Rik's reviews
Review of Gerrys Off Licence
01 Oct 07, 17:36
Awesome range of spirits 
Fed up with run-of-the-mill vodkas? Fancy trying something a bit new and different? Then Gerry's is the place to go.
You can't walk down Old Compton Street without noticing the people looking at all the strange spirits in the window, they sell everything from toffee flavoured Swedish vodka to expensive liqueurs, and when they recommend something, they're rarely wrong. For example, last visit I got a bottle of vodka because it was recommended in the window, even the guy behind the counter said it was an awesome vodka, and he wasn't wrong!
It's the only place in London where you can get quality imported spirits that taste amazing. Try it, you won't go wrong.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Waterstones
15 Jul 07, 23:30
No long tail 
Apparently this is the biggest bookshop in Europe, and with 7 large floors, you can see why. It covers subject you could possibly think of, from modern art to sports. The main problem that I had with Waterstones is that even though they do every subject imaginable, the range within the subject is not particularly wide. For instance, their computer book section is only about ten bookcases big, compared to Foyles's same section which is about a quarter of a floor. If you're looking for something even slightly specialist, then you probably won't find it here.
The store is laid out pretty well, it's very nice to just leisurely browse around and you can easily go and get a coffee from Costa in the basement. However, if you compare this place to Foyle's, which is smaller, you have to wonder where all the good books went.
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 Bershka
14 Jun 07, 21:13
Not great, worth a try now and again
Being a guy, I'll talk about the men's section of this shop, as I don't know much about women's fashion. This shop is basically a European version of Topshop - aimed at trendy young people who don't want to fork out lots of money for the latest must-haves.
The men's section is rather small, and it's laid out in such a spread out way that the range looks even less. Compared with the larger Topman across the road, you wonder why you don't just go there instead.
Being a European shop, the fashions tend to be different to the current British fashions too. There's quite a lot of stuff that isn't even fashionable over here, but that's not to say there isn't good clothes here. You just need to search through the rubbish, as you do at Topman too, but there are times when you can leave the shop without even considering to buy anything.
The clothes are good quality though when you do find something worth buying, and they are definitely on the inexpensive side, which is a bonus. If you persevere, you will find something nice... eventually!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Bodeans BBQ
08 Jun 07, 12:48
Meaticious 
Forget McDonalds, KFC and Burger King, this is the only place to go for proper hardcore fast food action. This is not a place to go if you're on a diet, feeling healthy or a vegetarian - this is meat central. Even their chips are made from meat... probably...
Seriously though, if you're after a bap with just a ton of meat in it, be it pork or chicken, topped with Bodean's own special sauce, with a side of chips (or fries as they call them) and a bit of coleslaw to make you not feel like you're not a complete pig, then this is the only place for you to go to.
Usually, I go for the chicken breast bun things which have the largest breasts I've seen this side of Jordan, but every so often I go for a pulled pork bun which is also really nice. To top it all off, you can't beat a nice ginger beer to wash it all down.
I wouldn't go to this place every week, otherwise I'd be so fat that I'd have my own gravity field. It's one of those places you go for a treat, when you're feeling manly and need to eat a large portion of dead animal, topped with lovely sauce.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Eat
21 May 07, 21:20
Better than Pret
Eat is a nice chain of sandwich and soup shops which food is made fresh. It's quite similar to Pret A Manger really. I actually enjoy Eat's food more than Pret's, mainly because I think Eat has more taste to its food. It takes like you're eating a sandwich for its taste rather than eating it because it's fresh. Anyway, if you get a chance, try Eat's soups. They range from quite tasty to really tasty, especially the Chicken Pot Pie and Hungarian Goulash soups. Mmm mmm. I dribble just thinking about them. The place is quite nice in decor, nothing special though. The staff are quite friendly, although occasionally a bit dozy (no spoons with soup, that kind of thing), and the price is fairly reasonable. It's a very nice place to go for a quick lunch time snack.
0 out of 0 people 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.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Rasa Samudra
15 May 07, 11:26
Get what you pay for: proper Indian food
The first thing you can't help but notice is the bright pink exterior of Rasa's restaurant. It looks like it should be on Old Compton Street, and doesn't quite fit in with all the posh but sterile bars around Charlotte Street. But, y'know, it gives the place some character, which I like.
The food here is not your average Brick Lane affair. It's proper Indian, rather than British Indian. Real curry made properly. It's also a fish and vegetarian restaurant too, so if you are looking for a lamb masala or chicken tikka bhuna, don't go here. Actually, do go here, you might then realise how good curries can actually be. Food is really good here, I can't remember what I've had in the past, but a lot of the fish dishes are very good. You don't be disappointed.
I'm not usually a wine buff either, but the house wine here is particularly good. The restaurant is usually pretty busy but always quite quiet in terms of noise, which means you will have a meal in relative peace without some guy in a suit talking into his mobile. The staff are friendly and helpful too, and will actually not talk down to you, even if you are a bit confused by the exotic menu.
The price is definitely on the expensive side, you can easily spend about £25 per person here (including wine, starters, afters), but you do get what you pay for, which is high quality, proper Indian food.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Ping Pong Dim Sum
14 May 07, 22:33
Very disappointing 
I went to Ping Pong based on a friend saying his friend said it was okay. Maybe I should have asked someone who'd actually visited... Don't get me wrong, the place looks good, the furniture is very posh and fancy-club-esque. However, the table we were sat on was a round one. Normally, rounded tables aren't much of a problem for me... except for when other people are sat on the same table. Struggling to eat with chopsticks when you have strangers directly facing you is definitely not the most comfortable experience. I'm sure the food and drink is high quality - it better had have been at the price - but tasted merely average and plain. On the plus side, the staff were friendly enough, and as I said, the place looked nice. But combine below average food and an uncomfortable experience and you get a very disappointing night out.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Pitcher and Piano
13 May 07, 16:59
Don't bother
Where do I start with this? Okay, I was on a quick Friday dinner out there with work, and we ordered nothing too fancy. Fish and chips, sausage and chips, that sort of thing. There was a few of us, but we thought that it should come in about 20 minutes. When the food had turned up, they only brought half the food. So half of us didn't have any food at all. When we asked about this, the staff told us that it's coming. 5 minutes later, the staff told us just another 10 minutes. So after 20 minutes of only half of us having food, we asked again and were told there's a computer error and the food hadn't been ordered. By then, it was time to get back to work, so half of us hadn't had dinner.
Okay, this could have been a one-off incident, but the food wasn't of the highest quality or taste. The drinks were overpriced and the pub itself was horribly generic and dull. The staff were pretty rude and unhelpful too. I want to give a redeeming feature to the pub, but I can't think of one. Says it all really...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Hamburger Union
11 May 07, 13:53
If you want a burger, go to Maccy D's
You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd. Should be Hamburger Union's motto, really. That's not to say their hamburgers are like eating turds. They're actually quite nice. Only quite nice though. No, what I mean is that you can make a hamburger place look a million dollars, but it's still always going to be a hamburger place. That's not to say Hamburger Union looks a million dollars either. It's merely a more middle-class family's version of McDonalds. With it's free range ingredients, and posh wines, you wonder if you are in a burger bar at all. But then they bring you the burgers and reality strikes. If you really really want a burger, then I would advise a trip to McDonalds. Yes, Maccy D's (as it's known on da streetz) isn't the most eco-friendly, or most hygienic, but it does make better, tastier burgers for half the price of Hamburger Union. If you don't want a McDonalds, then at least go to a proper restaurants. It's not as if there aren't loads around Soho.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of All Bar One
09 May 07, 16:51
Nice, but lacks character
On Wikipedia, it says that the All Bar One chain is "criticised for its lack of character, with each bar looking almost identical and its cynical owners buying up charming pubs and converting them into a city slickers' hell hole". You can definitely see what they mean by this, but All Bar One is quite a nice place with nice drinks. But that's all it is. Nice. Nothing really outstanding or memorable about it. You couldn't say anything about it that's remotely interesting. The decor is pretty if not a bit Ikea-lite. The drinks are good, if not a bit dear. The staff are nice, if not a bit lazy and slow. The people who go there are friendly, if not a bit dull. It's good for a quick stop off, but if you do forget it next morning, don't blame the beer, blame the lack of character the place has.
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.
2 out of 2 people 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!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Review of Foyles
02 May 07, 13:24
Best bookshop in town
Foyles is possibly the largest bookshop in London with five floors of shelfs. With all these books, you'd think that it could get a bit disorganised. Luckily, it's one of the most organised and well laid out bookshops that I have visited. The range of books is huge and even the most specialised of subjects are well organised. The staff obviously know what books should be grouped together. The place never seems to feel too busy which is perfect for browsing books. Highly recommended.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Wagamama
01 May 07, 16:39
Terrible!
Wagamama's service never seems to be their strong point. All the London restaurants seem to suffer from bad service and the only time I've had good service at a Wagamama was in Manchester. Usually the reason that I go to Wagamama's is the high quality, tasty food - I'm kind of expecting bad service now. Not a good business strategy for them I'm sure, but the staff never always let them down completely. Anyway, I went to the Soho Wagamama during a mid-week lunchtime, a particularly quiet time of the week, so I was slightly hoping for better service. But I was totally wrong. Admittedly, we were in a large party of about 8, but still, the food shouldn't take an hour to arrive. We shouldn't expect forgotten drinks, forgotten meals, meals arriving at completely different times (half hour between them), unhelpful staff, etc.
Okay, so service isn't their strong point, but the food will be good I thought. Again, I was wrong. I was served a lukewarm katsu curry, with a thick layer, similar to the ones you get on custard, that you get from microwaving meals. Not nice. I strongly believe that my meal was microwaved and not to a correct temperature. Why they need to microwave my meal when I'm expecting freshly cooked food, I will never know? I thought my opinion of the Wagamama brand couldn't be damaged much more. The visit to this branch certainly proved me wrong.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.