Ham's Qype profile

Does what it says on the menu, and it has all the right things (for a diner) on the menu. Burgers, steak sandwich were what we chose, impressively the burger was cooked as requested medium rare, and excellent quality. Service was also excellent although we were there at a busy time. Seating is diner style pack’em in, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce and (american) mustard on the table, nobody got hurried out. Lots of stuff to choose from, also for veggies, the eggs florentine looked very appealing. Don’t expect change from £10 a head especially if you have drinks.

You can't detract from the quality of the productions here, but this review is for the theatre. And that quality is extremely suspect.

I paid £50 for the £70 from Tkts booth for stalls seats - being dragged along to Priscilla with my wife & daughter - and I was appalled by the total lack of space for a person of reasonably average height. Vision was OK, acoustics were fine, but no way could the experience be described as good. Plus, I know I should be inured to West End Theatre drinks prices by now, but really!

The show itself was as expected, a throughly professionally staged production of a nonentity of a musical. Nothing to hate, lots to enjoy, but my life would not have been measurably poorer had I not seen it - my pocket certainly would have been richer.

It's a Lebanese caff-style restaurant with a lean-to tent outside where people can kipper themselves with shisha if they so choose. I've eaten here two times now. the first time when I was cycling past, and looking for lunch. Then, the scent of the food cooking over the barbecue was too much to resist and I succumbed to their Kafta Ourfali, a mixture of meat, aubergine and chili on a skewer cooked in front of me, served in a wrap with hommous for £3.50. Entirely delicious, what could be bad with that?

So, when I wanted somewhere to eat a light meal on the way to a show I thought of here. We had, between two, a plate of their mixed meze with mixed kebab (real meat, none of that dubious donner stuff here) with added chicken wings, foulmedames and Kafta B'theineh (meatballs in lemon and sesame). We really didn't need all that, but it was great. The bill, £30 which for the area is stonking value.

So what's so good about this place? It is clean and friendly. The food is cooked fresh to order (try those falafel) and served without fuss. Lebanese food is fresh tasting, with a completely different flavour palate Not the sort of place if you want plush service, but you can see that from the outside. If what you are looking for is a place to have a snack or a meal,with fresh interesting food, at reasonable prices look no further.

I took advantage of the £5 lunch offer and went for a steak sandwich. First, the good stuff. The steak was truly excellent, and cooked rare to perfection. That's not a "still got a little bit of pink in" that you end up with in most English restaurants but properly rare - seared outside, rare inside. For that, they earn my vote as possibly the best £5 lunch. They happily poured tapwater, too (which given the eye-watering beer prices is no bad thing).

However there were several things I'd take issue with. It would have been nice for the Ciabatta it was served in to have been warmed or toasted rather than cold, and the steak was a slab in the sandwich. True, that allowed full appreciation of the quality of steak and cooking, but in my view a good steak sandwich is flash fried strips so you don't have to gnaw at all. Also, given that the place was nearly empty I don't see why a family with a (out of control) child were plonked on the very next table, inches away.

I looked at the rest of the menu and the only reason to come back foodwise would be for the steak. Still, really good steak houses are no longer easy to find.

The Orange Tree is a small shop filled to bursting with stuff. Not a chain store, it's one of those places you will find that gift fir the awkward aunt or favourite friend. Definitely one to look in if you are in the area.