Rik L.

Review of Leon

22 Feb 08, 14:46

Not as good as I expected

I'd heard a lot about Leon, how the food was an experience to remember and that it would change lunchtimes forever, so as you can imagine, I was pretty enthusiastic about going there.

Walking into Leon is reminiscent of entering a bar in Shoreditch. Old wooden tables, plastic chairs and lots of quirky furniture decorate the place. The place is almost a haven from the sanitized lunch-time fare you get in the City.

The food, while enjoyable, wasn't as amazing I was led to believe. I had meatballs and rice, which was nice, but rather plain. You can tell the ingredients are of high quality, but it isn't exactly a party in your mouth.

Although the food isn't too pricey, £5.65 for a large meatballs, they seems to cover their costs by charging £2 for a bottle of coke, which is completely over the top. I would have smuggled in a can from the newsagents if I'd known!

Overall, it was a nice place to eat, just not as good as I had hoped for.

0 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Japanese Canteen

09 Dec 07, 21:27

Good for a quick snack

Japanese Canteen do exactly what they say on the front of the shop. They make fast Japanese food for you to eat in or take out. The portions are generous and the food is generally good - although the last time I went, the chicken and ginger was literally 80% ginger and the chicken wasn't of the best quality. Try the chicken katsu curry, it's a lot better!

The price is quite good, £5.50 for a good serving of Japanese food, although the drinks are pretty expensive.

The set up of the place is very basic, chairs and tables look like they've been taken straight from the local sixth form, the staff aren't particularly friendly, the only reason for coming here is for a good quick Japanese snack.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Oregano

01 Nov 07, 10:37

Good Italian food, just needs better presentation

Oregano is a little Italian restaurant, tucked away down a little side street from the busy Upper Street. I'd heard of a lot of good things about this place, how it was the best Italian in Angel - it's not quite that good, but it is a rather nice place to eat.

The restaurant is quite small, but there's quite a bit of space between tables, which doesn't make you feel claustrophobic. The food was rather good, I had garlic bread starter - on the dry side though, bit like a pizza base with some herbs sprinkled on it - and a creamy sausage and broccoli pasta main course, which was delicious, the sausage was tasty and the pasta was cooked to perfection.

I feel that the place could do with a bit more work on it's presentation. The tables are covered in this strange wipe-down plastic material which makes you think you're at a greasy spoon cafe and the menus are a bit unprofessional in a laminated-plasticky way. It does have a lot of potential to be a great Italian though, and I would recommend going, if only for the food.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Afghan Kitchen

20 Oct 07, 21:34

Good, but not that good

All I can say is thank god I'm not claustophobic. If you think Wagamama style seating is bad enough, then at Afghan Kitchen, you're literally sitting on top of each other. The woman next to me had to apologize several times because her elbows were getting in my way.

If you're not claustophobic however and don't mind very small spaces, then the food here is rather good. The chicken in yoghurt is rather nice, although they could do with bigger portions as it's not as satisfying as I would have liked.

It is pretty cheap though, and there's not too many things on the menu (which is a good thing), it's not as good as the other reviews say, but it is worth going at least once, just to try.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of The Masque Haunt

14 Oct 07, 23:05

Average Wetherspoons

Wetherspoons does have something of an undeserved reputation of real ale and old men. Well, the old men bit does always seems to be true, probably because being older and wiser, they know it's best not to spend all their money in an expensive bar. It's actually quite a nice, calm atmosphere with all the old people, bit like visiting an nursing home. There was football on in the bar at the time, and it did take a good five seconds before anyone over 60 realised someone scored.

Anyway, the old people actually make the pub quite relaxing, and to be fair to Wetherspoons, they do have a superb range of beers, ciders and drinks for the ladies, and to top it off, everything is really cheap. Two drinks for under a fiver. A round for under a tenner. Excellent.

Although I wouldn't want to go to the pub every week, it is a nice place to go, have a quick drink and hang around with some eldery people.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Jessops

12 Oct 07, 11:11

Pleasant and helpful

I've visited this shop on quite a few occasions, not only are they pretty cheap for a high street camera shop, the staff are always nice and knowledgeable.

I bought my first DSLR from here, and it was the cheapest place that I could find, both in the shops and also online - you don't usually find shops beating online prices.

When my film camera broke, the guy behind the counter had a quick look at it for me, for free, and told me what the problem was (faulty shutter) and what I should do with it (send it back).

The only downside is that there tends to be not enough staff, so the queues can get pretty big, even during the week you can be queuing for a while before talking to someone.

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.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

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.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

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.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of One Tun

15 Jul 07, 22:58

It's not all about the chairs

I went here with Greg, whose review is below mine, and although he does go on about very small things, such as the plastic school-canteen chairs (which he didn't sit on, and I did, and they were actually very comfy) and the fact that the place looks a bit run down. Well, yes, the One Tun does have the look of a northern working mans club with a thai takeaway bolted on, but this gives the place a certain charm to it. You wouldn't get some shiny Wagamama wannabe having Victorian erotica photos on the walls, would you now?

The fact that some of the food was not exactly piping hot doesn't help the One Tun's case, but the food was nice for only a fiver. I had garlic chicken and rice, which was rather good and nicely filling for a lunch time. If you're not as bothered about chairs that you don't even sit on, then this is a good place to check out in your dinner hour.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Crispy Duck

13 Jul 07, 10:46

Fairly standard for Chinatown

I'm not usually the type of person who goes into any restaurant where they have bits of dead animal in the window. Be it kebab shops or chinese restaurants, I tend to avoid the ones with rows of duck, chicken and squid in their windows which has probably been there for days.

I did get half-dragged into the Crispy Duck, moaning that they had crispy ducks (with heads still on) and squids on skewers in the window. When I got the tattered menu with pages falling out, I was slightly regretting coming in. Luckily though, they did have a good selection of things that I liked alongside the stranger items such as squid and frogs legs.

When the food did arrive, it was rather good, nothing particularly special considering the amount of other Chinese restaurants in the area. I had the chicken in satay sauce, not too spicy and nicely cooked. The rice was reminiscent of high school rice, a bit clumpy and dry, but once you got some sauce on it, it wasn't too bad.

The price was pretty cheap, I only paid 12 pound for a starter, main and a beer, so it's quite reasonable. The staff are all pretty helpful, but the restaurant is generally standard fare in a place where there is a lot of competition. I wouldn't recommend this place to people but I wouldn't dissuade anyone either.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Cybercandy

28 Jun 07, 22:02

Sweet, but expensive

Cybercandy is technically a great sweet shop. It has sweeties, chocolates and drinks imported from America, Japan and Europe. For example, it's the only place in London to get Mountain Dew, the slightly popular green-coloured caffeinated citrus drink that was around in the 90s. I love this drink, but unfortunately, not everyone else did, which is why it went out of production.

The main problem with Cybercandy is the price. I know that they have to import things so I should expect some kind of mark up on the prices, but £1.10 for a can of Mountain Dew means I will only buy it on special occasions. £1.20 for a pack of Nerds too - I remember when they were 35p from Mr Patani's shop on my street when I was a kid. If they reduced their prices a bit, I'd buy more stuff here. As it is though, it's only stopping me from getting high blood sugar levels.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Review of Piada

21 Jun 07, 20:52

Good lunch

Sandwiches for lunch? Go Italian and turn that boring bread into an authentic flat bread and your boring sliced ham into delicious sausage!

Piada doesn't quite look like a lunch time takeaway from the outside - or the inside for that matter - it's very restauranty, with it's walnut coloured furniture and comfy seats. This isn't exactly your local caff.

The choice isn't amazing here, it's basically flat bread or nothing, and if you're not a cheese fan then there's about two things to have. That's not to say what I had wasn't nice though, it was good. I had the sausage and spicy greens flat bread. I don't quite know why the spicy greens was just spinach and olive oil though.

Piada is pretty expensive, with flat breads at about £4, so don't go here for a cheap lunch. The service is somewhat speedy, so luckily you won't spend all lunch waiting for food.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of The Coal Hole

03 Jun 07, 22:28

Stroll down to the ole Coal Hole

I've been to this place quite a few times before, it's a pretty average pub, with good food but not an amazing selection of drinks. It always seems to be busy at weekends with people standing outside on the pavement and down the side alleyway.

It was only the last time I went that I realised there was a downstairs bar, which no one else seems to know about either, as it was really quiet, even on a Friday evening. If you're looking for a bit of peace and quiet, away from the bustle of Covent Garden pubs, then this is a pleasant little hideaway.

Apparently, this place is owned by a pie-maker, which is why the food is rather good compared to the standard pub grub. I definitely recommend the pies, especially if you're hungry, as they're colossal and take a good two hours to eat.

I did feel a bit sorry for the rather nice staff as they were serving to a large room with only about ten people in. They weren't exactly rushed off their feet, which is not so exciting for them, but not exactly a bad thing for the customer.

The Coal Hole is a good Covent Garden pub, nothing particularly outstanding about it but nothing terrible about it though. It's a pleasant but ordinary pub that does good food.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of R Patel

31 May 07, 22:23

Nice people, not so nice shop

When walking into here, you definitely won't feel like you've just walked into an upmarket, rural newsagent, it's not the nicest looking shop in the world with its dim lights and bits of masking tape holding the floor together.

However, the people who run this place are always pleasant and happy to have your custom, which is a lot more than you can say about a generic paper shop like WH Smiths. The range of products may not be as large as WH Smiths, but it's quite adequate for a shop of it's size.

If they could spruce the shop a bit, it would definitely be worth more stars but as it is at the moment, it's not the most inviting place in the world.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Cafe Kick

24 May 07, 21:23

Small, shabby but with a certain charm

This self-styled table football bar always seems to be very popular - especially amongst the slightly nerdy accountants of the area who try desperately to regain their cool by playing foosball with a bottle of Cobra and a loose tie.

The wooden interior, school hall plastic chairs and tattered flags are meant to be reminiscent of Brazilian football bars but come off more shabby and dingy. That's not to say Cafe Kick is a bad bar - it does have a certain charm and everyone seems to have a good time which is more than you can say about the local Wetherspoons.

The drinks are quite expensive, especially the cocktails and the bottles, but there is a fairly large selection of alcohol on offer. The bar staff are always friendly and hospitable too. The bar is pretty small however and can get completely crammed, especially at weekends. If you are willing to make the journey to Shoreditch, the Cafe Kick there is quite a bit larger and is generally more comfortable.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Eat

20 May 07, 19:46

Good lunch-time place

I'm a bit of an Eat soup fan. You can't beat the Chicken Pot Pie soup - as they say, it's an Eat classic. The soups tend to vary from really good like the chicken pot pie to disappointing like the soup resembling bovril with prawns floating in.

The sandwiches are pretty good, better than Pret in my opinion, but Pret wins the dessert battle. Like Pret, Eat is pretty expensive. You can easily spend over a fiver on a small lunch.

The service at this Eat is quite good, although sometimes its like a cattle market, what with people not knowing where to queue. The servers are nice and pretty quick, but never look particularly happy to be there.

All in all, it's a good place to get your lunch from!

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of H K Diner

20 May 07, 09:57

Pretty much what I expected

My friend was visiting London with me when he was wondering why there was so many Chinese restaurants around. Jokingly he said "it's like we're in Chinatown or something". Which of course, we were.

HK Diner was one of many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown that we could have gone in but luckily HK Diner was pretty good. The staff were the Chinese equivalent of those snotty French waiters from TV sketch shows, looking at you like you had pink dreadlocks and no trousers on. Not a great start, I thought.

Anyway, the food was good, I had crispy pork and rice, which was a generous portion for the cheap price. Pretty much what I expected really, bit on the greasy side, but tasty nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend it at as a night out but I would recommend it as a quick stop-off meal on a night out.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Shish Old Street

17 May 07, 22:08

Better than most kebab shops but that's not saying much...

As everyone knows, London is full of kebab shops that you'd only ever go to them after a heavy night's drinking. Luckily Shish isn't one of them. You actually get to sit at a proper table with proper cultery with food that's not served in polystyrene boxes. You're more likely to go there before going out. The food is generally good, all the waiters are nice and friendly, the decor is plain, and the prices are far from bank-busting. The problem with it is that it's nothing to write home about, it's all pleasant rather than anything special. I would go back there, though I wouldn't travel any great distances to get there.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Mongolian Barbecue

10 May 07, 23:35

Do-it-yourself Barbecue!

I don't know what a Mongolian barbecue actually is. For all I know, it could be completely different to this restaurant, but if they're anything like the do-it-yourself buffet of its namesake, then that's a good thing. At most buffet places, the food is usually cooked before you stick it on your plate. Here, however, you pick and mix your ingredients in a bowl. You choose all the spices and sauces you want in your meal, which you leave at the barbecue place to get cooked. If you mess up the taste of your meal, then there's no one else to blame but yourself.

For example, my first dish here had far too much pepper and spice, mainly because I put a whole spoon full in. It's a good idea to follow the example menus behind the counter. Obviously, with this type of place, there's no particular skill and no kind of chef wizardry involved, so you might have a nice meal or completely mess it up. The price is quite reasonable for Covent Garden, drinks are particularly cheap, and the staff are friendly. The place itself isn't amazingly pretty, but it does have rather distinct decor. I did enjoy eating here, it was quite exciting to see if my masterpiece of a bowl did add up to a tasty dish, and it was certainly a different restaurant experience.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Cafe Gallipoli

08 May 07, 22:28

Nice food, but cramped

Gallipoli have three restaurants on Upper Street, all within very short walk distance. It's quite easy to get confused about which one you booked. Luckily, we did go in the correct one after some debating. We got led through a mass of tables, right to the back of the restaurant into a little alcove, which would have been nice if it wasn't for the table of 4 and the other table of 2 right next to us. Talk about cramped... the waiters had to serve food over my table to other tables. The restaurant owners equivalent of how many clowns can you fit in a mini. We ordered some food - a meze - which arrived lightening fast, and a bottle of house red wine, which was average. The meze was good, lots of bowls of food kept arriving, with no room left on the table to fit them all on. That's a good thing, I like lots of food. The food itself ranged from delicious to average. Nothing bad though, which you kind of expecting from such a range of food, so that was a bonus. As we were eating, we noticed how warm the place was. For a winter month, it was decidedly hot in the restaurant, not made any more comfortable by the fact we were sat next to a radiator pipe. We were in and out in an hour. That could either mean that the service was quick or they wanted us out as soon as possible. I was expecting more of a meal from the meze, but I did leave very full due to the sheer amount of bowls there were. I think the place would be much nicer at a less busy time, not Friday nights for instance. Maybe, I should call back then.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Topman

07 May 07, 17:57

Stupidly trendy

Topman is one of those places where you really have to browse through the piles of fashionable shite before you get to a nice top.

Obviously, this place can be full of 16 year old twats looking for the latest trendy piece of rubbish (e.g. smiley faced day-glo tops or white skinny jeans at the moment) but if you can ignore them, you can find nice clothes of pretty high quality for cheap, cheap prices.

This place is pretty big too, taking up the top floor of Oxford Street Topshop, so the range is extensive. Being slap bang of the west end does mean it can get packed full of trendy knobs though, so be prepared to go at a quieter time.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Hummus Bros

06 May 07, 22:34

Are you in a hummus mood?

How much hummus is too? Luckily for the Hummus Brothers, they generally manage to stay on the thin line between too little and too much hummus.

I couldn't eat here every day though as it can get a bit stodgy and bland. Chickpeas by their very nature are stodgy and bland, but don't get me wrong, the fillings are nice (especially the chicken or beef) and there are some days when you get a Hummus Bros craving.

If you are in here, try the aloe vera drink, it's the most refreshing drink I've ever had.

The staff are welcoming, if not slightly over-friendly, and if you're eating in, you have to sit at Wagamama-style bench tables which can get a bit uncomfortable and awkward if you're not sat facing someone you know.

You really do need to be a hummus mood to go here.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of American Apparel

06 May 07, 18:09

American basics

American Apparel is very basically Gap for people under 30. They do basic clothes such as t-shirts and vests to sock and undies, all in a range of colours with no fancy designs so it's very good for basics.

The quality of the clothes is pretty high, mainly because the clothes are sweatshop free and use fairly good materials.

Some of the clothes are a bit too Californian, I don't know anyone in London who would wear some of the things. I've never seen any girls wearing gold hotpants and bikini top... maybe I'm just going to the wrong places...

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Wong Kei

03 May 07, 15:57

Amusingly Rude

My mate loves this place for one specific reason. The fact that the waiters are so rude. He finds it something of a challenge to get a waiter here to be even slightly friendly, and he always seems to fail. I came here with him one day and literally had plates snatched away, bills slammed on the table, no please, no thank yous.

Apart from this, the food is really good and really cheap. We managed to get food for 3 people for under a tenner, something that hardly ever happens in London. The food is good too, albeit slightly greasy, but for a few quid per plate, I shouldn't complain.

The place is massive and is always packed. Maybe other people secretly love the insane level of rudeness of this place too!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.