alexthepink's Qype profile

Busy, buzzy but the food is a bit mediocre. The atmosphere at Polpo is fantastic and the food is tasty enough, but it just doesn't blow me away. It's reasonably priced though, and there is a good selection of wine by the glass/carafe/bottle.

I've eaten here a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It's a cafe during the day, and seats are a free-for-all, but in the evening it morphs into a rather nice neighbourhood restaurant. They serve Meantime beer and also base a lot of dishes on it. The ceiling is decorated with Meantime bottles and there's a great big beer making machine of some description in the corner. At a recent lunch there we had a mutton burger and fish and chips - portions were very generous and the food was good quality. It won't blow your mind, but the food is tasty, nicely presented and they seem to use good quality ingredients. I will be going back.

I went to a "Tricks of the Trade" class at FairCake. The class was held in Shikhita's AMAZING kitchen in her lovely house in Greenwich. The class was all about the business of cake making - I won't give it all away here, but suffice to say that Shikhita really knows her stuff and is a real inspiration. We had a gorgeous spread of food for lunch, plus 6 awesome cupcakes to take home.

Oh, and she has an adorable dog called Jack who kept licking my elbows when I wasn't looking, so don't go if you're allergic!

I'm studying the four week diploma course here, and the quality of teaching is fantastic (we have 7 students and 2 teachers). There are also plenty of shorter courses (e.g. patisserie, knife skills), and lots of people I've met have been back time after time.
The location is beautiful - idyllic countryside where you get woken up by sheep bleating in the morning.
I also thoroughly recommend Ashburton's accommodation - it's clean and cosy, and the breakfast is AMAZING!

I LOVE Bob Bob Ricard. The rhubarb G&T is to die for, the staff are lovely, and the whole place is pure art deco heaven. The bar downstairs is a bit of a hidden gem - it's like being on the Orient Express in the 1930s, just tuck yourself away in one of the booths with a few of your closest pals and drink the night away (although only until 10pm). Incredibly glamorous, I can't wait to go back.
Oh, and the afternoon tea is pretty fabulous too.

My absolute favourite Reigate restaurant. Yummy seasonal bistro food, made from interesting cuts - think braised beef cheeks and pigs head terrine. Wine by the bottle, carafe or glass. Delicious hot cocktails (i.e. coffee/hot choc with booze in) to finish off your meal. The Bib Gourmand is well deserved.

This place has really gone downhill recently and I don't go there anymore. Curries are bog standard. Good for a bunch of drunk people as they cater for large groups, but otherwise I wouldn't bother. In the past, friends have had issues with credit cards in here so I'd recommend paying with cash.

Clove is a bit classier than your average curry house, the chef trained at the Oberoi in India and it really shows in the cooking. Everything I have had has been delicious, and it's one of the few places where I love ALL of the chutneys! A particular favourite is the cashew-rich Baddam Passanda (something I've never seen anywhere else).

This place is dirt cheap - there's a great all you eat deal and a £5 lunch menu. Atmosphere is a bit lacking, but the food is tasty and plentiful.

A proper old fashioned cinema, with staff who love film, an interval (with ice creams!) and a license, which means you can take a glass of iwne in. Not the biggest or flashiest, but a cinema with character.