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I have been to this shop twice when I saw a show with the 2 hairy bikers mentioning it. Although they have decent prices on pasta and other things, I find the wine very expensive. The reason that I am writing this however is of a different nature. The first time I went in the middle of February I bought 4 bottle of olive oil as they were on special offer. Normally I look at the expiring date but for some reasons I forgot even when I tasted the oil at home and had a strange after taste. Anyway few days ago by accident I looked at the last bottle remaining and the expiring date read October 2012. I sent them an email more than 2 weeks ago via their website and I never got a reply. I rang them up few minutes ago and the person that answered was extremely rude and said that it was impossible that the oil was expired then he told me that it was my fault that I didn't check and he didn't have time to waste. I don’t think I will rush back any time soon to shop there again!

I went there at lunch time last month and I ordered 3 dishes from the Street Food Menu` which were Cactus Taco, MSC Ceviche and Chipotle Chicken. I am a virgin when it comes to Mexican food. I have never been inspired by the American chain in the past but now it has all changed and I thought I will give it a try. Nice decor and cool toilets. I didn’t t realize that they would bring all the dishes at the same time as I thought the warm one might get cold but it didn’t. I started off with the prawn one. It was quite delicious but I soon realized that what was delicious was the marinate not the prawns, completely tasteless and watery. You know when you put frozen prawn in water they will eventually defrost but you need to squeeze them a little bit otherwise you are left with what I experienced. It is all very well that the fish is environmentally sustainable but what about the flavour? The next one, the cactus taco was not too bad with good texture but I was not very impressed. Lots of chilli sauce that I had to wipe off with a napkin that I nicked from next table because my one was already full of sauce. The Chipotle Chicken was more to my taste with a lot of cheese which at times could be overpowering. Fortunately I started with the least flavoursome dish first increasing to more interesting flavours later. Had it been the other way round I would not considering returning. I also had a Citrus Fizz - very pleasant. Overall I think it was a good experience and I want to go back to try different dishes. One last thing, when they give you the bill, they also give you something that for a moment without my glasses resembled a book of matches and I thought that it was a bit weird, why would they give you matches? Do they want to encourage you to smoke? Soon after I realised that they were chilli seeds to be planted. That made me smile, I thought it was cute.

I went to Camisa a couple of months ago as I haven’t been there for sometimes. I used to go there regularly in the past then Major supermarkets started to stock good quality Italian products. Therefore I go less and less now. What a disappointment it was in terms of prices which went from being reasonable years ago to quite expensive nowadays. Another thing, which is the stronghold of Italian products “La Pasta " was very poorly represented in terms of different shapes and brands. Nowadays they seem to stock mainly Barilla, not quite the apotheosis of pasta when English supermarkets seems to stock De Cecco, (even though with limited choice of shapes). At £ 1.40 for a 500g packet of Barilla at Camisa this is no competition in spending £ 1.56 for the De Cecco one!!! It is like comparing Starbucks and Café` Vergnano in the coffee arena!!!

Anyway I went there mainly to get a panino of some sort as the weather was quite nice so I could have lunch in the near Soho Square. The exchange (in Italian) between me and the shop assistant went more or less like this: SA: Can I help you?

Me: Yes, can I have a piece of focaccia with mozzarella (at this point I asked if they had a buffalo one and she replied: of course then buffalo it is!) tomato and basil. It cost £ 3.50. Fair enough with buffalo I thought. I went to sit in the square and at my first mouthful, I noticed the alien like absence of " Sapore". The flavour of  buffalo mozzarella was like drinking solidified water. I cannot imagine the outcome had I chosen a normal mozzarella!!! I come from the temple of buffalo mozzarella, where a well known producer recently said no to a demand from The VATICAN to supply them regularly with BM so as not to undermine the quality of their product. The tomato and focaccia was in the same league. The only thing I could taste was the basil! Sorry but nowadays you can not get away with this when the quality of food has improved beyond recognition in the UK, especially in London – that includes eating in pubs or restaurants.

Best Living Room in the World in the Best City in the World”

I went today for lunch and contrary to what other people say the door was opened! Once inside they showed me where to seat without too much eye contact as mentioned from other reviewers. I didn't know but I guessed that I had to tick with a pen the dishes that I wanted on a copy of the menu and give to them. I am not sure how to interpreter this but I will try. Maybe just an originality or to avoid misinterpretation in the spoken language or maybe is too tiring to speak, not a clue! I ordered Prawn Dumplings, Prawn and Pork Siu Mai, Prawn Rolls Stuffed with Minced Garlic and Prawn & Celery Cheung Fun. (You might think that I like Prawns!) I had them in two slots which was good, even though I wouldn't think that if they served them all at once there was danger for them to go cold. Try to lay down a layer of asbestos on your taste buds, the dishes are seriously hot. I enjoyed the lot even though my favourite were the Prawn Rolls. Not to sure on the combination of the Prawns with the celery, a touch to sweet I thought. I also must say that although the prawns were big and juicy on the flavour side they didn't score as well. Unfortunately it is not just this restaurant I have experienced a similar thing in other restaurants. I went to this one to have a break from New World were I have been going for the last 30 years!!!! Although it is still good the prices have gone up quite a lot in recent times, I will definitely come back to Leong.

My Girlfriend and I went to this restaurant for lunch a couple of weeks ago after strolling in Spitafield Market. I am not a fan of chains at all but I went for it. The food overall was pretty good. The Babaganoush was excellent served with some fried flat fresh bread (No idea how Greek that was) but was very tasty. The Salt Cod, Grilled Octopus, Grilled Kalamari and Loukaniko Country Sausage yummy. The salt cod melted in my mouth and the Kalamari were very BBQ. Although full of flavour the octopus was a bit Chevy and the Loukaniko was very gamy and it tasted more like mutton then pork but improved with the relish. The price was decent. Probably I will go back!

I went to this place last month and I must say as soon I stepped in I was overwhelmed by the smell of the coffee and I thought, this is a good start. My Girlfriend and I sat down and ordered 2 cappuccinos and 2 Pastries. The Pastries arrived quite quickly but unfortunately the cappuccinos took their time. I usually like to eat the pastry with the cappuccino; it is like having a meal in a restaurant and the wine comes at the end!!! It took 15 minutes and although it was not extremely busy (5/6 people) we ordered a cappuccino not a 3 course meal! Anyway to a certain extend it was worth the wait because it was delicious and also the cup was a decent size not a bucket i.e.Starbuck! Although quite pricey the cappuccino and pastry was very good. We decided to go back after a meal for an espresso; my logic was if the cappuccino that involves a shot of espresso is good so must be the espresso. How wrong I was! Even though it was not busy as when we came earlier we still had to wait! Anyway when the espresso was served, it was cold and very dense quite an anticlimax. I also agree with most of the other reviewers on the appalling service. They can be bothered can’t they? It does seem that they do you a favour. Get your act together mate!!!

Last Tuesday evening I went to this restaurant after mentioning it to my work colleague and friend and she replied that she had been there quite a number of times and that I would love it. I must confess my last experience with Vietnamese food was a long time ago and it was not a particularly enjoyable one. There is no justification for someone like me that loves good food no matter where it comes from to wait such a long time to give it another shot. We got there at around 6.30 and the first impression of the restaurant was the very pleasant décor, easy on the eye. They have got a few tables for 2 and some of them are large communal tables.

My colleague trusted me in choosing the majority of the dishes. I ordered 4 starters and 2 mains.

When the starters arrived just the look of them were shouting freshness.

We started to tuck into the 2 cold ones first and what a start that was! As soon the Summer Roll (I need to apologise in using the translation because I am not very good at finding all the dots and bits on my Pc) hit the taste buds I was entranced and felt I was being transported to Vietnam. Just to think about it now brings tears to my eyes. It is amazing how a tiny dish can evoke such a sublimanization of the senses. Anyway the Green Papaya Salad followed suit and that was good too. I loved the Hot Vietnamese Spring Roll but was not too crazy on Stuffed Calamari. I found them a touch too reach on the palate. Then I went for the quintessential Pho, as I thought you can’t go to a Vietnamese restaurant and not have such dish. I must say I am not a great fun of broth based dish and Infact it didn’t do much for me. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that it wasn’t good it is just that it isn’t for me. My friend had Stir fry beef noodles and I tried a mouthful and that was delicious. We then went on the Ladudu Pandan and coconut fresh ice cream which although nice and fresh I was not too excited about it. As the evening went on the place started to fill up quickly and by 9 o clock when we left it was packed. Do I want to come back? YES!!!!!! If not only for the Summer roll, it would be worth the trip and also I am planning  to try other starters. Thank you for such an ASTONISHING MEAL !!!!!!

I went to this Restaurant last Thursday and I am so happy I did. The food was “Extraordinaire”. I love Thai and unfortunately for various reasons I haven’t been to a Thai restaurant for some time but Boy, this compensated for lost time! First they served Thai Chilli Rice Crackers (which were much more flavoursome than the usual Chinese ones) then we had a mixed platter for 2 as a starter plus 2 Pad Thai and a fried Tilapia. I always find something to say flavour wise regarding the food, but in this case the meal was spot on, service very friendly, everything was top notch. And to make things better there is a BYO policy and the delicious food was washed down with a nice bottle of Prosecco brought from home. One tiny criticism maybe was the waiting time and surrounding area outside, but who cares I come for food quality! If I want to please my visual senses, I would go to an Art Gallery! Notwithstanding that, the dish itself is a visual experience!