• Added: 14th of October 2008
• Area: Notting Hill
• Category: Food and Drink

London W11 2EE
020 7221 4448

lenalouise said
magic spice shop
This is such a great find, they have all the spices and rubs that you would ever want plus a load of random ingredients such as myrrh gum, golden seal powder and hawthorn leaves!!! The shop is quite small but every wall is stuffed with little bags of herbs and spices. It's a little out of my way to get here so I'd only go for rarer items. (It was beetroot powder the last time). You can also order online:

http://www.privt.eu/

• Added: 14th of October 2008
• Area: Brixton
• Category: Restaurants

London SW9 8LD
020 7738 3021

lenalouise said
Quality pizza
Franco Manca is hidden in the maze that is Brixton market. Upon finding it, we joined the queue that ended up being a 10 minute wait (which was fine). It did seem to take a while though because we could see all the delicious looking pizzas being served and started to salivate. I was a bit dubious about it being next to one of the fish places in the market but it was unnoticeable through the lovely smells coming out of franco manca.

The menu is simple, 6 different pizzas, a red and a white wine, 1 type of beer or home-made lemonade.
I couldn't resist going for number 5 with cured organic chorizo (from brindisa) and mozzarella and the lemonade. The base was slightly charred and perfectly crisp, just how I like it! You could tell that the fillings are better quality but I was bit disappointed at how little there was on the pizza. I'd definitely have given them 5 stars if they fill the pizzas up a bit more.

All in all, an excellent addition to the fantastic eateries already in Brixton.

• Added: 8th of August 2008
• Area: Bankside
• Category: Restaurants

London SE1 1TJ
020 7357 8880

lenalouise said
Tasty 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 £40 for 7 tapas and 2 beers.

• Added: 1st of August 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 6PX
020 7437 8408

lenalouise said
bad meal
I came here with a big group of people and we were seated straight away even though it was on a busy Friday night. I wasn't expecting the food to be great but I still managed to be disappointed! The food was extremely sub-standard and bland. There wasn't anything that was good in any way. The food was gloopy and full of unappetising food colourings. I agree with the other reviewers that is is cheap but there are places around the same price that actually has edible food. I don't think I'll be back

• Added: 1st of August 2008
• Area: Liverpool
• Category: Restaurants

Liverpool L2 0XJ
01512 367530

lenalouise said
Friendly, good value Japanese
When I was back in Liverpool recently, my cousin Mike and my sister Lisa recommended a Japanese restaurant that they had discovered so we went before I had to come back to London. The manager and staff were extremely friendly. I had flown back from Barcelona that day and was still dressed like it was 30 degrees so I was feeling pretty cold. The manager came over and offered to move us to a table further away from the door which was nice.

They had a sushi special which was pretty exciting. It was a plate of 7 different things, all really unique and contemporary. (Have a look at the picture). We got this to share between us with some prawn tempura and a suimono soup.

For mains, we got a tonkatsu, chicken teriyaki, seabass teriyaki (which all came with rice and salad) and I requested a chirashi sushi which they didn't have on the menu. I really enjoyed my chirashi, they ended up putting a lot of different things into it...7 different kinds of fish, seaweed and egg slices with various garnishes. I think the others enjoyed their meals aswell.

The dessert, however was a bit of a let down. Usually, Lisa and Mike get the chocolate cake which apparently is delicious but what we got on the day was a piece of dried, over-sweet cake that was difficult to finish.

The meal came to £81.50 for 4 of us which isn't bad at all. We pretty much had 3 courses each and green tea to go with it.

• Added: 1st of August 2008
• Area: Leicester Square
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 5EP
020 7437 0377

lenalouise said
All day dim sum
My friend Michelle had come up from Brighton for a few days to work (she's a facepainter at the aquarium). She's half chinese and missed eating chinese food, especially dim sum so we agreed on a meal out. Problem was that she finished work at 6 which is when most places stop doing dims um and that's how I came across Chinese Experience.

The place didn't look bad, they'd made an effort to present themselves well compared to other chinese restaurants in the area and this was also reflected in the dishes. We hadn't booked so we ended up waiting for 20 minutes which was fine. I noticed that apart from me and Michelle, there weren't any chinese people in the restaurant.

We ordered 6-7 different dim sum but it seemed to be a bit expensive in the end. I think it was £30 for 2 but usually I pay around £20 for 2. The dim sum were really average on flavour and texture and were nothing special. The presentation was a bit nicer and looked more contemporary than normal dim sum. I think I'll only go back if I was really desperate for dim sum in the evening.

• Added: 29th of July 2008
• Area: Shoreditch
• Category: Food and Drink

London E1 6SB
020 7729 0826

lenalouise said
salt beef is the way to go
I've always been a salmon and cream cheese kind of bagel girl but the other reviews convinced me to try out the salt beef. After a lazy Sunday afternoon hanging around Brick lane, I made my boyfriend accompany me to find Beigel bake and promptly ordered myself a bagel with salt beef and mustard. I really enjoyed it, the beef is so lovely, just the right texture and flavour. She did go a bit crazy with the mustard though...a bit much for me but I braved it and finished the whole thing anyway! I think I need to do what the other reviewers are doing and buy loads and keep them in the freezer.

• Added: 29th of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1F 9BN
020 7297 9800

lenalouise said
Bargain at £3.50
When I heard about the new opening of Alan Yau’s latest venture, I couldn’t resist having that on the top of my mental list of ‘places to try’, especially at only £3.50 a pop. We joined the queue and watched the chefs in the kitchen through the coloured glass wall while we waited. They seemed to have plenty of space but only let in a certain amount of people, probably so that the kitchen didn’t get too overwhelmed.

The wait wasn’t too long (15-20 mins) and we were eventually seated on a bench near the pass. Naturally, we took advantage of the opening offer and ordered way too much. We got 5 starters and 5 mains for the THREE of us!!

Starters:
Spring Roll
Guotie (Potstickers)
Cha Cha Mooli – A Chinese turnip cake with shrimp, spring onion and egg.
Braised Shiitake
Garlic Chinese chives

Mains:
Jia Xiang beef ho fun
Singapore char kway teow
Char siu mian
2 Taiwan beef noodles

The spring rolls were different to normal ones that you might find in Chinatown, it didn’t just contain the usual beansprouts, char siu, prawns. It had cloud ear, chives and dried shrimp. The guotie were average but I enjoyed watching the chef cook them. The turnip cake was nice but not as nice as the traditional one that is found in a normal Chinese restaurant.

Both the braised shiitake and the garlic chives were delicious. The mushrooms had been braised in a soy-based sauce and were soft, tender and full of flavour. The chives were refreshingly crunchy and just about garlicky enough for me (love the stuff, sorry Keith!).

My beef noodle was fairly flavoursome. They'd taken a classic chinese dish of braised beef flank and chinese turnip and added a broth and noodles to it so the idea was right but the braised meat/turnip needed a bit longer, it just wasn't tender enough for me. The other main meals were okay but nothing special.

I'm truly glad that there is now somewhere like this to get quick, chinese meals. Even though the decor isn't trying to hard and you sit on benches, it's still much more pleasant than sitting in a typical chinese restaurant of a similar same price range. I probably wouldn't pay much more for the food when they do put the prices up. Does anyone know if they have and what they put it up to?

• Added: 28th of July 2008
• Area: Barcelona
• Category: Bars and Pubs

Barcelona

lenalouise said
1 euro beers :D
A fairly large, irish pub with an outside seating area. The main thing is that they have the cheapest happy hour around with 1 euro bottles of beer (6-8pm on weekdays). At other times, the drinks are averagely priced though.

• Added: 28th of July 2008
• Area: East Dulwich
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London SE22 9AX
020 7277 8616

lenalouise said
coffee and ceramics
Me and my friend Tasha were due for a coffee and a catch up and Tasha also wanted to make a present for her friend's wedding so we killed two birds with one stone and came to this ceramic studio cum cafe.

It's a bright and relaxing place where you can sit for hours (which is what we ended up doing). They have shelves full of different things yo can paint (think plates, cups, teapots, bowls, frames etc). The idea is that you pay for the price of the thing you want to paing plus a one-off "studio fee" which is £3 for the use of their paints, paint brushes and firing it up with a glaze. If you don't finish painting, you can always keep it in-store and finish painting it another day. They have pretty good opening hours, on some days they're open until 10pm.

It's a pretty unique concept which also happens to be bags of fun. The staff are extremely helpful for first-timers. Tasha went for a teapot and preceded to draw on her design. I helped by grabbing the paints and getting some coffees in. They also have some pretty delicious-looking cakes.