Restaurants
Restaurant Reviews
All of our reviews are the result of independent
and anonymous visits to London restaurants. These
reviews don't pretend to be the 'final word' on any
restaurant, just our impressions of their food, service,
and ambience on any given visit.
Bar Meze has a motto of "Eat, Drink, Share",
with the menu encouraging this by featuring a range
of meze or starters that can be passed around. Cypriot
food is the mainstay of these modern eateries, blending
delicious Mediterranean recipes that feature the traditional
and also the less familiar. Bar Meze branches can
be found in Muswell Hill, Clerkenwell, and further
afield in St. Albans and Hitchin.
462 Muswell Hill Broadway, London N10 1BS.
Telephone 020 8442 2661.
Rating: 4/5
Bella Pasta is one of those bright and cheerful
chains serving reasonable (if unremarkable) pasta
and pizza dishes in pleasant (if generic) surroundings.
Part of the Whitbread Group, Bella Pasta restaurants
have sprung up around the UK.
Check out www.bellapasta.co.uk
for branch details.
Rating: 3/5
The Gate is a modern but unpretentious vegetarian
eaterie in the heart of Hammersmith. Fine food at
affordable prices - check out the ever-changing Pasta
of the Day.
Visit the website at The
Gate.
Kerala Restaurant is that rare thing - an
affordable restaurant within a stones throw of Oxford
Circus. Offering a combination of Cochin, Malabar
Coast, and Travancore cuisines, the Kerala offers
quality to match the affordability.
Fans of Indian cuisine who wish to sample a delicious
variation on the familiar theme will enjoy the Kerala,
and on our visit we sampled a range of subtly different
starters and mains. A wide range of seafood and vegetarian
dishes are also available.
15 Great Castle Street, London W1N 7AD.
Telephone 020 7580 2125.
Rating:4/5
Maquis, located at 111 Hammersmith Grove,
W6, has been receiving a lot of attention lately,
and deservedly so. You would be advised to book a
table, such is its popularity. You will enjoy an unpretentious
French restaurant with simple yet stylish decor.
A really popular choice among diners is that 70's
favourite - the Fondue. A cauldron of molton
aged Gruyere with Calvados cider is accompanied by
pieces of rustic bread - a great starter to share
with a friend.
There is a fairly limited choice of mains, but
they all got the thumbs up. My choice for the
night was the Coquilles St Jacques - juicy scallops
nestled in their shells on a bed of wild mushrooms
with piped mashed potatoes around the outside. Companions
enjoyed the roast rack of lamb - tender chops with
a creamy gratin of pumpkin & salsify.
The food was well received all around, as were the
prices. Most starters were around £5 and the
mains around £12. A decent bottle of white wine
will also set you back about £13.
Rating: 4/5
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Masala Zone is the new Indian kid on the block
- a 'casual Indian Restaurant' (as it bills itself),
with a modern approach to food and decor. No patterned
wallpaper and faded Elephant tapestries here - just
great, reasonably-priced food.
A great spot to watch the action in the kitchen is
the 'singles' bench, and there are a choice of booths
and tables as well. Service is attentive, even if
few of the staff seem to have English as a first language.
9 Marshall Street, W1. Phone 020 7287 9966.
Rating:4/5
Poons of Leicester Street - just off the Square
- is a hardy perennial on the Asian food scene. Serving
good quality food at reasonable prices, Poons is a
good spot for a pre-movie meal - just don't expect
an 'all you can eat' for £4.95.
4 Leicester Street, just off Leicester Square.
Rating: 4/5
Raaz Brasserie is a small gem of a suburban
restaurant. If you happen to be visiting the Camden
Markets or the ice rink at Alexandra Palace, then
you should head to Muswell Hill to sample the Indian
cuisine of this tandoori restaurant.
For around £15 per head you can enjoy a starter,
a main curry dish, pilau rice, naan bread, a pint
and service of 10%. Not bad for London.
As a nice parting gesture, you are offered a hot towel
to refresh your face and to cool you down, as well
as an after dinner mint to sweeten the journey home.
Rating: 4/5
The Thai Pot Express is an old favourite,
but - as they say - revisiting the scene of former
glories is risky, and so it proved...
Visibly, little had changed at this modern eatery
near the Courtald's Gallery end of the Strand, and
even a bomb scare that had us locked in the restaurant
didn't dim our enthusiasm. But when the starters arrived
- a mix of delicacies shared by two - the emphasis
on oily, battered vegetables overpowered the admittedly
tasty kebabs and other treats that had formerly been
the strength of this dish. Passable only.
Unperturbed, we ordered our favourite mains, but the
glutinous, flavourless noodles shattered our remaining
illusions. An old friend off form.
148 Strand WC2. Phone 020 7497 0904.
Rating: 2/5
Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Italian restaurant
in Soho is a special place where you can have real
home made Italian food that comes with a warm and
friendly atmosphere. And to top it all off, the pasta
is made in-house, and the freshest ingredients from
Umbria are used wherever possible. The Pavilion is
truly a small slice of the Italian heartland in London's
busy restaurant district.
This was our third visit to the Pavilion, and as always,
the food was exquisite, the service extremely delightful
and the atmosphere excellent. This is definitely one
of those 'must visit' places if you want to enjoy
a fine dining experience.
The Pavilion has its own website with menu details
- check it out at www.vascosfood.com.
Rating: 5/5
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Wagamama burst onto the London restaurant
scene in 1992, and has never looked back. Several
branches of this trendy Japanese noodle emporium have
sprung up around town, further afield throughout the
UK, in Dublin, and in Amsterdam. The success of the
Wagamama brand can mean queues, although it never
seems to take too long to get a spot.
On our most recent visit we were seated at the
trademark benches, serviced by the trendy waiting
staff and their handheld computer ordering gizmos.
All very modern and minimalist, but thankfully falling
well short of pretentious. Orders are taken quickly
and efficiently, and even scribbled down on the placemat
in front of you - a Wagamama quirk that apparently
dates from the time the high-tech ordering system
went down.
The food - which comes when it's ready, not necessary
for your group as a whole - is a fusion of the best
of Japanese cuisine, with noodles being the
emphasis . A comprehensive menu has something for
everyone, and is a great antidote to the sameness
of many Soho eateries.
Wagamama has an interesting website with branch location
and menu details - check it out at www.wagamama.com.
Rating: 4/5
Wong Kei restaurant in Wardour Street has
recently reopened after a refurbishment. To be honest,
aesthetics aren't obviously that high on the agenda,
and this crowded, bustling restaurant is not a great
place for a romantic night out or conversation. To
be fair though, most of the clientele don't come here
for anything other than cheap food served in plastic
dishes.
On our visit, the food was a bit of a let down. Each
of our dishes were palatable enough, although the
Won Tons were all batter and the Spring Rolls were
lukewarm. The mains were an improvement, but the hair
in the rice was by this stage the last straw.
41 Wardour Street W1. Phone 020 7437 8408.
Rating: 2/5
Restaurant Guides
As we develop this section further, we're happy to
refer you to the following on-line guides:
www.taste.co.uk
www.london-restaurants.com
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