• Added: 24th of November 2008
• Area: Southwark
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London SE1 0TF
0845 468 0186

DanWilkinson said
Determinedly average
I work not far from the Blue Fin building, and welcome any and every extra lunch or after-work option, so I was fairly excited to see another bar open in the area. First visit was for lunch, where a decent menu was let down by amateurish service (pleasant, but inept - this might get better with time).

Second visit was for drinks, and although it wasn't an entirely negative experience, three things stood out:

1. It's eye-wateringly expensive. Don't they know there's a recession on?

2. Ok so it's brand new, but for all the expensive decor (see point 1 above), the place has no atmosphere whatsoever.

3. It's about the only bar within a two-block radius (more or less), so it's stupidly crowded by about 6pm. This means that locals have sensibly started booking most of the bar up well in advance, but it does mean that if you've not booked you'll be standing outside. This also means it takes about 20 minutes to get a round in.

Make what you will of that. I will be going back, but only because it's there. There are other bars in the area (Boot & Flogger being one) which I'd encourage people to make a journey for; this is not one.

• Added: 24th of November 2008
• Area: Covent Garden
• Category: Restaurants

London WC2N 4HG
020 7240 1883

DanWilkinson said
A better bit of London's Mexican wave
Judging by some of the other reviews on this page, we were lucky we chanced upon Wahaca for lunch on a Sunday, as we were seated immediately and found the service acceptable, if not particularly notable. I'd heard about it a little while ago when it was all buzzy and constantly in the press, and as a result had avoided it like the plague until now. You see, queueing is really quite boring, and so whereas some people seem to flock to the sorts of places they'll be guaranteed a wait in line, personally it's not my thing. Diff'rent Strokes and all that.

We'd literally been on the way to La Perla for lunch and decided to give Wahaca a go seeing as we were more or less outside it at the time.

There was no part of this meal which didn't thrill. I don't care for authenticity at all (and having never been to Mexico, how would I know?); the only thing that I'm concerned about is whether the food on my plate is well-cooked, from quality ingredients, and whether it works on the palate, and Wahaca ticked all those boxes throughout.

Faced with a whole lot of choice, we went for the street food option, ordering two or three small plates each, and whilst I can't remember specifics, my overriding memory of the meal was vibrant, fresh, precise flavours, and in particular everyone being audibly impressed with every single dish.

That said, I don't think I'll be coming here for an evening meal. The bright decor and canteen-style seating doesn't really say 'dinner' to me, but for a long-ish lunch at around £13 a head (without drinks), it's a winner, and I will be back, oh yes.

• Added: 16th of November 2008
• Area: Lambeth
• Category: Restaurants

London SE1 8XX
020 79604160

DanWilkinson said
Great dim sum, especially for a chain
Like many people, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to chain restaurants. I don't avoid them per se, but my expectations are always lowered by the existence of more than one restaurant with the same name. So it was with well-managed hopes that the missus and I wandered across the river to Ping Pong for lunch.

As it turned out, our preparation was needless. Our waiter kindly talked us through the menu and the ordering process, and we kicked off with a couple of drinks (including a fig & black pepper iced tea - delicious).

My only criticism of Ping Pong was that it all seemed to go too quickly. We inhaled about 9 plates between the two of us, and although we were both properly full by the end, neither of us wanted to stop. Every single dish was fresh, vibrant, grease-free and singing with flavour, from the lamb puffs through to the scallop & shiitake dumplings.

One of the surprises of the meal was the satay squid, a million miles away from the claggy, sweetened peanut glop which often masquerades as satay, this was a lightly-applied marinade with a subtle note of roasted nuts underpinning fresh, zingy ginger flavours. Needless to say, the squid itself was pretty much spot on.

Stand-out dish for me has to be the prawn toasts. I'm a bit of a fan of benchmarking a restaurant on how well it handles the basics - the bread, the martini, the steak - and prawn toasts are one such dish. At Ping Pong, they're richly flavoured, crisp and dry on the outside, juicy and deeply prawny on the inside. Without a doubt, the best I've had.

Now I know you can get (and I've eaten) better dim sum in London. But whether you can pay just £20 a head for quality like this I'm not so sure. It's lively, it's well-cooked, it's exciting flavours and great service, and I for one would come here over Royal China any day.

• Added: 16th of November 2008
• Area: South Kensington
• Category: Food and Drink

London SW7 2HQ

DanWilkinson said
Brilliant!
This place is 100% fun, and with relatively few calories per serving it's almost entirely guilt-free (not that I've ever felt the need to feel guilty about food). The shop itself is a freaky little place, with artificial clouds scudding across the ceiling, grass-printed floor covering and mini toadstools for seats: well worth a visit just for the slight hint of surreality.

The desserts themselves are very good indeed. Light, refreshing, extremely tasty and with a wide range of toppings too, ranging from things like chocolate brownie and so on to fresh fruits and the like. You could even buy a massive tub and take it home for the freezer, I suppose. In fact, writing this having just come home from Snog, I sort of wish I had.

• Added: 3rd of November 2008
• Area: Temple
• Category: Restaurants

London EC4A 2BP
020 7353 6761

DanWilkinson said
Excellent lunch venue!
I think we're right on the cusp of a bit of an explosion of Mexican food in London, and Chilango's well-placed to lead the charge here. Expertly-cooked ingredients are compiled to your preferences by people who really seem to know what they're doing, and the results transcend the usual lunchtime fayre by a country mile.

Sadly, I've come to know Mexican food in the usual Brit incarnation - think stodgy beans, overcooked chicken, unmemorable at best. My burrito from Chilango was spectacularly different: fresh, tasty, filling, great value and amazingly remained intact throughout, something for which both I and my shirt were grateful.

All in all, a welcome change from the careworn cheese 'n' pickle, Markies-style.

• Added: 23rd of October 2008
• Area: Broadgate
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London EC2N 1HQ
020 7877 7842

DanWilkinson said
London: five stars. Vertigo: three
I have to agree with the general sentiments below on Vertigo 42 - the view is without exception the best in London, and really has to be seen at least once in one's life. The three stars relate to the fact that, without the view, this would be a pretty crap bar, and they do rely on that a bit more than they should, I think.

The two downsides in my mind are:

1. I know it's always going to be expensive, but the pricing of the drinks list, mainly Champagne, does verge on the cynical. Still, they don't charge an entry fee, so once you take that into account it sort of balances out. I suppose.

2. The layout of the bar, sort of in a thin strip around the outside of the building, makes it totally unsuitable for groups of more than four or so. My advice would be to book a table for two to four, and leave it at that.

On the whole though, what an experience, and the staff do their best to make it feel that way. Kick the night off here with a bottle of Pol Roger, marvel at London spread out before you, and then head off somewhere more comfortable to rave about how great it was.

I proposed to my fiancee here, and there's something quite nice about being able to see the venue where she said yes from pretty much anywhere in the city.

• Added: 23rd of October 2008
• Area: Bankside
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London SE1 1TA
020 7407 1184

DanWilkinson said
So wrong... but so right
I'm a HUGE fan of this place, for lots of reasons but principally because it contravenes almost every rule in the book but somehow manages to both still exist and still be a lovely place to spend a few hours.

Firstly, it closes at about 8pm in the evenings (or maybe even earlier?), so if you go there after work expecting to leave at closing, you'll be in for a brief evening. Secondly, wine (and related drinks) only. Beer lovers, head to nearby Brew Wharf. Thirdly, it's criminal to drink here and not to drink the house Champagne (rumoured to be white labelled Bollinger, something I could easily believe), which represents exceptional value. Fourth and last on the list, you must drink said Champagne from the pewter tankards provided.

Follow my advice, and you'll be guaranteed an unforgettable visit. The food looks good from what I've seen, very British and comforting, and the service is never anything but cheerily efficient. I do imagine though, that things like loud gabbing on ones mobile telephone might invite swift ejection from the premises, so have a bit of respect.

The continued existence of places like this is just about the one thing I love most about London. You could come back in fifty years and still find it exactly the same, just as charming, just as perfect.

• Added: 10th of October 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 5BG
020 7437 2477

DanWilkinson said
An oasis of relative sanity in Soho
I'm a bit of a Francophile, if I'm honest. I'm generally appreciative of things Italian, Spanish and so on, but it's earthy, rustic French cooking that does it for me every time. The sort of cuisine that says zinc bar, forthright vin de pays, brasserie, noncommittal shrugs, Gauloises. I'm happy to languish in a cliche like this.

I like the way aspects of Frenchness have remained stoically untouched by the modern world - the continuing love affair with rollnecks, the sanctity of lunch and the merry disregard for personal safety once behind the wheel of an automobile.

The French House is like this impression of Frenchness made brick and mortar. Whilst the rest of Soho either went uber-exclusive and expensive, or touristy and expensive, the French House has carried on being friendly, knocking out lager in half pints, and serving great, simple food in a tiny room upstairs, accompanied by an excellent wine list.

The food is generally excellent, robust fare. Think things like salades tiedes to kick off, and carefully grilled beasts to follow, with hearty accompaniments and desserts to excite the child in you. The wine list is predictably Gallic, but unusually diverse for it and exceptionally well-priced. You'll get out of here for about £40-50 a head, I reckon. In fact everything, down to the gently self-deprecating telephone system, is so pleasant at this place it's a wonder I'm not there every week.

I should also note that booking ahead is pretty much essential on most nights, and although there's a bit of room between tables, you'll be reasonably well-known to your neighbours by the end of the night. Weirdly though, whilst in some places this is Really Irritating, here it's sort of part of the charm.

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Fitzrovia
• Category: Restaurants

London W1W 8AX
020 7436 0111

DanWilkinson said
Ok for lunch, but a tad overhyped
First off, let me say that I rather enjoyed the lunch I had here earlier in the week. I wasn't really all that disappointed. In quality terms I'd probably put it somewhere around Wagamama, maybe a tiny notch above.

However, if you're alongside Wagamama in the quality stakes, it's probably not that wise to bang on about authenticity and stellar quality in your literature, taking a bit of a holier-than-thou approach and generally being all po-faced about it.

And so it was that, with my appetite for supersonic Vietnamese food truly whetted, and their loving descriptions of 'true' Pho ringing in my ears, I opted for the Pho Tai (beef fillet Pho), hoping to be transported to the far east in no time. Unfortunately, it turned out that I've made better Pho at home, using ingredients from Tesco and a recipe by Gordon Ramsay.

I'm no Pho expert, but I do profess to know stocks, and this was a disappointingly thin, un-beefy concoction, packed with spring onions and shreds of overcooked beef. I can't work out what the problem could be, as making stock is pretty simple really. Overdilution? Underseasoning? Made too quickly? Either way this was closer to flavoured water than proper, gutsy stock and was entirely lacking in flavour, except for the overwhelming burn of the spring onions.

Noodles lurking in the bottom of the bowl were... noodles. I'd eventually tipped the entire plate of accompanying garnish (coriander, mint, red chillis, beansprouts) into the bowl to try to coax some flavour out of it, but to no avail.

So I'm being harsh, because whilst it wasn't an unpleasant experience, and whilst I felt it in itself represented decent value and a pleasant lunchtime diversion, it's nowhere near as good as it says it is, and that really annoys me.

• Added: 6th of October 2008
• Area: West Kensington
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London W14 9EP

DanWilkinson said
Sunday morning life-saver
Hangovers are curious things. The things they require to ease the pain (coffee, fried foods, newspapers etc) are rarely directly available when you're in the grip of one, and often the energy needed to invoke a cooked breakfast yourself is simply too much to consider. A local cafe is therefore indispensable, and this one is mine.

I say cafe advisedly, and this is a crucial subtle distinction to make when choosing your hangover-curing venue. A pub is never open in time to be of any use, and is too often the scene of the crime to which you shouldn't really return. Smells of beer usually aren't advisable, either. A restaurant is usually a place where your pale green face and trembling fingers aren't generally welcome, and so best avoided until dinnertime. Cafes, particularly those like this one, exist to provide sanctuary to the hungover on weekend mornings.

One of the first proper hangovers I ever had in London was partially cured here, so I'm probably overly fond of Cafe Continente, and this review's going to smack of subjectivity. What the hell, it's *my* review.

Not in nearly eight years has this cafe let me down. I've never ventured from the breakfast menu (and why would you?), and can vouch that without exception it is highly satisfying: crisp where it should be crisp, non-greasy and freshly cooked, with good ingredients treated with respect. Ok, the bacon and the sausages aren't Borough Market standard, but they're decent enough and don't cost the earth.

Toast is hot when it comes to the table. I can't stress how important this is.

The coffee, although I have had one pretty shocking cup here about six months ago, is generally great, not too bitter and comforting to the troubled tummy. A great selection of juices, posh soft drinks and even (for the terminally bewildered) wine & beer are available. Service is brisk, non-judgemental and highly capable, and you can roll out of here for about £7.50 with a large breakfast and a coffee already beginning to work its magic.

My two criticisms are these:

1. It's always so crowded you're in no way guaranteed a seat. This bothers me a bit, as the last thing I want to do when I'm hungover is stand in the middle of a busy cafe with people bustling past me and... staring at me. That said, places do tread a fine line between 'dead' and 'mental', and I'd always prefer the latter, I suppose.

2. The seats really aren't that comfortable. I know it's a pedantic point to make, but I really don't like them. I want to lounge at breakfast, and Continente's chairs really don't allow that sort of behaviour.

Hence the dropped star. If you can get over these two niggles, you're well on your way to health again.