• Added: 1st of July 2008
• Area: South Kensington
• Category: Restaurants

London SW7 3JS
020 75910123

ilovelucy said
Delicious meal for small price
I 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 £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.

• Added: 30th of May 2008
• Area: South Kensington
• Category: Restaurants

London SW7 2HP
020 7589 3663

ilovelucy said
Fresh but non-spicy curries
Only 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!

• Added: 29th of May 2008
• Area: Richmond
• Category: Restaurants

Richmond TW9 2NQ
020 8940 5253

ilovelucy said
fresh, authentic thai food
Came 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 £65 with the offer - so we left feeling happy and full.

• Added: 29th of May 2008
• Area: Clapham
• Category: Restaurants

London SW4 7TG
020 7720 5853

ilovelucy said
Would rather go to my favourite chippy
Fish 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 £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.

• Added: 28th of May 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1F 9BN
020 7297 9800

ilovelucy said
Beware of teething problems
Remembering 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 £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 £11 each which was frankly brilliant. Despite the hiccups I think we will be coming back, although I did hear a rumour that the £3.50 price of a dish is a introductory offer.....i sincerely hope not!

• Added: 9th of May 2008
• Area: Balham
• Category: Restaurants

London SW12 9SG
020 8772 6556

ilovelucy said
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!

• Added: 9th of May 2008
• Area: Putney
• Category: Restaurants

London SW15 1SP
020 8788 3270

ilovelucy said
ok but not overly impressed
Wasn'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 £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.

• Added: 9th of May 2008
• Area: Earls Court
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London SW5 9JA
020 7370 1434

ilovelucy said
Lovely charming place
I'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.

• Added: 9th of May 2008
• Area: Bayswater
• Category: Restaurants

London W2 3RL
020 7229 4320

ilovelucy said
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 £36 for the two of us- quite a bit more than Chinatown with the tea at £1.50 per person and service charge included, but well worth it. My Chinese friend thought so too.

• Added: 24th of April 2008
• Area: Battersea
• Category: Restaurants

London SW11 3SE
020 7223 0999

ilovelucy said
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 £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!