Daniel's reviews
Review of Hakkasan
31 Mar 08, 15:06
Fantastic Food - Go in 6 months 
Hakkasan's food is out of this world. Possibly even deserving of it's position as one of the greatest restaurants in the world. Although I can't say have been to all the other contenders. It also does wonderful cocktails.
I don't really need to say much more than this - it has all been written already. So I shall talk about something a little different. In my eyes Hakkasan will be even better in 6 months time and heres why.
The plaudits this restaurant has been given are unrelenting - if you believe what you read this is not only the best restaurant in the city but also one of the coolest. Not your standard stuffy Michlen eatery.
The crowd is horrible. Too many people shouting a waiters unnecessarily, too many men flashing all they can, too many women looking for men who do just that.
Go in 6 months time when the buzz dies down - you'll come out a lot happier, thinking about the wonderful food and staff, and not the idiot on the table next to you.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of The Old Coffee House
24 Jan 08, 14:20
Nice Pub 
Soho tends to get really busy every evening which tends to make finding somewhere to drink a bit of a pain, especially if you want a seat. It's no surprise really, it's a convenient central location for people who work across London, and if you believe what people in the media say it's pretty cool to....
Anyway, the Old Coffee House fits into a nice category of Soho pubs. It's not uber popular, the beer is particularly special, but your likely to get a seat, it has telly for football, and a nice chatty atmosphere.
I'm not selling really hard am I? Well that's not really the point, if there is a group of you who want to catch up, and have a few beers in Soho then this is a perfectly nice place to do it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Champers Wine Bar
08 Oct 07, 11:32
Friendly Bar, Good Wine List
I'm not big on Soho wine bars, I like wine, but to be honest, I don't like Soho. Particularly this part of Soho, a weird mix of tourists, media types and townies.
That said Champers feels like a genuine place, the sort of place that scares tourists away because it looks like you need a BA in "London" to enter. The fact is it's actually quite a friendly joint, with a good selection of wine.
It also has a restaurant at the front that was serving what looked like some hearty grub.
I think I'll make an effort to go back.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Soho Pizzeria
08 Oct 07, 11:17
Why bother? 
There is nothing strictly wrong with the Soho Pizzeria, the food is ok, the service is fast, and the location is good. I just don't understand the motivation behind opening a place like this in a market already crowded with Pizza Expresses, Asks, Stradas and alike. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan of these places either, and would choose an independent over them any day, but most other people wouldn't. They're cheaper, the portions are bigger, and they have that chain familiarity that some people just love.
So if you're planning to open a pizza restaurant in Soho, at least have a go at giving it an original twist.
On a side note, outside the toilets hangs a quite famous print of Christine Keeler, which led my friend an I to wonder weather this was the place her an Profumo first met. Probably not, but it takes your mind off the average pizza.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Imli
05 Oct 07, 09:56
Great Indian, doesn't need to be Tapas
I'm a big fan of tapas, and a big fan of Indian. QED right? Wrong. Indian tapas just doesn't work, allow me to explain.
Imli works like any typical Tapas bar or restaurant, order three to four small dishes or share a larger number between a group of you. What's more, Imli's Indian food is particularly good. Great use of spicing, and really complex flavours. But for me this is where the problem lies.
You miss the complexity of the individual dishes because you are too busy moving onto the next. We had the large tasting menu (not cheap either at £22 a head) and there was just too much food, I couldn't appreicate it all properly.
That said, you don't have to treat it as a tapas place, you could just have 1, at the most 2 dishes, and have rice and bread with it. This would most definitely be my advice.
To sum up. Great Indian food, lose the tapas.
I final word or two should be left for the ice cream, fig and ginger, which is quite possibly some of the nicest I have ever had. Make sure you leave some room for it at the end.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Apple Store
02 Jul 07, 16:16
It's hard not to have fun here 
There is not many companies in the world that can have you wait in line for 30 minutes longer than you are supposed to, charge you £200 to fix a laptop that is still in warranty, and yet still have you spend a £100 on extras. If Apple Inc. was a drug, it too would have been banned in public places.
The store itself is pretty amazing, the largest of it's kind in the world, a simplistically designed interior, and particularly friendly staff.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.