOnly a 5 minute stroll from work, the Kwality's eat-as-much-as-you-can buffet which is served lunchtime Monday to Friday is the place to come if you need a good feed. Usually Indian food at lunchtime is too heavy for me but Kwality's curries seem to be less stodgy - the problem is that i eat too much of it. The buffet consists of Onion bhajii's, salad, pilau rice, chicken korma, lamb curry, lentil curry and a vergetable curry. Not an extensive range but its not bad for the price. The restaurant is clean, modern but small so you might find you have to hover around for a bit before filling your plate. Food is fresh and they use Kwality (mind the pun) ingredients. However the curries could do with being spicier - I think they are addressing the mass market and perhaps the tourist that frequent the museum. More chilli please!

Thai Square

ilovelucy — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:36:55 +0000

Rating: 2.5

Location: 29 Kew Road, TW9 2NQ, Richmond Upon Thames, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8940 5253

Website: http://www.thaisq.com/

Tags: thai

fresh, authentic thai foodCame here with 4 friends and a baby on Sunday and yes, the restuarant wasn't busy. However, I was taking advantage of my tastelondon card to get 50% off the food bill so it really didn't bother us at all.I had the soft shell crab salad for starters was brilliantly done - lots of different textures and flavours, however quite difficult to eat. I then had the pad thai which was equally as good and very authentic. Food was enjoyed by all and there were mumours of delight from time to time. Bill came up to Â£65 with the offer - so we left feeling happy and full.

The Fish Club

ilovelucy — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:26:12 +0000

Rating: 3.3

Location: 57 Clapham HIgh Street, SW4 7TG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7720 5853

Website: http://www.thefishclub.com

Tags: lively, british, cheap eat

Would rather go to my favourite chippyFish club is one of those new ethically minded fish restaurants and not your average chippy. The restaurant is basic with hard wooden benches and a fish counter up front. The menu was also basic - different types of fish from coley to sea bass. I was trying to be healthy as i had already eaten thai at lunch so I ordered mackerel and mash (I was trying to kid myself that mash was healthier than chips) My friend ordered the haddock and chips. As soon as the dishes arrived I got food envy - I should have had haddock and chips. My lonely mackerel looked pitifully lonely on the plate - grumbling to myself i ate it. It was okay but couldn't believe I was eating a Â£8 mackerel when you could buy it for about 80p in Sainsburys. My mate's haddock was perfect but wasn't that impressed with the chips. I think we'll stick to our favorite chippy next time - Masters Super Fish in Waterloo.

Cha Cha Moon

ilovelucy — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:59:01 +0000

Rating: 3.6

Location: 15-21 Ganton Street, W1F 9BN, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7297 9800

Tags: lively, oriental, cheap eat

Beware of teething problemsRemembering this place had just opened we skipped sushi in soho and made a beeline for Cha Cha Moon, a restaurant encompassing all types of noodle dishes from different parts of Asia. As a Wagamama and Yauatcha fan I was eager to see what Alan Yau's brand new restaurant and eating concept was like especially with all the dishes at a very low price of Â£3.50. We waited in a line of people down a glass corridor which faced onto the kitchen - they were obviously expecting queues and made provisions for it. Peering down into the restuarant there was plenty of space available on the wagamama style benches - however we were told that they were having some problems in the kitchen so they were taking things slow... Fair enough we thought and studied the extensive menu intently trying hard to decide what to pick. After around 10 minutes of waiting we were seated - the restaurant was modern, beautifully designed similar to Yauatcha. Wanting to try as much as possible we ordered our noodle dishes - mine was the Spicy prawn lo mein and Farrah had the Roast duck noodle dish and to top it off we chose shitake mushrooms, spring rolls, dumplings and Mooli pancake for sides. We loved the side dishes - mushrooms were meaty and flavoursome, and the mooli pancake had just amazing flavours of garlic and shrimp and spring onion - rather like turnip paste that you find in Dim Sum. Farrah liked her noodles - duck was excellent quality and the wolfberries gave a different but nice medicinal aroma. However, I was very disappointed with my noodles...it had said Prawn, Aubergine and Wonton noodles on the menu but when it turned up it had neither Aubergine or Wonton. I complained of course and they said the aubergine was a printing error they forgot to tell me when i ordered. But what about the Wontons?- i asked. I was surprised by the reply - it was wonton noodles not dumplings! Never in my life had i heard of such a type of noodles - how misleading! Graciously they took the offending dish off the bill and said their new corrected menu was arriving shortly. We paid Â£11 each which was frankly brilliant. Despite the hiccups I think we will be coming back, although I did hear a rumour that the Â£3.50 price of a dish is a introductory offer.....i sincerely hope not!

The Exhibit

ilovelucy — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:00:17 +0000

Rating: 4.3

Location: 12 Balham Station Road, SW12 9SG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8772 6556

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

Tags: romantic, british, good value, brasserie

Tres romantic Came here last week and was pleasantly surprised. Have been to the bar on the ground floor quite a few times but never the restaurant which is on the 1st floor overlooking Sainsbury's car park. I always thought it was a bit of a strange location but actually the restaurant with its exposed brick and long wall of windows felt really airy and light. And the view wasn't that bad- felt nice to be so high up. The menu is quite like a brasserie menu, small but caters for all. Gi went for the sea bass which she said was lovely and I went for the feather steak which is served rare. I would probably go for the sirloin next time - as the feather wasn't as tender as i would have liked. Sorbet ice cream was divine though. Service was great and i liked the candles which gave the restaurant a romatic glow. Definitely will come back to try the rest of the menu - especially as i've got 50% off with the tp card!

The Real Greek Souvlaki & Bar

ilovelucy — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:49:04 +0000

Rating: 2.0

Location: 31-33 Putney High Street, SW15 1SP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8788 3270

Website: http://www.therealgreek.com

Tags: expensive, mediterranean

ok but not overly impressedWasn't too impressed with the Real Greek to be honest. I used the tastelondon card getting 50% off the food bill however I thought the portions were quite measley for the full price. For example a skewer of pork/chicken costs Â£4.25 - tasted great but for four small bits of chicken it is a tad expensive. The plates are very tasty especially the octopus and the vine leaves but they could do better with having bigger portions, or cheaper plates. For small plates of food, I would definitely prefer to go to Beirut Express or a El Rincon for tapas instead of the Real Greek.

Troubadour Cafe

ilovelucy — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:36:41 +0000

Rating: 3.9

Location: 263-267 Old Brompton Road, SW5 9JA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7370 1434

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

Tags: cultured, proper food, lively

Lovely charming placeI'll give this place four stars for the great night i had here yesterday. Service not perfect - had to go up a couple of times to get someone to serve us but they were friendly and attentive. Its the kind of sleepy place where you want to spend a bit of time. There are several parts to the cafe and we were in a part that reminded me of a skiing chalet with all the pine furniture - there's also a little garden out back. Food was homely and plentiful - we were starving after rock climbing session and washing down the meal with a couple of bottles of wine, a lively conversation ensured and lots of laughter. Will have very fond memories of the place.

Four Seasons

ilovelucy — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:24:58 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 84 Queensway, W2 3RL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7229 4320

Tags: lively, good value, chinese, crowded

Amazing duck and great food!My Chinese friend invited me to dinner and asked me where was good to eat good chinese food. Not really wanting to head into Chinatown to have your bog standard dishes, I chose the Four Seasons after reading quite a few good reviews about it.

We arrived just in time to bag ourselves a table without having to queue at 6.45pm. Others had to wait - it looked like a popular restuarant and there hardly were any westerners - a very good sign!

The food came very quickly and in very big portions. Of course we ordered the special cantonese duck - the house speciality which was very tasty and had just a sliver of fat - the skin was just divine. We also ordered the ma po tofu and the sizzling spicy aubergine and pork - both the best i've ever tasted, fresh and of good quality.

Service was abrupt but efficient. I loved watching the waiters come out with trays stacked up with piles of roast duck. Bill came up to Â£36 for the two of us- quite a bit more than Chinatown with the tea at Â£1.50 per person and service charge included, but well worth it. My Chinese friend thought so too.

Gazette

ilovelucy — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:22:57 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 79 Riverside Plaza,, SW11 3SE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7223 0999

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

Tags: romantic, family & home feel, french

Quel domage!No don't worry - i am not going to slate the place, i was quite content with this restaurant on the whole and would certainly reccommend it. The restaurant was cute but spacious in a rustic way, the staff were loveably French and there were nice touches such as the menu which in a "la gazette" style and the charming accordian music playing in the background.

I came here with a friend who is very hard to please, so probably not a great idea to bring him here for my very first time. However, he did like the look and feel of the restaurant of it and certainly was complimentary with the mussels that we shared for starters- juicy, flavoursome and fresh. For mains we decided to go with seafood and this is where it all went downhill for him. I was quite happy with my cod but i must admit that the scallops and cauliflower puree sounded better on paper. It was served in a small le creuset dish so it was hard to eat and which also meant the scallops drowned in the puree, killing absolutely any flavour. He hated it and left it half finished with a scowl. To add insult to injury the next tables' cote de beouf arrived - a dish that we we considered at first but decided against. It looked glorious and bloody - and enough to feed about four although it was for two. He could not keep his eyes off of it!

We finished with desserts, he had the chocolate souffle and i had the creme brulee. Both large and wonderful that it nearly cheered him up. The bill came up to Â£60 with the trusted places card. Unfortunately they only gave one main dish for free and did not do the offer on the other plates. Quel domage we didn't choose the beef!

The Bountiful Cow

ilovelucy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:49:55 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 51 Eagle Street, WC1R 4AP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7404 0200

Tags: relaxed, gastro pub, mature, cool & smart, young professionals, different pub food

Bountiful indeedCame here last Saturday to redeem my toptable points which allows me to have a 3 course meal free of charge and it was an excellent choice indeed. I asked my mate Robbo to come along too as I thought it would be his kind of place - brown, sober colours, interesting art ( mainly of cows), tim taylor on tap and jazz tinkering in the background. It was really his kind of joing - and I liked it too although I much easier to please ;o).

The set menu had several choices for each course for me to choose from but unforunately not steak - which is the restaurant's speciality. The normal menu was short but perfectly formed and had a good selection of starters and mains. We had the salmon and the greek salad to start - both were huge portions and loved the feta and olives. After finishing these plates we wondered how we were going to put away the other plates. Robbo choose the rib eye steak and it came perfectly thick and cooked medium - he ordered rare wanting medium - always best thing to do. He enjoyed it immensely. I had ordered the sirloin steak sandwich as it was the closest thing to steak on my menu and did away with the bun. Was a beautiful cut of meat - so tender and flavoursome. Chips were okay and I had literally 2 portions on my plate - but who am i to complain about big portions! Topped off the meal with posh pistachio ice cream - I did not have space for it but what the heck it went down delightfully anyway.

The evening like the steak was perfect - great ambience, good bottle of malbec and excellent company. I will be sure to go back.

Viktor

ilovelucy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:42:42 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 116 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7PG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7581 6882

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

Tags: japanese

Give Viktor a tryBooked a table last Thursday through toptable for me and my work colleagues as a treat to the start the long weekend. I had been to Viktor before but only using the toptable 50% discount. The deal is fantastic as it allows you to order lots of dishes without feeling too guilty about the bill.

So 7 of us were lucky enough to sample the delights of Viktor and the whole experience was fantastic from beginning to end. The food was quite delicious and at the highest quality - a must for those sushi lovers out there who are also willing to try some more original variations on Japanese cuisine. We shared the Agedashi Tofu and the Honey and Almond Tempura which left us wanting more. The tofu was amazing and was so fresh it just melted in your mouth. Also the Tempura was fantastic - such light batter and not at all greasy.

Next came the sushi - all beautifully aesthetic and freshly prepared by the Japanese sushi chef. The sashimi was equally as good especially the yellowfin whihc was simply outstanding. We took advantage of the offer and continued ordering until we were all very full and could eat no more. The bill came up to Â£20 per person which was incredible given the amount that we ate and the high quality of it all.

Every time I've been to Viktor, the restaurant has been empty but if you come here for the wonderful food you won't be be too concerned about the lack of customers. I say give it a go - you really won't be disappointed.