Rik L.

Review of Zoom In

19 Sep 07, 16:08

Good photography school

When I got my SLR camera a while back, it took me a while to get used to it - knowing what all the dials did was only part of the problem. Getting skillful with a camera is difficult and Zoom In is a great little school for helping you.

There's all manner of courses from beginners photography to advanced darkroom techniques, and all the courses are pretty cheap as the school is not for profit.

The classes are pretty small, I was in a class of about ten, so you get a lot of time talking with the teachers, who are all nice, knowledgeable, and very good photographers.

Even if you think you're a good picture taker, Zoom In will help you develop (no pun intended) your skills even further!

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Review of Virgin Active

12 Sep 07, 12:11

More enjoyable than I thought

Being one of these people who sit at a computer all day, both at work and at home too, I thought I'd get rid of the belly and join a gym. I also managed to get the missus to come along too, so I had someone to go with.

We checked out the prices online first, it's pretty expensive to be a member of a gym, but they have some off-peak plans which can be more suitable too. When we arrived to join, the salesperson didn't mention the other plans and tried to get us on the most expensive one. It was lucky we'd done our research, otherwise we'd be £20 a month down.

Anyway, we were both impressed with gym facilities, there's lots of running machines, weights, a 25m pool, spa, sauna and loads more. Everything is modern, high-tech and clean.

When we got inducted, the staff member "didn't have time" and only showed us a couple of cardiovascular machines, not the best intro to the gym, we would have liked to be shown more but everything is simple to pick up.

The gym can get busy, especially at the weekends and during the first few days of the week when people can be bothered to go, but there's enough machines for everyone and I've not been left waiting for anything so far.

The missus thought she wouldn't enjoy the gym at all, but now she actually enjoys it and says "it's easier than boring dieting". I enjoy it too, and would recommend Virgin Active to anyone wanting to get fit.

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Review of Timpson

05 Sep 07, 11:36

Good shoes

I always find it amusing how these places all do the same services - shoe repairs, key cutting and trophy making. What would they do if you took key-shaped shoes? Repair them or make you another pair?

Anyway, I digress. I took my broken shoes here to get their heals fixed. The price was only £13 to get them completely fixed by the next day. The workmanship seems very good, they look as good as new now and I can walk around without hobbling, so it's all good!

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Parveen Tandoori Restaurant

08 Aug 07, 23:44

Good but not great

I visited the Parveen Tandoori, mainly based on these reviews and recommendations. My thinking was that there was a great curry house in Angel that I haven't been to yet, so the only thing to do would be to go round and check it out. Which is exactly what I did.

Getting sat outside when it was getting cold wasn't the perfect start, but the free poppadoms soon quietened my moaning. They were crisp, nicely cooked and tasted good, and the accompanying sauces were tasty too.

After picking my choice of curry (chicken Sag), rice (pilau) and beer (Tiger), we waited at our now rather chilly outside table. When the food eventually came, it was good, not great, but still good. It tasted fine - the curry was flavourful but the rice was slightly dry. However the portions was slightly smaller than I expected, which didn't quite satisfy my hunger, so maybe it would be worth getting side dishes.

The Parveen is a good Indian, but it's definitely not the best. There are a couple of curry houses nearby which are just as good and if not better.

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Review of Giraffe

31 Jul 07, 18:08

Mmmm... chips

My missus had recommended that we go to Giraffe for tea as she visited the branch in Marylebone and enjoyed it. From the outside, it looks like quite a posh bar, but inside, the feeling is definitely more Wagamama crossed with a children's jungle adventure play park.

The food was good, we shared a meze for starter, which for £6 was a bit of a rip off considering the amount of food there was. I was expecting a mountain of meze-tastic food. Instead, it was a bit of hummus, one falafel and some salsa. I could go to Gallipoli around the corner and get ten times more meze for £10. Anyway, I digress.

For the main course, I had a burger and chips. The chips were possibly the best I'd had for some time. The burger was nice, nothing particularly special, but definitely edible after a long day shopping. It was pretty expensive though at about the price of 3 and a bit meal deals at McDonalds. The list of drinks wasn't amazing either, especially if you don't want a cocktail.

I know I've had a bit of a moan, but I did enjoy going there. It's a bit dearer than I would have liked, but worth it for those chips... mmmm... chips.

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Review of Mambo

31 Jul 07, 17:56

Quite surprised

I was actually quite surprised by Mambo. I'd never visited one of their shops in the past, and was slightly put off by their style of clothing, which usually involves putting their branding all over the clothes. I don't want to walk around with a massive advert across my chest or arse.

But, over the weekend, I was after some summer clothes and thought that I might as well give it a go. Mainly because there was a 50% off sale, so I thought I might get a bargain. And I did.

As with Topman and their ilk, you have browse through a lot of rubbish to find something nice. You have to wonder who buys 90% of their clothes sometimes. Luckily I did find things that I could wear without looking completely stupid.

The store isn't amazingly organised though. It's very hard to tell where the women's and men's sides of the shops are. I kept picking up things that were meant for girls. I even bought a belt that I realised later had 'Mambo Goddess' on. Meh. Anyway, you can get good clothes here, you just need to sort through the stuff, and not buy things that are meant for the opposite sex.

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Review of Bierodrome

31 Jul 07, 17:47

Beers that don't taste of piss

If you like your beer to be a little more different to the standard pub fare of Stella, Fosters and Carling, then Bierodrome is the place to go. They mainly sell Belgian and other European beers that are so obscure that you try them based solely on their strange names. I tried about 5 different beers and all of them were much nicer than the beers on offer at the local Wetherspoons... i.e. they don't taste of piss.

The bar is very relaxed and pleasant, and has a very modern interior with its brushed metal bar and spacious seating. It's a great place to be very European - sit back and enjoy your selection of weird-sounding beer, rather drinking as much as physically possible and fighting the nearest person.

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Review of Simply Salad

17 Jul 07, 17:45

Simply good salads

When you think of salad, one generally thinks of lettuce with a bit of shaved carrot on top. Maybe a bit of cucumber. If you're lucky. Some may call this rabbit food, but salad doesn't need to be boring, does it?

Simply Salad has a massive pick-and-mix salad bar that has everything from your more boring items, such as lettuce, to stranger items, such as crab sticks and stuffed vine leaves. All in all, the salad I get are always very tasty and pretty good value at only £2 for a small box and £3 for a big box. The big box has a very satisfying amount of food, filling but not too filling.

The best thing that Simply Salads does is the Crispy Cornflake which is, as the name suggests, a chocholate cornflake flapjack/cake thing, and it's the nicest thing in the world that costs 89p.

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Review of The Slug And Lettuce

17 Jul 07, 17:05

Posh Wetherspoons

I was with some of the reviewers below when the staff were (more than) a bit rubbish, but I have been here before, so I'll summarize my visits. The Slug and Lettuce is a wine bar chain, like a city-banker version of Wetherspoons. It's rather large with good, if not a bit bland, decoration.

As with Wetherspoons, Slug and Lettuce pubs have no hint of character whatsoever, you almost know what the interior is going to look like even before stepping into the place. Good if you're a city banker, bad if you're someone who likes a bit of originality.

Drinks here are definitely on the expensive side, pints can easily cost £4, a glass of wine can cost £6. They're no different than any other pub either. You get to pay extra - some might say over the odds - to sit in a chain pub.

The food here is quite nice and surprisingly it's not as price-inflated as the drinks. It is pretty standard quality though, no gourmet food here. You'd never take a date for a meal here, it's more generic pub grub and there's plenty of pubs in the area that do a much better job of pub food. As said with the other reviews, the staff aren't the brightest bunch in the world, but I won't go too much into that.

There's a lot of bars and pubs in Farringdon, and a high percentage are good places to go. The Slug and Lettuce isn't a bad pub, per se, but it's definitely not a good pub.

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