Nat R.

Review of Parveen Tandoori Restaurant

12 Aug 07, 20:58

Tasty, but not the best

Rather bizarrely, we decided to go and have a curry on a Tuesday night. So you can probably guess that the place was not exactly packed. Nevertheless, they thought it would be a good idea to park us outside on the pavement, to make it look like they were doing a roaring trade. Cunning, eh? Well, only if you think people will be drawn in by shivering customers with icicles hanging off their noses.

To be fair, the food itself was excellent. The mango chutney was the most tangy I have had, and the mushroom paneer was deliciously creamy. However, the portion sizes were much smaller than we greedy Westerners have come to expect, so I would recommend that you order a starter and a few sides. I didn't, and ended up raiding Sainsbury's on the way home. The prices were very reasonable - £10 for poppadoms and a main course, but you might have to spend a bit more if you want to avoid the tummy rumbles.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Fine Burger Co

16 Jul 07, 16:49

Yummy, a touch pricey

The juice-bar style interior, which bright fruit and veg panels on the walls and canteen style chairs and tables, clearly aims to make you feel that the burgers here are healthy. I can’t speak for that, but they certainly are tasty. Since I don’t eat beef, I can’t comment on the ‘proper’ burgers, but both the veggie burgers and fish finger burger (think McDonalds fillet-o-fish) are hearty and satisfying. The prices for individual burgers are a little over-inflated, but they do a good meal deal where you get chunky chips (very yummy), onion rings and a dip for £3. This is definitely a place for a lunch snack or casual evening meal, not a night out. That said, a recent meal for two cost £29, and for that price it only gets 3 stars (I would give the food and the place 4).

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Keston Lodge

09 Jul 07, 19:19

Cosy and quirky

I've only been here once, but I really liked it. The decor is an intriguing mixture of modern and quaint, blocky cosy chairs and patches of bare wall mingled with giant floral lampshades and a scatter of farmhouse plates on wood pannelling. The crowd is young but relaxed and not rowdy, and the drinks are not too expensive, considering the location. There seemed to be some good deals on cocktails in the early evening, but alas we arrived too late. I would definitely recommend at least a couple of drinks have if you are planning a night out in Angel.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of The York

09 Jul 07, 13:41

A good pub, does what it says on the tin

This is in a very handy spot, just a couple of minutes from Angel tube. This does mean it can get very very busy though, especially at weekends. Although it has a spacious seating area out front, often there are no spaces even there on a warm summer evening. If you do get a seat outside though, the tramps who come and bother you are first class and good value for money – one did magic tricks and then read our fortunes with tarot cards! It’s an ideal place for a Sunday lunch, with traditional hearty fare: pies, sausage and mash, fish and chips – you get the picture. This is good honest food at a good honest price – there’s nothing ‘gastro’ about it, which can be quite a relief in this neck of the woods. The other side of that coin though is that it’s hardly young and trendy – you’d come here for a quiet pint, not a wild night out.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Shish Old Street

05 Jul 07, 17:52

Nice enough kebabs

If you want a kebab to constitute a pleasant evening meal rather than a sponge for soaking up alcohol (which might well make a return visit), you can't do better than Shish. While my stomach trusts the offerings here much more than the average kebab (that's not saying much though, is it?), the food is nothing special. There's a range of meze dishes, kebabs and wraps, which can be served with rice, cous cous or chips. The cous cous can be a little dry, and I'd avoid the red pepper starter, which tastes fine but looks like soggy and extremely embarassed ears, which I find a little off- putting. The interior is a little too canteen-like to make this a special night out, but it's definitely worth a visit as long as your expectations aren't too high.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Wong Kei

04 Jul 07, 15:57

Service not included

Three floors serving perfectly decent Chinese food, at very reasonable prices in the heart of Chinatown, with endless free supplies of delicious green tea. So far, so good? Yes, but as the bill states (perhaps not realising the irony), ‘service is not included’. Only go here if you have a very high tolerance of sullen waiters banging plates down in front of you, have an intense dislike of the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and thoroughly enjoy being loudly accused of blindness if you misread the bill. Last time I went, the waiter physically shoved me into my chair because I did not sit down the instant I arrived at the table. This is the only place I ever feel entirely guilt-free about not leaving a tip.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Bierodrome

04 Jul 07, 13:32

Beer Heaven

One of my favourite bars on Upper Street, Bierodrome serves a large range of European beers including my favourite, Fruili (strawberry-flavoured beer), and many other fruity flavours. The interior is very ‘Germanic’, with barrel-vault ceilings covering a décor which is extremely brown (brown walls, brown seats, brown bar) and full of church-style chunky white candles. It can get very busy here at weekends, so you might not always be able to get a seat, although if you do, comfy sofas and armchairs are the rule.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Paperchase

03 Jul 07, 21:59

Stationary lover's dream

Ok, I have a confession to make - cute stationary makes me dribble with happiness. Put a monkey or a wonky monster on a notebook, and you're going to have to drag me kicking and screaming out of the door to stop me buying it. I also collect cute and wacky postcards (again, preferably involving monkeys or wonky monsters... pandas at a pinch).

For all these reasons, I love Paperchase. This one is three whole floors of stationary heaven - one of cutesy gifts and cards, the other two of arts and crafts and more serious household items (but that's not really my area).

However, letting my rational mind defeat my monkey-loving soul for a moment, I can see that the popular stationary ranges here are overpriced and childish, and this isn't a place for basic, practical stationary needs (for those, I would recommend the London Design Centre in Covent Garden).

I still love it though (the image of a child in a sweet shop comes to mind...)

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Kimantra

03 Jul 07, 21:47

Just what those aching shoulders need

I go here for shoulder and back massages (bear in mind I have the upper body of a creaky pensioner), and the service has definitely improved over time. Downstairs is a juice bar and upstairs are cubicles where treatments range from massage, through waxing to manicures and pedicures. This upper area used to be satured with new age music and massuers peddling their new age theories... but thankfully on my last visit this had been replaced with Motown and burly Europeans who only want to sort your body out and leave you to tend to your soul.

A range of massage types is available, from relaxing to sports deep tissue massage. My treatments tend towards the harsher end of this spectrum, but the deep tissue massages are definitely worth the temporary discomfort involved if you have long-standing muscular problems. My skin is usually left slightly bruised, but my muscles feel so much lighter and looser.

A massage costs £35 for half an hour - I don't know if this is typical as I have not been to any other central London spas.

Above all, this is Lily Allen's favourite health hang-out - and if that doesn't make you want to go...

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.