Siany's Qype profile

A nice enough cocktail bar where they have no idea how to make cocktails. Seriously terrible drinks. My Pisco sour was in a champagne glass and doused in so much nutmeg that I couldn’t taste anything else. My margarita was utterly pointless. And small, too. When I questioned why the drinks were so small (barely coming up to over half of the glass) I was told that all cocktails were served like that. Utter rubbish.

The staff were friendly enough, but I have never seen a bunch of people so underwhelmed with their drinks. One out of eight was a winner so it certainly wasn’t a one off. Unfortunately for Be At One, I won’t be going to any of their bars across London again.

In a kind of not quite hungry enough for lunch limbo, a quick drink was had at The Windmill. My friend has had some pretty shocking experiences of the pub, but it was either this or The Ring down the road and I really don’t like The Ring so I won.

It was fairly quiet with most people sitting outside in the sun (usually lovely, I’d imagine) but a mild hangover kept us inside. They’ve got a pretty good selection of drinks (Crabbie’s, yay). Barmaid was friendly too. I’d come back. It wouldn’t be my first choice (and perhaps not even my second or third), but I think it’s a smidge better than a three star boozer.

The Fire Station wasn’t my first choice for lunch, but for some reason I haven’t fathomed, the Waterloo Bar & Grill was shut on a Sunday afternoon. So we wound up here despite fully expecting it to be nothing more than adequate.

It was slightly better than I was expecting. It’s a nice bar. The gorgeous building and nice decor make for a better experience than you’d otherwise have (always the case with a pub near a train station). But yI can’t give this place more than three stars – the food really couldn’t be any more generic. It all sounds good, but it’s dull and a bit flavourless. Luckily I had fabulous company. Lunch was more about chit-chatting than the food.

So not massively offensive, but nowhere you’d come out of choice. And unlikely to be somewhere that you’ll stay for more than one.

UPDATE: The Notes Coffee tasting event was such fun that I have to write an update, even though I’m not allowed to award them anymore stars. I’ve never met a bunch of people so excited about coffee. Their manager Ben (the previously mentioned ‘handsome coffee making dude’) isn’t excited because he’s had too much caffeine, he just likes people learning about and experiencing what he loves.

My outlook on coffee is so different after last night’s event, I’d order black filter coffee in here without thinking twice about it (I’m usually a latte girl). The coffee is wonderful, the venue is still as gorgeous as ever and everyone who works here is full of smiles. It’s such an enjoyable place to spend time. Go say hi to the guys, ask them to make you a brew and spend an hour doing just not very much.

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Am writing this in Notes, having been sat here a short while. They’ve just given me a glass of water without me having to ask. They call the men sir and say hello when you walk in. They smile!

The coffee is fab (£2.60 for a latte). I haven’t even got to trying the food or nosed at the music or downstairs jazz venue. This cafe is already excellent. Instantly one of those places you feel at home. Handsome coffee making dude too. Yay. Finally a fabulous cafe that doesn’t mean trekking into Soho. Happy as a clam.

I popped in here recently after always walking past when it was shut. I’m a huge fan of Bang Bang in Goodge Street, but this branch just isn’t the same. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it doesn’t have that edge to it that the flagship branch does. And it feels more expensive. That might be down to location, but I don’t feel like I’m getting value for money here. I kept thinking ’I’m sure these designer shoes would be ten quid less in the other branch’ and that wound me up a bit.

I would always make a point of popping into the other branch (in fact, if I’m meeting someone in the area, I plan around it), but I get the feeling I’d walk right by this one. That said, the men’s stuff might be brilliant so if you’re looking for boy stuff, it’s probably worth popping in.

We have two places for ice cream in Greenwich Park. I’ve always seen this as the ‘lazy cafe’. It’s right by the entrance, and you’re not really in the park if you haven’t got close enough to greenery to have a football or frisbee fly at your face.

But let’s compare ice cream (it’s the only thing I can compare, really). This place is slightly cheaper than the Pavilion, but it’s not quite as good. It’s missing something. The other ice creamery boasts Cornish cream or Jersey cream of magic cows or something, and that might be it. But then, the queue is MILES long for the other one, and they often run out of honeycomb before I get there. And then the kids run around like hyped up sugar addicted loons. The adults too, probably.

Come here if you fancy sitting in the rather lovely herb garden. Go to the other one up the hill after you’ve been to the Observatory.

I’ve thought long and hard about this review, because I don’t want to give the Design Museum three stars. I wanted it to be wonderful. See, (this is something an interiors writer probably shouldn’t admit), I hadn’t been to the Design Museum until yesterday. There are an awful lot of free museums and galleries in London, and to be honest, I have trouble getting around all of those those (I say trouble, but it’s lots of fun). London has some wonderful art – and when so much is free it’s easy to concentrate on that. Why wouldn’t you?

How much is the Design Museum? With the (optional) £1 donation it’s ELEVEN POUNDS. And while I wanted the museum to be wonderful, I don’t feel that I got my monies worth. If they had a permanent exhibition then I might have felt differently. But you’re paying £11 for two exhibits. I’m not saying they weren’t good (the Kenneth Grange show was fantastic), but that price is shocking. The problem is now, if I want to go and see something, I’ll be put off by the price. If you go to a paid exhibition at the V&A or the Portrait Gallery, you get the other stuff as well – you can make an afternoon out of it. I was done in two hours, and I dawdled and had a bit of a sit down.

The other issue is the shop. I spend so much time online perusing the shop – they’ve got some wonderful pieces in there. And about 15% of them are in the poky shop. It’s tiny. I wish they’d got a bigger range, I wish they’d got more space (or an entirely different space like The Southbank Shop have).

I want to love The Design Museum, and I feel like I should. But there would have to be something spectacular on for me to pay £11 again.

After my usual Indian takeaway shouted at me and took almost two hours to deliver my food, a change was needed. And what an excellent change this was. I’d read the good reviews on Qype, and needed a very hot curry to get rid of my cold. It worked. my ears were burning the chillies were so hot.

They also get the award for the friendliest delivery driver I’ve ever met. He even made a clever IT Crowd joke, totally out of the blue. And he told me to feel better. They also gave me free poppadums and a freebie can of coke. That was nice of them.

Portions are slightly smaller than some, but it’s also better food. Apparently cooked with less ghee than most places, so it’s not swimming in grease (and it really wasn’t). I wasn’t thrilled with my calamari starter, but it was a weird thing to order anyway.

Think I spent about £12 so it’s slightly pricier than some in the area, but also three times as good. I like that maths very much. Almost as much as I appreciate friendly delivery men.

Maybe this place has gotten better over the last couple of years, but I had a fab time in here yesterday. So good that I actually forgot to go home.

They do cocktails and a good selection of beers of the continental persuasion. Cocktails are around the £6.95 so it’s surprisingly cheap. I don’t remember how much the red wine was, but that’s because I was busy drinking it all.

We were a big group, but they dealt with our mischief perfectly – they’ll bring cocktails to you rather than keeping you waiting at the bar. And there’s outside seating too. The staff didn’t even mind when my friend and I accidentally smashed a glass of wine outside and made a giant mess everywhere. Ooops.

The Market Place might not have been great a while back, but I think they’ve got themselves a really nice little venue here.

This appears to be the only pub within walking distance of all those exciting museums. And it’s pretty crap.

They rely massively on a tourist trade, so they were busy when I popped in for a drink with a friend (cheap bubbly is only £3.95). You’ll end up here if you fancy a pint after a walk around the museums, but you won’t be excited by it. In fact, I’d suggest the Reading Rooms around the corner instead (there’s books and wine in the same room – how could that be bad?)

Location is the only thing this pub has going for it. There’s nothing wrong with the place, it’s just dull and generic.