Rik L.

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 Smiths Of Smithfield

11 Jul 07, 21:33

Great place

I went to Smiths mainly due to most of the good reviews on here and other people's recommendations. You usually take things with a pinch of salt, thinking that places can't be as good as people say, that they're being slightly hyperbolical, but Smiths of Smithfield is one of those places that deserves the credit. It is the best meal that I've had in London so far.

Every course that I had was great, starting from the starter of bread and balsamic vinegar to the dessert of summer pudding. Even the wine was fantastic. The main course that I had was the chicken, leek and mushroom pie, with amazing pastry and even better filling. I can't think of anything bad about this place, even the price is pretty reasonable for what you get, which is high quality food, and a great night out.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of Angel Flowers

04 Jul 07, 13:40

Very helpful

Today, I wanted to add things to my ever-expanding collection of things on my desk by buying a plant. I don't really know the first thing about plants, so I thought I'd go somewhere they did know.

Fortunately, the staff at Angel Flowers were pretty helpful. They told me what I should be looking for and showed me what would be suitable. I left with a very nice red cactus that's sitting on my desk as we speak.

The shop is pretty small but there seems to be quite a choice of flowers, and everyone seems really nice, so it's an enjoyable experience to go there.

3 out of 3 people 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 Urban Outfitters

25 Jun 07, 21:45

Expensive

Sometimes I wonder why people shop here. It's pretty expensive for what it is - fake-vintage t-shirts for 30 quid, jeans that cost over £100 that aren't as great as the price tag suggests, trendy CDs with excessive mark-up. Being in Covent Garden, you can get everything at Urban Outfitters at a cheaper price in shops very nearby.

The quality of items at Urban Outfitters does tend to be pretty high, I've got things that have lasted ages, so you do generally get what you pay for.

However, the range of products at this store is always pretty small, so it's pretty hard to find something nice. There are other Urban Outfitters around central London which are larger so have better ranges. If you can't find much in this place, either go to another Urban Outfitters or there are enough shops around Covent Garden to find exactly what you're looking for.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Review of Whole Foods

25 Jun 07, 14:08

Expensive and bad tasting

After getting slightly stuck in Kensington yesterday and not being able to get home in time to do the weekly shop, I decided to check out Whole Foods, the brand new organic supermarket that's got tree-huggers and eco-warriors into a tizzy.

The first thing you notice when you walk in is how American the store seems. Most supermarkets manage to retain some Britishness about them, despite being foreignly-operated, but Whole Food seems like it's been transported directly from the middle of America. You'd be excused for thinking that the prices were in dollars too, but unfortunately they're in good old pounds sterling, which makes Whole Food verging on the ridiculously expensive.

An example of this is a loaf of organic bread for £1.99, or a pack of sausages for over 3 quid. Now, you'd be let off buying this if it was of the highest quality, but eating the bread was like eating cardboard. It wouldn't toast either, and tasted horrible. I seriously have had Tesco's cheapest value bread that's been better. The sausages were also foul too and had all the texture of thick rice pudding. These products were Whole Foods branded too, so you think that they'd want to be representative of the company.

I did however buy some vegetables to go with my sausages which were actually delicious. There were as good as any veg box scheme you can get, although at an heavily inflated price.

I know people might say that this place has better food, but I think that if you want tastier food, you would be far better off (in the monetary sense as well) going for a normal supermarkets organic range. Whole Foods will be popular over here as it has been in America, but it really needs to look at it's quality control and try not to sell food that just doesn't taste nice.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Review of KFC

24 Jun 07, 22:42

Pleasantly surprised

Okay, I know KFC is never going to be some kind of gourmet food that only really posh people have, but it is rather tasty fast food. I wouldn't normally review a fast food restaurant, mainly because I don't usually go to them, but this branch of KFC was particularly good.

I've been to KFCs in the past which have been dirty and greasy, something that this branch didn't suffer from. The place was very clean, you could almost eat your food from the surfaces. The staff were pleasant and didn't seem to be the stereotypical "McJob" type of people. A very nice surprise really.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Loewy Vintage Clothing

21 Jun 07, 23:50

Very cool t-shirts for low Loewy prices

There's a bit of a fashion for retro t-shirts going around at the moment. All the major clothes stores are making their own vintage t-shirts, but instead of buying something that's pretend-vintage, why not buy a really cool t-shirt that is actually vintage?

Loewy is a great place for buying vintage clothes. If you're one of these people who get a bit worried by wearing second-hand clothes, then don't panic because the clothes are all of the highest quality - some might say better than high-street originals!

The price is particularly cheap too, with most t-shirts cost around the £10 mark, which is a bargain considering Urban Outfitters would sell you a similar t-shirt for triple.

The reason why the place isn't getting five stars is only because you have to do a lot of searching to find something you like. There can be a lot of tat sometimes, especially when it comes to non-t-shirt things like coats and jackets, but with perseverance, you can find really cool things.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.