Latest favourites and wishlist by neillzero

Brindisa - review by foodrambler

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:55:05 +0000

Brindisa - review by foodrambler

Rating: 4.2

Location: 18-20 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7357 8880

Website: http://www.brindisa.com

Having to queue for an hour to get a seat at this bustling tapas bar is annoying, but itâ¬"s well worth the wait. They donâ¬"t take bookings and you just have keep grinning at the waiter and reminding him youâ¬"re still there while you enjoy a sherry at the bar. Dishes change regularly but my favourite delights include a whole deep fried Monte Enebro goats' cheese smothered in orange blossom honey and meltingly tender rare fillet steak with caramelised onions and Torta de Barros cheese on toast. It's rich, but can easily be washed down with carafes of tart red wine...

Favela Chic - review by CristinaA

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:31:58 +0000

Favela Chic - review by CristinaA

Rating: 3.5

Location: 91-93 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HZ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7613 5228

Website: http://www.favelachic.com

Tags: brazilian, crowded, expensive, lively

French Brazilian, there's nowhere like this place in London. Interior has been creatively put together using re-cycled materials, tables are old school desks, matched up with chairs and disused benches, hanging mobiles with parrots, mirrors and dried flowers. They do their own take of delicious Brazilian cantina food.

I recommend Feijoda washed down with one of their perfect mojitos- www.favelachic.com

Music is eclectic,and mid week they usually have a live band playing.

Carnevale - review by Mitnik

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:20:29 +0000

Carnevale - review by Mitnik

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

not bad!

Carnevale - review by dryremedy

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:08:28 +0000

Carnevale - review by dryremedy

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

Tags: vegetarian

I have been a struggling vegetarian for many years now, I keep wanting to stick to vegetarian food but I always give in to the dark side of eating meat! I think one of the problems is that the menu choices at most restaurants is ridiculous for vegetarians. They always have the same old things for us non meat eaters, it just gets so boring when you go out for a meal. I was so glad when someone told me about this vegetarian & vegan restaurant, I could not wait to try it! Iâ¬"m pleased to report the food here is delicious and I cannot wait to go back!

Carnevale - review by blackpenwriter

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:16:42 +0000

Carnevale - review by blackpenwriter

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

Tags: vegetarian

I totally agree with the previous review. I'm a meat eater and proud, however this place has opened my eyes to the delights of vegan and vegetarian meals. The place itself is absolutely tiny, miniscule, couldn't swing a cat, but they still manage to crap in quite a few people without it feeling too cramped and the intimacy is still there. A bit like the tardis! The menu is huge and lots to choose from and even meat eaters will find lots they would like to sample. Service is really good too, you never have to wait long to be served. I really do like it here!

Guanabara - review by ben1982

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:02:40 +0000

Guanabara - review by ben1982

Rating: 3.7

Location: Parker Street, WC2B 5PW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7242 8600

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

Live drums, samba, capoeira and table football are all good things, as are the happy hour caipirinhas - some of the best in london (and significantly cheaper). Set in a modern block reminiscent of a conference centre though makes the atmosphere a little sterile, preventing what could be a winning formula.

Carnevale - review by tightwad

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:07:24 +0000

Carnevale - review by tightwad

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

Tags: vegetarian, good value, mediterranean, crowded

First of all, i'd just like to announce i'm a huge meat eater. So when some friends of mine suggested we all go for a vegetarian / vegan meal you can imagine the words that came out of my mouth! However they persised and i went, abeit with a huge chip on my shoulder expecting the worst. Have to say i had to eat my words and will never live it down. The food here is DELICIOUS and much tastier than my usual meat dishes. You actually feel healthy once you have eaten this type of food, it gives you so much energy whereas meat based meals take that energy away due to the digestion...i assume. I'll never give up meat completely but Carnevale has shown me a different way! Thank you!

Carnevale - review by messydesk

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:30:28 +0000

Carnevale - review by messydesk

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

Tags: lively, greek, cheap eat, good value, mediterranean, spanish, vegetarian

I've been going to Carnevale for years now, it's one of my favourite places to eat in London and I never get tired of it. It's a tiny, tiny, incy-wincy place with a small, but green courtyard in the back. The food has always been without exception, marvellous and even my grumpy, meat-loving dad will agree to go there without too much arm-twisting. They seem actually to understand that there's slightly more to vegetarian cooking than either a meal with the meat simply removed or just replaced with a soya burger.The menu updates very regularly and there's always at least one interesting twist in its ranks, something the mushroom risotto and vegetable lasagne fatigued vegetarians of London will be pleased by. The staff are really friendly without getting in your face and it's always a pleasure to visit small, independent place run with such care and love.
I usually go in the evenings and have the set menu which is ridiculously cheep, but if I've had a rotten morning and feel like a treat I take myself over at lunchtime and eat from the a la carte menu. I can also really recommend the salads. Unlike a lot of places, the Carnevale chefs know how to make a salad that's a properly filling meal by itself, not just a few limp vegs covered in oil, the potato and broccoli versions are particularly awesome. (Good vegan choices as well).

Taqueria - review by Lacrimosa

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:08:40 +0000

Taqueria - review by Lacrimosa

Rating: 4.0

Location: 139-143 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RS, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7229 4734

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

Tags: mexican

I've just lunched with friends at Taqueria, lured by the special lunchtime menu (a selection all priced at Â£6) and impressed by the positive reviews here on Trusted Places. It's the sort of small, independent place I would have loved to have been able heap praise on, but unfortunately our experience fell a bit short.

We all ordered enchiladas: "Three corn tortillas dipped in a sauce of your choice and rolled around shredded chicken, more sauce, crema, fresh cheese and onion". Now, I'm a HUGE fan of hot, spicy, cheesy, saucy, tomato-y comfort food, so this sounded great. Our dishes arrived and we all tucked in, still deep in conversation - so deep, in fact, that it was a couple of minutes before I ventured to say "Err... is yours cold?". All three meals were no more than tepid, but no one had wanted to be the first to mention it. Now, I prefer my hot food to be sizzling hot, so, with the agreement of the others, went off in search of our waitress to ask for our meals to be reheated. To Taqueria's credit, they were apologetic and actually cooked the dishes again from scratch, although given that this was a weekday lunchtime it might have been a good idea to check whether we had time for this. Second time around it was warm but still not very hot, so I can only assume that authentic Mexican cuisine is supposed to be like that? If so, who am I to argue? Personally, though, I'd have enjoyed my food much more if it had scorched the roof of my mouth off, leaving me begging for mercy.

On the plus side, we enjoyed our drinks - jugs of tap water, Pacifico lager and some really yummy Clamato, which had been presented like a Bloody Mary with black pepper around the rim of the glass and a stick of celery. Meanwhile some chaps on the next table, who clearly knew what they were doing, had ordered a selection of smaller dishes from the regular menu. These looked a good deal tastier than what we had, although I could hardly shimmy over to their table and stick my elbow in their food to test the temperature.

Aside from us, there were very few others in the place during the couple of hours we spent there, and there seemed to be some maintenance work going on which might have been better left to outside opening hours. I'd try Taqueria again, as it seemed good value and all those excellent reviews are still ringing in my ears, but two strikes and it's out.

Brindisa - review by sue

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:10:41 +0000

Brindisa - review by sue

Rating: 4.2

Location: 18-20 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7357 8880

Website: http://www.brindisa.com

Tags: lively, borough, spanish, crowded, tapas

Brindisa is a tapas bar located on the edge of Borough Market. They don't take reservations and every time I have walked past they have always been very busy. That said, we did manage to walk in at around 12.30pm on a Saturday and nab a table, well it was more a bench type windowsill than table, but perfect for two.

It was another busy lunch time for them, but our lovely waitress still took the time to check on us throughout our meal which was much appreciated. Speaking of our meal, it was tasty.

We ordered:
Gran Reserva Joselito loin (a type of Spanish ham)
Country toast with tomato
Grilled Sardines
Iberian ham croquettes
Deep fried Monte Enebro goats cheese with orange blossom honey

Our favourite was the goats cheese with honey - delicious. In fact it was all pretty good, though not as keen on sardines when they are as this big. Only real complaint about Brindisa would be that wine is expensive, with only one bottle of white wine for under Â£20. We just stuck to a glass each - I chose an intriguing white rioja which I would be happy to become better acquainted with in the future.

Guanabara - review by Rhydster

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:22:14 +0000

Guanabara - review by Rhydster

Rating: 3.7

Location: Parker Street, WC2B 5PW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7242 8600

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

Tags: lively, good value

Guanabara, named after a Brazilian river that's actually quite dirty, is fortunately more stylish.

The good: they regularly have a live Brazilian band and Brazilian dancers, which makes it more entertaining than a regular bar. Everyone is encouraged to dance on the invitingly situated central dancefloor, to range of Brazilian and latin beats, with a huge screen in the background showing most of Brazil's greatest stars.

It's free entry before 9pm, but try to get there even earlier to avoid a queue. The doormen are friendly and the staff inside take the Brazilian attitude to smile. Nicely decorated with many Brazilian dedications and a good number of lounge areas to relax around the dancefloor. They serve food as well.

The bad: cant think of any

Brindisa - review by Oriana

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:56:26 +0000

Brindisa - review by Oriana

Rating: 4.2

Location: 18-20 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7357 8880

Website: http://www.brindisa.com

Tags: lively, good value, spanish

Brindisa tapas are simply delicious. This place is fabulous - I've been there numerous times and will gladly continue to go back. They don't take reservations so you can have a fair wait, but order some of the great big green olives and a bottle of rose, and the wait is a pleasure. The menu is quite extensive but I've loved everthing I've tried.

Carnevale - review by deadleg21

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:23:43 +0000

Carnevale - review by deadleg21

Rating: 4.9

Location: 135 Whitecross St, EC1Y 8JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7250 3452

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

Tags: lively, international, family & home feel, good value, crowded, vegetarian

Great little restraunt which makes a change from the chains popping up everywhere which serve the same old food. I visited this place just before a concert, as i needed a quick meal before it started. The speed of service was excelent, which was suprising considering how busy the place was at the time.
It has an excellent menu which will certainly have a dish for everyone - even the pickiest eater like my daughter.
Great atmosphere and customer service round off the excellent food and value.
Highly recommended - will be visiting again when i move to london later this year!

Brindisa - review by chrisp

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:44:12 +0000

Brindisa - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.2

Location: 18-20 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7357 8880

Website: http://www.brindisa.com

Tags: expensive, spanish, crowded

I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Half five on the dot last night I raced out of the office door, got straight into the Northern Line and made it into Brindisa Tapas by 6pm. Incredibly, most tables were already taken. This frantic activity is of course thanks to Brindisa's no reservations policy; perhaps it's easier for them to manage the tables this way, or they get a higher turnover. All I know is that personally I am less inclined to make the journey halfway across town if I think there's a good chance I'll be forced to wait for a table for two hours or made to look for somewhere else altogether. It doesn't make for a relaxing evening if you have that hanging over you, I don't think. That said, I suppose the fact I did, in fact, make the journey halfway across town last night sort of weakens my argument a bit. Anyway, what about the food.

Nibbles of spicy toasted broad beans were gorgeous with the house Manzanilla. Gran Reserva Joeslito loin was a satisfyingly rich and earthy cut of cured pork which thankfully tasted as expensive as it actually was (Â£10). We also tried some razor clams which were teeny but came with fantastic rich white wine and garlic butter dotted with crispy bacon bits. Patatas Bravas were well-cooked and the sauce was much spicier (and therefore better) than any I'd tried before, and four Iberian ham croquettas were fluffy and light with a crispy coating and were as good as any I've had outside Spain. So, no problems with the food then. And provided you do strike it lucky and get a table at Brindisa, service is nothing short of faultless - not surprising considering there are almost as many staff as customers in the tiny room, but even so worth a special mention. During the course of the evening I hardly needed to glance up from the table before I caught our waitress' eye, probably contributing to the fact I spent so much on sherry.

So there is nothing wrong with Brindisa once you're inside, nothing at all - they serve great fresh tapas, sympathetically cooked according to Spanish traditions (apart from the preponderence of Catalan ingredients and dishes, tapas not really being a Catalan thing) and the service is worth every inch of the 12.5%, and then some. But the reason I don't think I'll be visiting Brindisa too often in the short-term is nothing to do with the food or service, it's because I can't guarantee that the effort of getting there will come good. People tend to linger a while over tapas, and there are so few tables in this tiny corner of Borough Market that they are constantly hugely oversubscribed. My only hope is that it won't be long before Brindisa can afford to move to bigger premises and have a proper reservation process. Then I'll be back - again and again.

Brindisa - review by lenalouise

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:32:50 +0000

Brindisa - review by lenalouise

Rating: 4.2

Location: 18-20 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7357 8880

Website: http://www.brindisa.com

Tags: lively, spanish, good atmosphere, crowded, tapas

After coming back from my holiday in Barcelona this year, I started craving tapas after about a week so me and Sam decided to give Brindisa a visit. We ventured there on a Thursday lunchtime so the market was also in full flow. Our names were added to the waiting list and 15 minutes later we were seated.

It was quite difficult deciding on what to get as so many things sounded delicious on the menu. We eventually went for some charcuterie (salchichon de Vic); potato, chorizo and pepper omelette; pan fried cuttle-fish with romesco sauce; sauteed chicken livers with capers and fino sherry; deep fried monte enebro goat cheese with orange blossom honey; patatas bravas; country toast with tomato.

The omelette was packed full of flavour and really moist. The charcuterie was velvety smooth on your tongue. I think those two dishes were my favourite out of everything. The cuttle-fish, chicken livers and goats cheese had really interesting flavours but weren't amazing. The potatoes were a bit of a let-down, nowhere near as good as the ones I had in Barcelona. The meal was Â£40 for 7 tapas and 2 beers.