• Added: 23rd of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

London W1D 5DQ
020 7437 6007

walid said

Have been there for coffee and cakes a few weeks ago with a few friends. I love the decoration, it's quite original. As for the cakes I found them to be average and overpriced for the quality. If I wanted just cakes and no funky decoration then I would have gone to Paul down the street.

• Added: 23rd of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Food and Drink

London W1F 7HS
020 7486 6154

walid said

Not to bad, but I personally prefer Paul which is close to Le Pain Quotidien

• Added: 23rd of July 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Food and Drink

London W1D 4UW
020 7734 4215

walid said

Friendly off license place run by a Greek I believe. Seems to know a lot about the area.

• Added: 3rd of July 2008
• Area: Farringdon
• Category: Restaurants

London EC1M 4AY
020 7253 0472

walid said
Piadines
As littlevegemite's review explains, paidines are filled flatbread which with the right ingredients taste delicious. I've been there before and today had the chance to have another bite at one of their famous Piadines. They have 16 different varieties of piadines. Piadine zero for example has salame milanese and stracchine cheese, piadine nove has bresaola and parmesan and the one I had today is the piadine uno which comes with prosciutto and mozzarella. Whatever piadine you take you can pretty much guaranteed that the filling ingredients are quite fresh and tasty.

Prices are reasonable and vary between £4.10 and £5.00. If you find yourself in the area and want a little something different then try out Piada.

• Added: 29th of June 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Bars and Pubs

London W1F 7BU
020 7287 8962

walid said
Pancake Tower
A friend of mine brought me to The Diner this afternoon as she wanted French Toasts.... ooohhh French Toasts hmmmmm. I love French Toasts but I also love pancakes, especially a pancake tower American style. Fighting our way up Regent Street we approached Carnaby Street where tucked to the side you can find The Diner.

The decoration is what you'd expect a traditional American diner to look like abroad, ie. close to the real thing, but trying a little bit too hard.

My friend ordered the French Toasts and me my pancakes. Now I make French Toasts, and I love them when they're crispy from the outside and soft in the inside. Her pancakes looked nice, except that they weren't crispy from the outside and had some cinnamon which may please some but not me. As for my pancakes as you can see from the picture it was a good portion but not what I would describe as a pancake tower.

Overall we had a good experience, the food was ok, the service was fine, the pricing is good, but the music was getting too loud. So I'm giving this place a "small" 3 stars.

• Added: 26th of June 2008
• Area: Soho
• Category: Restaurants

London W1D 5DJ
020 7494 9888

walid said
Disappointing
After reading the reviews by coldclimate and lenalouise I was very much looking forward to trying out Viet.

Ok lets start with the good points, as lenalouise wrote in her review the warm beef salad is indeed quite nice and excellent to start working your appetite for the main dish. The spring rolls that coldclimate had were also quite good. I had the King Prawn with noodles which was quite good and of course the pricing is excellent at £10 per head for a shared starter and a main dish.

Now what brings this place to a 2 stars and very nearly a 1 star is the incredibly poor service. I had reserved a table for 4 and left them my name + mobile number. Because we arrived 8 minutes late they had canceled my reservation without calling me to check if I was coming or running late and gave our table away. Luckily for them they managed to squeeze us into a smaller table.

Mistake #1, Mistake #2 the waiter seems to have no clue about the food he served. My friend can't eat flour and thus we tried to identify dishes that were flour free, which of course he had no clue. Mistake #3 taking forever to take our orders and bringing our dishes one at a time instead of all together, thus we waited for everyone to be served before eating our meal.

I would have given this place a 1 star if the food wasn't so cheap, but I prefer paying extra if it means receiving a better service.

• Added: 13th of May 2008
• Area: Lambeth
• Category: Restaurants

London SE1 8XX
020 7654 7800

walid said
Impressive Views but OK Food
This is a really difficult one to rate, on one side the service was a 2 star, the venue a 5 star, and the food 3 star... ok so overall a 3 star.

Found on top of the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon has a restaurant and brasserie section. My friends and I sat in the brasserie section as we starred at the beautiful view of the south bank. With its incredibly high ceilings Skylon feels very airy and with its candles at night would probably be romantic.

The food is ok at best, I had the Merguez Couscous which wasn't very exciting in terms of taste and texture. What this place has going is that the food is reasonably priced. See picture of the menu.

The disappointment came with the quality of the service. Whilst there was an abundance of waiters it was quite difficult to get their attention and when you did the service was slowish. Additionally I overheard at least 4 times dishes / glasses being dropped by the staff.

In spite of the above issues I would recommend you give this place a try, if not for the food do it for the great views and superb airy atmosphere.

• Added: 6th of April 2008
• Area: Piccadilly Circus
• Category: Restaurants

London SW1Y 4BP
020 7470 4007

walid said
Loungy Bar
Brumus is an Italian Restaurant that also has an elegant lounge type bar.


Brumus is found within the Haymarket Hotel which is part of the Firmdale Hotel chain which includes boutique hotels such as the Charlotte Street Hotel, Covent Garden Hotel and the Soho Hotel. All three are very stylish and relaxed design hotels in London.

I discovered Brumus thanks to a friend of mine who took me there with her friends after a pleasant meal at Noura. From the moment we entered Brumus it reminded me of a favourite bar of mine in Paris called Buddah Bar, where the famous Buddah Bar albums originated from.

Brumus has does soft plush looking red sofas which relax you as you look at their large selection of alcoholic drinks. Low lighting and jazz music added to creating a very comfortable and relaxing atmosphere where you can enjoy each others company and conversations without having to speak loudly to hear each other.

I ordered a Pear cocktail made with pear liquor, vodka and a few other ingredients which I don't recall. It was superb fresh, not too strong in alcohol nor too dominating by the pear liquor.

I really enjoyed this place, the only reservation I had was the red wallpaper which unfortunatley looked a bit cheap, they should have covered their wall in a similar type fabric as the one on the sofas, now that would have been very classy.

I would recommend this place if you come out of the Haymarket Theater Royal or from a restaurant to enjoy your friends company or the one of a special person, but at £12 a cocktail it isn't for the faint hearted.

• Added: 6th of April 2008
• Area: Piccadilly Circus
• Category: Restaurants

London SW1Y 4UJ
020 7839 2020

walid said
Good but can be Pretentious
I hesitated whether or not to give this place a 2 stars or 3 stars. But in the end decided for the 3 stars.

Ok so what are the good things about this place:
* Very central in London and easy access
* It's good Lebanese food, and I LOVE Lebanese food. It's delicate, well prepared, and very tasty
* The venue itself is pleasant, stylish, and comfortable

What is irritating about this place is the staff. Whilst they're quite efficient they can be quite pretentious at times. It seems that no matter what you order it isn't good enough or more importantly in sufficient quantity. It's a pity because accept for this issue this place could easily get 4 stars.

I would go back to this place for the 3 reasons I gave above but if another Lebanese restaurant had friendly staff and food of the same quality I would prefer to travel the distance than go this central Noura.

• Added: 30th of March 2008
• Area: West Hampstead
• Category: Restaurants

London NW6 2LU
020 7328 3308

walid said
Award Winning Sri Lankan Restaurant
I have to admit that I have no knowledge of Sri Lankan food and that I would make the mistake of amalgamating Sri Lankan food with Indian food.
So when I heard that not too far away from where I live is a Sri Lankan restaurant I decided to walk over there and order some take away.
Elephant Walk is a small sized restaurant that is clean and spacious. What it slightly lacks in decoration to make it feel different from most London restaurants it makes it up with a friendly staff and incredibly tasty food.
I ordered the following:
* Devilled Lamb (£6.50) - A dry dish of lamb marinated in ginger, garlic and green chillies tossed and cooked with spices and capsicum & sesame.
* Dry aubergine curry (£3.50) with tamarind base
* Basmati rice (£2.25)
The Devilled Lamb was incredible. Perfectly cooked and tender. It was hot but not too spiced. Associated with the dry aubergine curry and basmati rice was simply delicious. I understand why Charles Campion rated the Elephant Walk as "One of the three best new comers in London" and why it won the Cobra Good Curry Award as the best Sri Lankan Restaurant in the UK.
As you can see from the prices above they're already very competitively priced but they also have a 50% discount on selected days during the week. I also understand that they have a function room downstairs which can be used for large groups dinning out or for parties.
If you live in the North West I strongly encourage you to try this restaurant, not just for the great food they serve there but also to learn about Sri Lankan cuisine.