• Added: 17th of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 4TR
020 7439 3309

mrsevans101 said
Pancakes and bacon and syrup - Oh my!
I had breakfast / brunch here two mornings in a row last weekend (return visit after a failed trip to nearby Amato's).

I'll keep this short.

Service was friendly (with a hint of California) and very efficient (without making you feel rushed.
I had amazing pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Fluffy and light and gooey all at the same time with properly cooked bacon. Hubby had the cooked breakfast and was disappointed. He sent it back the first time because it was cold and was overall a bit disappointed that the sausage was not fab quality and the bacon a little underdone. I suspect that it didn't help that my pancakes were so delish.

And when I went back the second day they recognised me. Which was a nice touch but how embarrassing to be seen in the gay area of London tucking in to pancakes AND syrup AND bacon two days in a row, when all the other punters are so fit!

• Added: 17th of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London W1D 4TH
020 7734 5733

mrsevans101 said
How the mighty have fallen
I've eaten here plenty of times but not for a while, so I was quite excited to be in London for the weekend to have chance to enjoy their wonderful breakfasts.

Sadly it was not to be.

We arrived on Suday morning about 11 am to find a pretty empty dining room. We ordered breakfast (mostly eggs on toast and eggs benedict, as no one could face a full English). Our complimentary fruit juices were brought over. And we waited. And waited. And waited. Oh my goodness.
The large table next to us complained about the wait (despite many of them arriving after us) and somehow their food was magicked up.
We were not so lucky. 45 minutes after ordering and repeated promises of food on its way we gave up, told them to cancel our food and that we would pay for our drinks. The waiter took the food off the bill and told us that the cost of our drinks (4 fruit juices, one tea and one coffee) would be £14. £14! We argued that we only ordered the fruit juice because it came with the breakfast that they had not been able to supply so they relented and charged us only for the hot drinks.

I have so many good memories of eating here. This has been burst like a soap bubble by this terrible experience. Worst of all, we had brought friends from out of town with us and told them how marvellous Amato's is. Or was, I should stay.

We left, went to Balan's (along the road) for their cracking American style pancakes and friendly, efficient service.

• Added: 16th of July 2008
• Area: Clerkenwell
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London EC1V 4PH
020 7336 7726

mrsevans101 said
Delicious food, nice venue
Having eaten lunch here some time ago in the downstairs gastro pub we decided to make a return visit for an evening upstairs in the restaurant proper.

The pub was full of wedding revellers so it was a little surreal to wade through the crowds to go upstairs to the sombre-by-comparison dining room.

The upstairs restaurant is beautifully decorated with vintage cinema posters and the furniture is very much of the French brasserie style (with a wonderful high ceiling, proper napkins and French waitresses).

The menu is short and concise with half a dozen choices for each course.

Of particular note was the squid with mini stuffed peppers, a salad dressed with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and little pieces of gently fried chorizo. The best dessert (which I can only recommend second hand as there was no way my husband was going to share) was the assiette of chocolate - a chocolate parfait, chocolate mousse and (I think) a white chocolate milk thingy. I also enjoyed the pan fried haddock which was served on a delicious bed of crushed potatoes, flavoured with mustard and plenty of butter (making the additional mash we'd ordered rather superfluous).

Service was excellent - friendly but laid back - and the selection of wines available both by the glass and by the bottle were excellent.

All told, three courses with wine (including a delicious red dessert wine) came to about £90 including service charge.

I'd definitely recommend a visit, especially at the weekends when this neck of London is pretty quiet.

• Added: 5th of June 2008
• Area: Reading
• Category: Restaurants

Reading RG4 8JB

mrsevans101 said
Wonderful British place
So happy to find this place in out of the way Caversham. We happened upon it when visiting another restaurant in Caversham and was amazed to find out it had been there for a year.

The restaurant has a really Brighton-esque feel to it, with a smart but laid back vibe. The decor is in muted shades of green with dark wood tables. One of the owners (Matthew. The name Mya is a mix of his name and Yasmin, his sister the chef) is an experienced hand from London Street Brasserie in the centre of Reading (and it was nice to be recognised when we arrived - a nice touch).

Now, on to the food. The food is all British, with as much sourced locally as possible. The menu changes seasonally (the night we were there the broccoli was off and was replaced by new season asparagus) and they promise that 80% of waste is recycled. So all good.
Finally the food is delicious. I had the asparagus starter, with hollandaise sauce and boiled egg, then I the fillet steak with a peppery potato rosti, braised shallots with a delicious sticky sweet gravy. And finally a light-as-a-feather treacle tart with a hint of lemon, vanilla ice cream and cream. It was all beautifully done. The only complaint I could make is that my steak was medium rare rather than rare, but it was such a delicious cut that it was hard to care.

Service is excellent - friendly and informal with just the right amount of presence that is so hard to get right.

I shall be returning later this month for the British Tasting Night. I can't wait.

• Added: 2nd of April 2008
• Area: Reading
• Category: Restaurants

Reading RG1 7RD
0118 958 6466

mrsevans101 said
A Reading institution
The pies here are tasty, yes, and if you're after a retro night out then this is the place.
However, the service is slow and can be a little offhand and if you're eating in the restaurant the pies (I believe) are re-heated (which somewhat defeats the object of tasty hand made pies) and not quite in the microwave for long enough, as they're invariably lukewarm in the middle. Of course, if you're in the grim basement eating then there's no-one around to rectify this and can one be bothered?
The cauliflower cheese, on the other hand, is tasty and moreish (and means I can forgive them for slopping it on the side of the plate like an inmate at Sing Sing).

Oh, and it's never as cheap as it should be, once you've added on the extras. Probably best to get take away then you can give it plenty of time in the oven and decide if you want to serve yourself in a grumpy fashion.

• Added: 18th of February 2008
• Area: Brighton
• Category: Restaurants

Brighton BN1 2LB

mrsevans101 said
Tasty tapas
We really enjoyed our spot of lunch at Pinxto People in Brighton on Friday. A bit of a trek (it's almost Hove, really) but well worth it.

We ordered some manchego-like cheese, spicy pork, empanadillas (little pastry packages filled with tasty meat), some bread and oil and some squid. With a couple of hot drinks this came to about £25.

The spicy pork (a special on the day) was lovely - a bit like the chorizo in red wine that you find in Andalucia. The bread and oil was gorgeous - crusty bread with a delicious fruity fragrant oil. The cheese came served with a separate dish of toasted thin bread slices with fresh tomato saucy stuff that was scrummy (it tasted of summer to me - fresh and sweet and sunshin-y). Service was quick with dishes coming out nicely spaced to make sure we got to try it all when it was hot.

We thoroughly enjoyed it and if we lived closer I know we'd be there more often. Not sure if I'd go there of an evening, though.

• Added: 18th of February 2008
• Area: Brighton
• Category: Restaurants

Brighton BN1 2AA
01273 722556

mrsevans101 said
Good but not perfect
We visited La Fourchette on Saturday 16th Feb for a celebratory meal (as part of a trip to Brighton). Service (including on slightly potty, slightly camp French waiter) was excellent and not over the top (no one does service like the French, I believe). The wine list has a wide range of prices with something to suit every pocket (and you can tell where you are on the scale - cheap wine = standard glasses, mid range wine = big glasses and posh wine = decanter).

Bread was expensive at £2 each (which consisted of one cigar roll and one small crusty roll).
The food itself was delicious. Of note was the lamb rump with a confit aubergine and basil beans (scrummy) and the scallop brochette starter with ginger and mango chutney.

We skipped dessert and decided to go for the cheese, as the French are so good at cheese, right? Wrong. The plate of cheese we had was chilled (a cardinal sin in my book) and so very dull, served with half a dozen grapes, two celery "twigs" and crackers. Disappointingly the crackers were just plain cream crackers and water biscuits. Awful. I really wish I had left the cheese out altogether then I would have come away raving about La Fourchette (and the selection of Creme Brulees that I saw served to a adjacent table looked fantastic and were receiving enthusiatic noises).

Mysteriously when it came to settling up the bill it did not add up. Every item we had bought was in round pounds (sensible, really) but the bill total was £xx.75. Very odd. So we took this off when working out the total plus tip.

Finally, the other nail in the 5 star coffin was the temperature in the restaurant. It was arctic. There is small hallway buffer to the outside world but often both doors were oopen at the same time or the door to the chilly hallway was left open. And in February, this close to the coast this is not good.

So, a nice experience but a few jarring elements that made it fall short of 5 stars.

• Added: 12th of December 2007
• Area: Marylebone
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London W1U 5JX
020 7486 8065

mrsevans101 said
Tasty brekkie
I came here wih my husband on a weekday morning when we were looking for a proper breakfast (harder than you'd think in Marylebone, chains aside).
We wandered into the store to browse the deli and saw a sign for the cafe on the first floor so trolled upstairs to have a look. A nice bright space with lots of windows and neat but rustic wooden tables with Daisy, a large carbon fibre cow outside on the roof.
We checked that they were offering their cooked breakfast (because it says "weekends or by request" on the menu) and they were - hooray! tehy also do egg and bacon sandwiches, but we needed more sustenance than this...
So, we both had a full English - two rashers of organic Berkshire back bacon, a meaty, herby sausage, a poached or scrambled egg, mushrooms and some cherry tomatoes, served with two half-plate sized slices of toasted fresh bread.

We were really impressed - bacon that tasted of bacon, tasty, dense sausage and a perfectly poached egg. And the toast! Oh the toast! I had brown sourdough bread that was tasy, chewy and had plenty of butter (on request). Hubby had milk and honey bread that he declared as "delicious". All for £8. We'll come back for more when we're popping to Conran and Skandium...

• Added: 21st of November 2007
• Area: Reading
• Category: Take Aways

Reading RG1 1EU
0118 958 3858

mrsevans101 said
The original milkshake bar
Often imitated but never bettered (esp in other towns) Shakeaway not only has the funkiest music on the stereo and the youngest most cheerful staff, but it does blummin amazin' milkshakes. Any flavour you care to suggest is available (plus lots that you'd think of as just plain wrong) such as maltesers, apple crumble, ginger cake, smarties, marshmallow and fudge. All at the same time if you want. Plus you can add malt to your shake for that extra rich flavour. The menu is massive plus they have recipes, with three of four ingredients plus a topping (which gives you something to scoop out of the cup when the shake has all gone).
I think they also cater to the soy milk brigade...

Definitely worth a try, though I don't think I could manage one every other day like coldclimate. Try the simple fudge malt. Yummy. Worth the visit to Smelly Alley.

• Added: 20th of November 2007
• Area: Reading
• Category: Restaurants

Reading RG1 2SN
0118 9861248

mrsevans101 said
Excellent takeaway
Excellent takeaway provided you get there at the right time (otherwise the chips can be a little limp).

The battered fish is very good (excellent, light batter) especially the haddock.