Goddard’s pie & mash: Greenwich, London

Goddard’s pie & mash

Date of Visit: 9^th June 2013

Ambience

From afar, this looked like a British pub from the outside and if we hadn’t walked past it, we wouldn’t have ventured it.  The traditional looking pies lured us in for a quick lunch but upon entering, it still looked quite pub like and it was a self-service place where you ordered the food, paid for it and took it to your own table.  With wooden tables and wooden chairs, it really was simplistic but nothing more was expected, except non-sticky tables would have been preferred.

Food

The menu was simple, you either have pie or something similar like pasties with mash.  We had a chicken & mushroom pie and a steak & ale pie with mash, covered in plenty of gravy and traditional English tea.

All were satisfying  but the option to add your own milk in the tea would have been better as I like mine a little stronger than what was offered.

Service

The people taking orders behind the counter were smiling and friendly and whilst most of it is self-service, I witnessed a very fast turn-around in tables as there were staff available to clear up and wipe down the tables as soon as people left.

Summary

In a few words: satisfying, cheap and cheerful. Can’t really fault the food and for what it is, it’s not really worth doing up the interior as it would risk losing the rustic feel

Max’s Thai: Wallington, London

Max’s Thai

Date of Visit: 7^th June 2013

Ambience

Typical of small Thai restaurants, this place was filled with Thai themed ornaments and wall paintings, along with dim lighting and dark walls.  It was fairly empty for a Friday night but this may have been because it was a late dinner at about half 8.

Food

As soon as we sat down, a basket of prawn crackers were brought to our table – a nice gesture but I wished they were Thai prawn crackers (the spicy type). The food was pretty good – we went for a duck & lychee red curry which was tasty (rich but the sweetness from the lychees put a twist on an average Thai curry), beef with basil and chilli (we found the beef to be quite tender), king prawns with vermicelli, pineapple fried rice and coconut rice.  I was pleased to see the prawns being large, as in truly “king prawns” but it tasted disappointingly like crab claws (they were lightly battered) and the vermicelli soaked up the sauce quickly which made it very salty if left to stand for too long.  The pineapple fried rice, served in a pineapple shell was excellent – it was very moist (probably due to the tomatoes) and it contained a fair amount of king prawns. 

We had no room for dessert since we had ordered all of the above for two people! However, I am not even sure there was a dessert menu as we were never offered one.

Service

We had no issues in being served by a friendly waitress and the food arrived promptly.  The only gripe that I have on service is at the end of the meal when we were trying to flag someone down to pay the bill.  We saw someone cashing up (so perhaps they were preparing to close early given the quietness) but all the servers were at the back of the restaurant, hidden behind a wall for a substantial amount of time.  As we were sat right next to the front door, we concluded that we could have walked out without anyone noticing.  Obviously, we had no intention of doing a runner so we constantly looked over to see if we could grab anybody’s attention and after waiting 5-10 minutes, we managed to pay the bill.

Summary

Overall, the food was tasty, the portions were good and the prices were ok so all in all, it was good value for money and given the location, we would be likely to return again.

Isolabella: Holborn, London

Isolabella

Date of Visit: 4^th June 2013

Ambience

Isolabella is a small venue located between two busy streets and bustling with business men/women on a weeknight.  Tables were lit with tea light candles and surrounded by plenty of spotlights.  You could tell lighting was previously an issue for this venue as they had a roof window at the back of the restaurant which allowed natural daylight into the room.

Food

We shared two starters between the three of us which included a pizza bread and poached asparagus with fried egg.  The pizza bread was thin and crispy and had a little spicy kick to it which was nice.  The asparagus was fresh and cooked to perfection but there wasn’t much to the flavour and was a swindle since it was £7-£8 for 4 spears of asparagus and a fried egg on top. 

For mains, I had shrimp and zucchini tagliatelle which I enjoyed initially but it got a little heavy as I struggled to finish off the dish.  A Cannelloni and vegetarian penne were also enjoyed by my companions. 

For Dessert, I had Amaretto ice cream which was lovely but as you scoop up the melted ice cream at the bottom of the glass, the liquor became very strong.  I would have liked it to be served with amaretto biscuits.  The Profiteroles were great as the chocolate was rich dark chocolate which made it less sweet and more indulgent.

Overall, we all thought our food was nice and the portions were on the healthy side. 

Service

Our order was quick to be taken and our food quickly served even though we were somewhat tucked in a corner.  No complaints about the service at all.

Summary

The food and service was pretty good but without the 50% off food (toptable offer), it wouldn’t have been worth the value in my opinion but with the offer, I am more than happy with the experience.