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»See below ;)«
The Market, Covent Garden Piazza,, London WC2E 8RF
londonstuff
last updated on 14-04-2009:
Poor poor poor.
Having such a good location has made them complacent: even though you can sit alfresco above Covent Garden Piazza, service today was absolutely lousy. After trying to attract one of the numerous waiters’ attention, I still hadn’t had my order taken after 20 minutes.
Maybe they were having an off day, but the place did seem disorganised in the extreme. In the end, I left, without food, something I’ve never done before: even then, no one at the desk seemed particularly bothered.
Give it a try by all means, but you may be better trying one of the other branches, which is a shame bearing its location.
4 people thought this review was helpful
252 Chiswick High Road, London W4 1PD
londonstuff
last updated on 10-04-2009:
Difficult to review as this branch of Pizza Express is much like any other: you pretty much know what you’re going to get.
The fairly new 'Theo Randall’ pizzas are rather good (very thin pizza base with ingredients generally placed on top of the pizza after, rather than before, cooking) although much more expensive than the others for no particular reason.
This branch gives decent service on the occasions I’ve been there, but is always packed with families and (generally well-behaved) children at the weekend. I’m pretty sure it also does children’s parties, so beware if you don’t like the noise of children!
6 people thought this review was helpful
85 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London W4 2EF
londonstuff
last updated on 10-04-2009:
I agree completely with all the other reviews above: no plasticky cheese, nothing soggy about the pizzas and ordering options have a variety of healthy-sounding toppings. It also means that your night isn’t held hostage by waiting for a delivery person to knock round: you can order ahead of time and have your food when you want.
Great stuff - everything you want from a pizza takeaway. More branches elsewhere in London would be great.
3 people thought this review was helpful
20 Jermyn Street, St. James's, London SW1Y 6HP
londonstuff
last updated on 08-04-2009:
Located on Jermyn Street in the heart of Piccadilly, Geo F Trumper’s looks like a filmset from a hundred years ago. Selling gentleman’s grooming products upstairs and doing haircuts and shaves downstairs, I half expected Disraeli or Gladstone to walk through the door after me.
Skipping the 4-6 week queue for a cut-throat shave by going on a weekday rather than a Saturday, I was led downstairs, sat back in a barber’s chair and got to work on, first of all being smothered in a warm towel, then having my face scrubbed with a proper shaving brush to make the hairs stand on end.
The shave itself took about 15-20 minutes before being wrapped in a cold towel and then having moisturising fluid applied. While all of this was relatively relaxing, having the cut-throat almost rip the hairs was far less comfortable than a good wet shave at home is.
The assistant was excellent, took her time and got very close indeed. She also gave me various tips on how to improve my shaving technique, which I’ll follow.
While this was a bit of a treat for me, I think it’s more of a one-off place - it wasn’t so much better than something I could do myself to justify the £30 price tag on a regular basis.
3 people thought this review was helpful
27 Uxbridge Street, Kensington, London W8 7TQ
londonstuff
last updated on 22-03-2009:
Firstly, the map above is wrong - Malabar is in Notting Hill, in close proximity to Notting Hill tube station.
I went in here yesterday having heard good things about it from local residents, and indeed, it did seem to be full of local Notting Hillers, from families including children to older couples: it’s a million miles away from the dark, slightly dodgy curry houses that everyone knows and loves!
Split onto about 3 levels, the place has a sophisticated grey interior with tiled flooring and crisp table linen - all good signs to start and plentiful number of staff ensured service was as crisp as the poppadoms which were the first to arrive. The menu was split into different categories of meat and is relatively short, for me a good sign that everything is fresh.
Further courses, from the mild to the spicy arrived in small metal dishes that one decanted into a big metal tray - this took some getting used to, but was a good idea that ensured the rice didn’t end up all over the table. I won’t bore you with the details of the food, but it was certainly the best Indian food I’d ever had, with attention to detail obvious. Looking around during my meal, the deserts seemed rather popular, from the imaginatively named 'Banana desert’ complete with schnapps, to the delicious Indian ice cream with cardamom, which was a light, refreshing end to the food.
Overall, there were lots of little signs here that the place was good: efficient service, good decor, rice that was fluffy and actually tasted of something (star anise), a bucket of ice left with the water, coffee in very upmarket cafetieres, etc. Proudly stuck on the front door was a Michelin 2009 sticker, which I’m sure it deserves. Although I haven’t tried other upmarket Indian restaurants in London, such as The Cinnamon Club in Westminster, I’d say this was as good a place as any.
5 people thought this review was helpful
Radisson Edwardian Mayfair Hotel, Stratton Street, London W1J 8LT
1 Great Peter Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3LT
43 Elystan Street, South Kensington, London SW3 3NT
by londonstuff
8 places in guide
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