• Added: 25th of June 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 5DJ
020 7494 9888

coldclimate said
Good Pho
Read some good reviews, and it stood up to them. The plain beef pho was excellent (and huge), the "special pho" ironically wasn't as good. Great summer rolls (like a spring roll but not deep fried) though. Alway fun to share tables too.

It's bring your own booze if you want a drink with your meal, and £2 corkage on bottles of wine, which is pretty good.

• Added: 24th of June 2008
• Area: Leicester Square
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 6PX
020 7437 8408

coldclimate said
Super noodle soup

Wagamama's it's not - and thank goodness.

Wonkies is about as close as you get to Hong Kong noodle houses in the UK as far as I can tell. It's busy, you share tables, the waiters are curt (I refuse to call them rude, they're just very business like), and the food is very fast. Everything comes in plastic bowls, the tables have soy and chilli oil, and there's a good chance that you'll be sitting with somebody you don't know (always more fun).

I really enjoyed their barbequed pork noodle soup, and the won ton soup was good too. The crispy chilli beef was excellent, the lemon chick less so. The whole bill came to £23 quid for two of us, and was way more than we could eat between us. The "starters" definitely outshone the mains, but then again the roast pork and rice on the table next to me looked and smelled excellent.

Worth noting that the décor is dated, the stairway less that clean and your chances of being disgruntled high is you aren't willing to bend you head down and crack on.

Take a bunch of non-fussy eaters, and you'll have a great meal for not a huge amount of cash. Take one fussy person, or be annoyed but one dish being just ok not great, and you'll all hate it.

• Added: 22nd of June 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Bars and Pubs

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1RQ
0191 233 1010

coldclimate said
Best view?
There's a long walk down to the loos, and there are a couple of rooms, the beer is good, but the best thing about it... the view.

Wander down to the terrace, turn on the outside heater, and you look out across the Tyne for one of the best kept secret views in the Toon.

• Added: 18th of June 2008
• Area: Bloomsbury
• Category: Hotels and Travel

London WC1B 3HD
020 7667 6000

coldclimate said
Poncy and pointless bar
I've no idea what the hotel is like, I hope it's lovely, but I went into their bar for a few drinks at an event and was horrified. £4.50 for a bottle of larger form the fridge, plus a 12% service charge. Thats 12% covers the cost of having a for a quiff touting failed male model who ignores you, finally takes your order, sniffs at not getting to show off his bar flair because you only ordered a beer and then opens the bottle and places it on a napkin on the bar top.

The actual room itself (sorry - two rooms - there is an annex at the back for events) are about the size of my hotel room, brightly lit with low hanging lightbulbs, and amazingly noisy because the walls are paneled. There was food available, but given that a gin and tonic was nearly a tenner all in, I couldn't have afforded the petit-pois on ryetoast, or whatever nu-cuisine rubbish they were selling.

• Added: 18th of June 2008
• Area: Leicester Square
• Category: Food and Drink

London WC2H 0BJ
020 7836 4233

coldclimate said
Best falafel I've had in ages
I stopped in for falafel this evening, and it was excellent. For the centre of London it is cheap as chips. OK, so a can of coke is about 1.50, but a pitta stuff to bursting with falafel, tahini, crunchy salad and a bowl of good chilli sause was about a fiver.

The falafel themsleves were wonderfully crunky on the outside, and nicely chunky on the inside, not the lump of deep fried hummus or Mc Chickpea Nuggets that you sometimes get. The take out baklava to finish was also excellent.

• Added: 17th of June 2008
• Area: West Kensington
• Category: Restaurants

London W14 9EX
020 7610 1050

coldclimate said
Good stuff
Chunks of meal cooked over an open charcoal fire, soft yet flakey breads, and some really good chilli sause, the Best Mangal was worth the 20 minutes on the District Line to visit it. I had a bog standard shish, and it was tops.

Nice to be able to sit in too, rather than the standard collect and run kebab places. This feels more like a restaraunt that a fueling stop for drunken boys. 2 kebabs and a beer, less that 20 quid.

• Added: 24th of March 2008
• Area: York
• Category: Food and Drink

York YO1 7LW
01904 638119

coldclimate said
Great stuff
I just popped in to collect one of their famous spice packs (hand mixed, pop them in a pan, add meat and water, and curry appears!), what a fabulous place. I came out with a bag of bits and pieces, all of which I've been looking for for ages.

• Added: 14th of March 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Food and Drink

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE2 1LD
0191 2818200

coldclimate said
Tremendous lunchtime goodness!
There are many sandwich shops using factory produced fillings, arranged in plastic trays, looking just like every other sandwich shop in the country. Dene's isn't one of them. Though I've never actually been into the shop itself (because I take part in a mass order into the office every single day) I can only imagine it of a hive of activity.

The range of fillings is massive. Every one is a hand picked mix, and as well as all the regular stuff (BLT's, chicken etc etc) there are some complete stars in there. I love Houmous, Jarlsberg & Organic Sundried Tomato Paste, Chicken & Sri Lankan Lime Pickle & Jalapenos and the surprisingly tasty Vegetarian Paté & Coleslaw.

Their massive combo sandwiches are great too. Who couldn't love the names Reggie the Veggie (Vegetarian Paté, Aubergine, Coleslaw) and Buzzard’s Breath (Polish Sausage, Egg Mayonnaise, Garlic Mayonnaise, Chilli).

The bread range is good (mini stotties* in wholemeal, white, granary, sunflower wholemeal, ryeknot, tortilla wrap, pitta bread, poppyseed knot, sliced bread , italian ciabatta, or white or brown mixed seed plait) never mind the bagels or gluten free bread. It's always fresh and fluffy, and the healthier ones with bits and seeds in are super tasty.

If you work in the city, why not get an order sheet together an phone it thorugh. For 3 quid, you can't do much better.

*A stottie is a big bread bun from the North East you funny Southern folk.

• Added: 20th of February 2008
• Area: Charing Cross
• Category: Restaurants

London WC2R 0DE
020 7240 3070

coldclimate said
Tasty goodness
Leon is well know for its "food that’s good for you and quickly" ethos, and much of this is due to it's founder's (Allegra McEvedy and Fred Dickieson) outlook on food.

Leon on the Stand was very handy on my way back to the hotel, and having both eaten in and taken away, I was quietly impressed. The food is really very simple, with rices and salads being very dry and not running with oils, and flavours not cluttered with 47 different ingredients. The service is super quick, partly because the majority of the food is actually cooked elsewhere and then simply constructed and heated on the premesis - but at least they are open about this unlike the majortiy of fast fooid which strives to get you to think that everything have been made there on the premises from milling the corn upwards.

The deserts are worth mentioning, as was the coffee. I had the warm lemon and ginger cake with icecream and it was mindn bendingly wonderful. Not strongly flavoured, but with a great sticky base and a texture not unlike ground almonds. My dinner companion had the lemon cheesecake, and it too was just great. A biscuity base with a couple of inches of set lemon on top, not the "shaving foam on a digestive biscuit" which always gets passed off as the real thing.

Coffee was dark and strong, smelled great and even came with the wedge of lemon I requested (yeah, know, I'm odd). The total bill, less than £30 for two people eating as much as they want, in very pleasant surroundings.

• Added: 20th of February 2008
• Area: Covent Garden
• Category: Restaurants

London WC2E 7JS
020 7257 8613

coldclimate said
Silly pizza, silly prices
Everybody seems to love this place except me. It's about as authentic italian as I am. It's about as "gourmet" as Asda's own range.

Putting a mess of silly toppings onto some unspectacular bases and serving them in a funky room does not make for a gourmet experience. Adding a painful service charge without adding the unobtrusive service is not great either. I found the waiters to be cocky and dismissive, unattentive and disinterested.

OK if you want salsa verde with monkfish mouse on a pizza, but give me a thin and crispy base with a scattering of cheese any day.