Sri Thong: City, London

Sri Thong

Date of Visit: 23^rd July 2013

Ambience

For a Thai restaurant, I thought this place was lacking a bit of authenticity in its décor.  It gave me an impression of a café more than a fine dining restaurant.  I guess it is fine for a quick dinner/catch-up for city workers but there isn’t much character to this restaurant.

Food

I was pleasantly surprised with the food, given my initial impression of the interior.  We were served prawn crackers (Chinese style) when we sat down which is a nice touch but it was a shame that they didn’t serve spicy Thai prawn crackers instead.

I opted for satay prawns as a starter which was quite tasty and I was surprised on the portion size given that Thai servings tend to be small (3 skewer sticks with I think 3 prawns on each) – it came with two sauces: Satay and sweet chilli. 

Before I arrived at the restaurant, I looked at the menu online and liked the sound of a drunken duck dish but I could not see it on the menu in the restaurant but after querying it with the waitress, she was able to put in the order for me.  It was delicious and perfect with coconut rice.  The duck dish was fairly spicy so it needed some rice – the coconut rice was pretty good.  I could tell that it had actually been soaked in coconut water/juices since it was much more fragrant than other coconut rice I’ve had in the past.

We didn’t have dessert since we had brought in a cake for a friend’s birthday so I cannot comment on the desserts.

Service

The service was good from the minute we walked through the door.  We asked the staff to put our birthday cake in the fridge and they offered candles for us.  Food arrived quickly after ordering and whilst it took some time for them to come back to us after handing out dessert menus, we did not have to spoil the surprise by asking for the cake… a little eye contact was enough and they knew exactly what to do.

Summary

I enjoyed the food at Sri Thong and prices are reasonable being in the city.  Some improvements can be made on the interior décor to make it more authentic but like I said, it is fine for an impromptu dinner/catch-up.  I would not hesitate about returning to this restaurant as I find their menu extensive with choices that are not common in other Thai restaurants so I wouldn’t mind trying a few more dishes.

Rodizio Preto: Croydon, London

Rodizio Preto

Date of Visit: 20^th July 2013

Ambience

I have been to a Brazilian Rodizio before and from experience, most places are the same in that they keep to simple décor and provide no atmosphere for intimate dining or special occasions.  This however is in the nature of the way such restaurants work – i.e. you will get disturbed by servers every few minutes when they offer more food to you on skewers.

We visited early on a Saturday evening and whilst it was quiet when we arrived, it got busy pretty quickly.

Food

The buffet food in the middle of the restaurant was very limited – I had no intention on filling my plate with loads of carb or hot food which had been sitting there for a while but what I did intend to do was to fill my plate with salad to accompany all the meat that was on offer but the only leaves that were available was rocket which I think is an acquired taste.  I don’t mind rocket personally but it wouldn’t be my choice if other leaves were on offer and other parties in my group disliked Rocket. 

In terms of the fresh meat that was on offer, there was quite a lot of variety (moreso than previous Rodizio experiences) but the only thing missing on the night were chicken wings.  We tried various cuts of meat: gammon, top side steak, peppered beef, chicken thighs, pork sausages, ribs, lamb etc. Some meats were a bit too salty, especially with no greens to accompany them but the various cuts of beef were good, as well as the garlic bread. 

Service

Whilst the service for the drinks were quick, I found the waiters/waitresses to be a bit clueless and lacked attention to detail.  On more than one occasion, they gave drinks to the wrong table and they did not omit ice in drinks when asked.  The servers of the hot meat were efficient but not attentive enough since they would choose to serve food between two people as opposed to the end of the table where a large gap existed.  We had to sit closer together to close small gaps in the hope that they would get the hint and they did eventually.

Summary

Overall, the meal was ok.  The food wasn’t bad but they need to expand on the buffet/salad options and the service could do with improving.  We actually got a deal whereby the buffet was £11 which was reasonably good value but I would not pay £22 for the same experience.  With that said, I would be unlikely to return but it could be a good place for meat lovers!

Brasserie Vacherin: Sutton, London

Brasserie Vacherin

Date of Visit: 10^th July 2013

Ambience

A small and cosy restaurant surrounded by large sketch-like canvases of buildings on the wall and big neutral coloured lampshades hanging from the ceiling.  Some tables on the side had booths which added to the cosy feeling and I liked the authenticity of French music playing throughout the evening.

Food

We had warm bread served with anchovy butter to start whilst we looked through the menu.  Soft warm bread always deserves an extra point and I enjoyed the anchovy butter – definitely something different.   We tried the mussels and Atlantic prawns with chilli, ginger and garlic for starters which were both quite flavoursome but I was quite impressed that the prawns were served with most of the shell off and only the head attached.  I get put off sometimes with ordering prawns if it is difficult to de-shell as I don’t like to get messy.

For mains, we had a sirloin steak and the duck confit with sides of fries and dauphinoise potatoes.  The steak was average but cooked as requested but the duck was really good, the meat so soft that it melted in the mouth and I enjoyed the sweet orange sauce.  Whilst most portions of the food were of a decent size, I was amazed at how small the pot of dauphonoise potatoes were.  However, it suited us just fine as it was quite rich in texture.

When it came to desserts, we had a small issue – we had asked for a crepe without the orange sauce and zest (i.e. a plain crepe with ice cream) but when it arrived, it was in the orange sauce without the zest.  This was quickly corrected when we called a waiter over but they were apparently unable to provide a crepe without the sauce so instead we opted for a crème brulee and a cherry clafoutis.  Both were ok, nothing special.

Service

The service was good and the small incident with the dessert was addressed adequately.  We were served promptly and had no issues with the time of the food arriving.

Summary

In summary, it was a pleasant dinner with good food at a reasonable price.  I would say it is worth a visit just for the duck alone =)

The Sun: Carshalton, London

The Sun

Date of Visit: 7^th July 2013

Ambience

This is a lovely local pub with a great beer garden.  As you enter the place, it seems small but it was chic.  You help yourself to menus but you get table service outside which is great.  Outdoor seating consisted of park style benches and smaller round tables both in the shade and in the sun.  We sat outside on a beautifully warm day for lunch.

Food

We had been recommended the food from some friends so had high hopes.  I was a little disappointed that they didn’t do their normal lunch menu as I had eyed up a steak baguette or sandwich on their website.  Instead they had a Sunday lunch menu which consisted of roasts and a few pub classics.  Due to the warm weather, we didn’t fancy a huge meal so between two of us, we opted for two starters and a main: a bread board, crab tart and a burger.

The bread selection was nice albeit the brown grained bread being a little hard but the best and most unusual part of it was the “dukkah” which was essentially mixed chopped nuts with a bit of herb/spice and the idea was to dip the  bread in balsamic vinegar then the nuts – it was different and quite tasty.  The hummus on the other hand was slightly bland with a big taste of spring onions but it did look home-made.

I found the crab tart to be very salty/flavoursome on its own but it was perfect when spread onto the bread.  We added bacon and cheese to the burger and it was good; it was served with a side of chips and two dips (mayonnaise and ketchup).  It was juicy which made it very messy to use your hands – we ended up using a knife and fork.

Service

The service was excellent, perhaps because we entered early at 12pm when it opened its doors.  It didn’t take long to order drinks and a tab was opened for us.  We trotted outside and within a few minutes our food order was taken.  We sat in the shade but the waitresses were quick to offer umbrellas for those who sat in the sun.

Summary

To summarise, it was a nice lazy lunch and a local-ish one so I would definitely recommend it on a nice sunny day.  No complaints at all but prices are not cheap and some may see it being over-priced for lunch but it’s fine for dinner.

Bone Daddies Ramen Bar: Soho, London

Bone Daddies Ramen Bar

Date of Visit: 14^th June 2013

Ambience

This small restaurant was filled with high tables with wooden stools and you would often have to share your table with strangers, which is typical of ramen bars.  We arrived early as I was told it would get very busy after half 6 and it was true – it was pretty empty when we arrived at 6pm but as we were eating, a queue started to form outside the door.  The most eye-catching thing about the interior was the bottles of beer on show on the shelves and the menu on blackboards dotted around the walls.  

I was also surprised to see not even one oriental server in the restaurant – of course this did not matter if the food was good.  We found something rather strange on the tables alongside the condiments… a jar filled with hair bands! I presume it is for guests with long hair who doesn’t want their hair to feed on the soup stock?? I have long hair but I did not feel encouraged to use a hairband provided by the restaurant.

Food

Similarly to Tonkotsu, the menu is limited but again, it shows that the restaurant specialises in what they are good at, namely ramen in soup.  I had the original tonkotsu ramen with pork belly, which was ok – the noodle wasn’t as springy as I would have liked but it wasn’t soggy so it was fine. The belly pork was more fatty than Tonkotsu (reviewed in May) so I discarded a lot of the fat along with bamboo shoots which I am not keen on. 

Service

The service was quick and the servers were responsive – no issues at all.

Summary

I was a little disappointed given that this place was recommended as the better Ramen restaurants that have recently popped up in Soho.  However, the food was ok and wasn’t a waste of a trip but it wasn’t as satisfying and filling as I had hoped.  The verdict is, don’t always trust other people’s opinions as you may be surprised.  I will need to check out Shoryu for myself to do a comparison.