Ali Baba, 32 Ivor Place, London NW1 6DA

Ali Baba, 32 Ivor Place, London NW1 6DA
www.alibabarestaurant.co.uk

28/02/2015

She said: He had watched that hairy biker exploring the cuisine of Egypt on the BBC and so we googled Egyptian restaurants in London. Surprisingly very little turned up but Ali Baba on ‘the other’ side of Gloucester Road caught our eye as somewhere we might not get food poisoning. Ali Baba is easy to miss, tucked down a side street behind the Marylebone Station it looks like a kebab shop from the outside. But when you go in you walk through to a sweet little restaurant which feels more like Mrs Baba’s living room with around 8 tables. The heating wasn’t on when we visited and I suspect in comes on when there are more than two customers (such as in the evening) but we weren’t there for the radiators. He had tried making falafel at home ‘the way we had them in Cairo’ many times but failed. We learned from the hairy biker that it’s because Egyptians make it with beans rather than chick peas. So, our first order was the falafel. We were transported immediately back to Cairo. It was light and fluffy on the inside and deliciously crispy on the outside and came with a yummy tahini dip. Second round was Koshari – the only vegetarian main on offer but an Egyptian stalwart. Consisting of rice, lentils, chopped macaroni, fried crispy onions and a spicy tomato sauce, this dish will take care of your carb needs for the week. My portion could easily have fed two and I thought I was smart to say ‘spicy’ when given the option of a mild or spicy sauce which though delicious was too darn HOT for my English-corrupted palate (would opt for mild next time)! He wanted to try the Um Ali dessert which the hairy biker had talked about so despite being full we shared this strange hot dish which seemed to combine bread or pastry with cream, milk and raisins – an acquired taste but glad to have tried it (wouldn’t have it again). Ali Baba really is a delightful throwback of a place and the place to go to for authentic, delicious Egyptian food. Besides, at £6 for my main and just £4 for five juicy falafal and a basket of piping hot pitta – where else would you go?

He said: I liked everything about Ali Baba, including having to walk through the take-away at the front to get to the neon-lit dining room at the back, spotlessly clean, and the walls decorated with cryptically relevant art and the inevitable flat screen (off when we arrived).  I like that it’s the same family run operation as it was when it opened decades ago; that the front of house is still run by pop, a grizzled and wiry man whose style has not softened one iota over the years, that the kitchen is run by an invisible but no doubt portly mom, and that some younger relative is waiting the tables. It's all efficient but with no lack of charm or warmth, and the short menu clearly honed to perfection over years of repetition and refinement. Everything we had was excellent – as it should be, mom would no doubt say. Even the desert, Umm Ali, although the creamy, bready concoction is not really to my taste. But we had to try it because a TV show we watched revealed that this, Egypt’s national desert, is not named after a wise old denizen of the Nile valley, but after an Irish woman traveller called O’Malley! The falafel was delicious, as was the koshari, which is one of the most satisfying of all comfort foods. Including coffee, water and service I think we payed something like £8 each for one of the most memorable and authentic meals in a while.  Ali Baba is the real deal; may it thrive another few decades!

Maroush, 4 Vere Street, London W1G 0DG

Maroush, 4 Vere Street, London W1G 0DG
www.maroush.com
17/01/2015

She said: Maroush is a bit of a Middle-Eastern empire with five outlets in London, seven other restaurants linked to the group and a series of bakeries. Given our love of food from the region, we’ve kept saying we’d try one out. Finally we opted for the Vere Street branch near Bond Street which is a more casual setting with a wide ranging menu. The drinks menu was great with lots of creative cocktails. We ordered a series of meze’s including roasted eggplant, fava beans, baked fish and flatbread topped with cheese. He misread one dish which he thought was the delicious rice with lentils but turned out to be a ground paste of something similar (and not something I would have ordered) but otherwise, the food was fine. I’ve had so much amazing Lebanese food in the Middle East that I know what amazing is and what good is. This was fine for someone unfamiliar with the delicate flavours of the stalwart dishes but for a die-hard foodie like me, sadly it fell short. It’s a shame as the service was good and staff very welcoming; they even sent some complimentary baklava to our table with the bill after our confusion over the rice paste thing (which was his fault not theirs). I wanted to like it more…

He said: Maroush is legendary on London’s Middle Eastern scene; it seems like he owns every other restaurant on Edgware Road. Yet, somehow, we managed to avoid dining at any one of them until we stumbled into the one off Oxford Street, even then somewhat by accident. Even a few days after the fact I’m still in denial about this one; I really wanted to love it, but in the end it was just a middle-of-the-road Lebanese joint. It might be that this one, because of the location, tweaked things for a Western clientele: for example we tried to order the Fattet with hummus and yogurt, which is always served hot; but our waitress told us that here they serve it cold, despite customers having got into heated arguments with the kitchen about it. The way she said it you just knew she also thought it was a ridiculous thing to do. And the moujaddarah came without the usual crispy fried onions, which I had to ask for. Just weird. The place is not without some charm, but if there’s to be another Maroush meal it’s going to be on the Edgware Road.

Shikara, 65 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PS

Shikara, 65 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PS
No website

25/10/2014

She said: It’s 2014 but power cuts still remind us we’re at the mercy of the fat cat energy companies…After digging around for torches and finally convincing him it was not at all romantic to cook and eat dinner in our dark home, we hit this local Indian. I had noticed Shikara whilst waiting for my nails to dry across the road and thought it would be great to find a good local Indian so was keen to test it out. Short answer, it failed. On entering, it has all the qualities of a reliable classic: dated décor, Bollywood tunes from the last century, mafia-types having brow-raised conversations over buckets of curry and a long menu. Unfortunately when the food arrived it was clearly tailored to those of you who like your more bland flavours. It’s not that the food was bad; it just lacked any spice or authenticity of the east. Plain Jane, such a shame.

He said: we checked-out Shikara on impulse, having been locked out of our kitchen by a power cut literally as I was about to start dinner. This Indian restaurant is a short walk away from our place, and we were lured-in by its shabby-but-clean appearance and menu of classics: it looked like Shikara had been in business a while, and that it might do the home style version of Indian cuisine which really is the best. Unfortunately our bubble burst pretty quickly. Shikara evidently advertises in local hotels, or the Eurostar magazine, because most tables were filled by continentals, and the kitchen has very regrettably adjust the spicing to suit our European cousins' timid palates. Bummer. In my book there is no bigger let down than disappointing indian food.

Shayona, 54-62 Meadow Garth, Neasden, London NW10 8HD

Shayona, 54-62 Meadow Garth, Neasden, London NW10 8HD

www.shayonarestaurants.com

17/08/2014

She said: A find! Shayona is a vegetarian Indian restaurant by the car park opposite the amazing Neasden Temple. The restaurant is a large, simple, modern space. The menu huge! Price great value. Food authentic. If you fancy the lunch buffet instead of a la carte it’s only £8 for all you can eat. We opted for the a la carte, picking a mix of delicious starters and spicy but compulsive vegetable curries. There was a moment of comedy when the sizzling, spicy vegetable tandoori came out in an all-consuming smoke which left everyone coughing and choking (but tasted amazing). We couldn’t try everything we wanted as there was so much choice. There’s an on-site Indian sweet shop and supermarket. This place is amazing. The real thing. Suffice to say Shayona is a place we’ll return to many times. Jai ho!

He said: Shayona reminds you that Indian food is great without any of the fiddly nouvelle trickery on display at all the shmancy Indian restaurants that you find exclusively in those postcodes where high rents mean having to scam your punters into dropping a packet for food they don’t really like or understand. Those places are just like opera or $1000 dollar bottles of wine: everyone’s too chicken to say what they mean. But not at Shayona, which is attached to the biggest Hindu temple in the UK, so the karma and all the shakras are just so. You get your Wow! moment looking around the temple; then you sit down for lunch in a spotless room; receive genuinely courteous and friendly service; gobble tasty, cruelty-free food cooked really well; pay very little for it, and walk out the door already thinking about what else you’ll have on your next visit. Now that’s a no-brainer!

Inamo, 4-12 Regent St, London SW1Y 4PE

Inamo, 4-12 Regent St, London SW1Y 4PE
12/07/2014
www.inamo-stjames.com

She said: This place is cool! There are some who may think it gimmicky and prefer waiters and table cloth but come on: you order from a projected menu on your table, the food is amazing and menu huge and prices reasonable. There’s also a great cocktail list. What’s not to like? The technology doesn’t stop with the menu, you can pick a projected table cloth, add more food as you please and even ask for individual bills which is great for groups of friends who spend ages trying to split the thing at the end of a meal. Food was quick to arrive, though individually so it won’t work for people wanting to have dishes as the same time but I quite liked the gaps which allowed time for digesting. In a world of standard dining, Inamo offers something different without compromising on food. Will definitely be back.

He said: Like an old Uncle that bores everyone with the same anecdotes over, and over, and over, I must have told She a dozen times that if I was ever asked to design the ultimate restaurant I would install call bells to get service at will, especially after desert, when you want the bill and staff is studiously ignoring you in favour of customers still ordering and spending money. Genius, right? Bob Bob Ricard does it, with a button you’re meant to press when you want more champagne; technically you could abuse that to get the bill too. But Inamo goes one better: your table is a whizzy ordering system connected to the kitchen, and you can get everything, and the bill, without having to scan the room and pounce, leopard-like, on a passing waiter. So you can imagine my delight when She booked Inamo for my birthday; not only can I order as many gyoza as I want without talking to a humanoid but evidently, even after years of marital bliss, she still listens to my boring rants! Beyond the gimmick the food is very good, and the imaginative mixed drinks very well priced at about £7 each. What’s not to like?!

Sagar, 17a Percy Street, London, W1T 1DU

Sagar, 17a Percy Street, London, W1T 1DU

27/04/2014
www.sagarveg.co.uk

She said: I’d been for a long run and was starving. I had been looking up cheap vegetarian restaurants and came across Sagar which looked like a cheap and cheerful South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Fitzrovia so off we went. We were the first ones in for lunch. The space was modern and bright and I was looking forward to my meal. The menu is huge and prices fair. We started with onion bhajia which was a good portion, a little dry but still tasty. To follow, we went for a mix of vegetable dishes. The okra and aubergine were delicious but they got our order of ‘onion sambar’ wrong which was a shame as the standard sambar was essentially a very spicy gravy. We thought garlic rice would be a fluffy fragrant alternative to plain rice but it was a little oily for my liking. My sweet lassi was lovely. Service was relaxed but efficient and it was good to see several more diners arrive as our meal progressed. So overall a mixed bag but for me still a good, easy-going, value option at £32 for two.

He said: Ever since spending quite a lot of time in Dubai (home to the largest South Asian community outside of that continent) we have been scouring London for Indian food of that quality (very high) at that price point (very low, e.g. £4 for an unlimited refills vegetarian thali; good luck finding any thali that refills in London, even at three times that price…).So naturally we ended up at Sagar, which is a very good value, long-established veggie place off trendy(ish) Charlotte Street. The food was pretty nice, though I’m more partial to North Indian cooking and naturally biased against Sagar’s style of cooking. Still, I liked it. But I simply could not get over the fact that the rice was overcooked; I mean that is totally unforgivable for any Indian kitchen; it’s like overcooked pasta in Italy, or soggy Belgian fries – your compatriots would never look you in the eye again. Would they dare send that out to their mother? And also the wrong sambar came out; I really am good and loving to my fellow man, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, but we were the first and only people in the restaurant when we gave our pretty straightforward order. By all means go, I will again, but beware!

Abu Zaad, 128 Edgware Road, London W2 2DZ

Abu Zaad, 128 Edgware Road, London W2 2DZ

13/04/2014

 www.abuzaad.co.uk

She said: Exhausted from watching amazing people do amazing things in the London Marathon, I was craving Middle Eastern food and wanted to wander the Edgware Road and let inspiration hit. The call came from Abu Zaad, a Syrian, casual restaurant that proved to be authentic in every way. We opted for five fibre-heavy dishes, all very good including a juicy falafel, hara isbah (a lentil, crispy bread and pasta concoction) and foul modamas (beans in a yoghurt sauce). A fresh melon juice was the perfect accompaniment. The menu had a whole lot more that I wanted to try and will come back for from wraps to fish and rice dishes. Service was efficient, great value at £27 for two and we were even given some lovely complimentary baklava with our bill. Edgware Road is full of Middle Eastern options but Abu Zaad seems like the one to bank on for quality all-round.

He said: Abu Zaad is the real deal. Sit down, and take in the atmosphere, the Arabic videos pumping from the TV on the wall, the smell of shisha drifting-in from outside. A minute or two after sitting down, I got this very pleasant feeling of wow, we could be in Beirut, or the Gulf, or anywhere in the Middle East; certainly not 5 minutes walk from Marble Arch! It’s not essential, but I do like when that happens in a restaurant. We ordered and I couldn’t wait for the food to come, reciting silent prayers that it would match the atmosphere. It came swiftly, as food always does in Middle Eastern restaurant, and it did not disappoint. We found a good local! I was so happy tucking into the various usual bit and bobs. It is by no means the most sophisticated or best food of its kind; but it’s nice home-style food, well-made, delivered with authentic warmth, and incredibly good value: you will be hard-pressed to spend more than 4 pounds per veggie mezze. Score!

Rum Kitchen, Kingly Court, London Carnaby Street, W1B 5PW

Rum Kitchen, Kingly Court, London Carnaby Street, W1B 5PW

13/12/2013

www.therumkitchen.com

She said: We tried going to the Notting Hill site a few months ago for lunch only to be told they don’t serve lunch, so were excited to learn we could satisfy our Caribbean lunch-cravings at the new Soho site. I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Rum Kitchen sits atop the Kingly Court courtyard and is done up to look like an ocean-side chic-shack with lots of colourful lights and nostalgia on display. The bar is a throwback to the same with a chilled-out barman happily pouring his own-defined generous measures into various concoctions. I was excited before even sitting down. I ordered a Bloody Mary which had a super spicy kick but was strangely addictive…For food I ordered some salted fish fritters to start which were indeed salty, juicy and tasty. For mains I chose the pumpkin, coconut and chic pea curry which came on a bed of roti. The portion was huge and after eating as much as I could the plate looked untouched (until he helped out). The curry was full of flavour and definitely hit the spot. Service was friendly and the waiter asked if we were full which if the first time I remember a waiter ever checking I was appropriately stuffed. I loved this place. Prices are very reasonable and yes the fact that I had a 50% Rum Kitchen discount helped but quality and value stand up on their own. This is a great place for food, to socialise and to just have a relaxed, decent meal. Definitely going back.

He said: My knowledge of Caribbean cuisine begins and ends with Jamaican patties, and rice & peas, so I can't really comment on the authenticity of the food. But what we ordered I liked, especially Her curried veggie stew. What I liked most about Rum Kitchen is the no-nonsense, keep-it-simple principle: a short menu of classics well executed. It's because of this streamlined menu that I ordered the swordfish burger. That's a fish I've avoided ever since being told by someone whose job it is to know that you'll be hard-pressed to find more parasites in any other of neptune's denizens. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound, it was delish and I gobbled it up. The service was friendly and efficient, and the portions generous. You know a place's MO when the waitress asks you at the end: 'did that fill you up honey?' Drinks were tasty and potent, mixed as they were with free pours - something I have not seen I years in London, and one of the few things that I miss about America. The brains behind Rum Kitchen are visibly genuinely keen for every punter to walk out satiated and happy.  It has all the hallmarks, funky decor included, of a future franchise roll-out (though I really hope not). There is nothing not to like about Rum Kitchen. I'm going back next week with the guys.

The Happenstance, 1a Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7AA

The Happenstance, 1a Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7AA

26/10/2013

www.thehappenstancebar.co.uk

She said: Hungry and in the City with the skies about to open we headed into The Happenstance, part of the Drake and Morgan chain of trendy bar-restaurants in the City. I’ve always had mixed feelings about the group. The settings are always inviting – modern, bright, impressive spaces with great cocktails but the food is always mediocre. I still remember abandoning my pasta at another of their joints (Refinery) when it was overcooked beyond recognition. Still, as a new addition to the group we thought we’d give it a go. I ordered a bruschetta with mushroom and pesto which was good but lukewarm. Foolishly I opted for the crab and crayfish linguini which was hot, edible but slightly overcooked and, as seems to be a theme in chains, the fish was being rationed. My rose martini cocktail was amazing and drink prices reasonable. In conclusion, I would recommend The Happenstance and its fellow venues for drinks and nibbles but move on to somewhere else for proper food.

He said: The Happenstance is, for me, the least memorable of the ‘pubs’ in this chain of gastros. The décor was typically bright, mismatched boho-chic, and the drinks were excellent. But my Thai curry was a let-down: the rice over-cooked, and the curry under-spiced and probably made from a jar. But even if the food seems like an after-thought, it’s worth coming here just for the mixed drinks, which are genuinely good, and very well priced [for London] at under £8 each. Some of the kitchen’s offerings might just do the trick to mop-up the booze and keep your head straight. But if you’re going to eat at The Happenstance, then you had better order something deep-fried.

Little Georgia, 14 Barnsbury Road, London N1 OHB

Little Georgia, 14 Barnsbury Road, London N1 OHB

25/08/2013

www.littlegeorgia.co.uk

She said: He loves Georgian food so we hit Little Georgia after a show at Saddlers Wells in Angel. What a pleasant surprise. Given the basic website and the ‘conversation by delayed satellite’ way in which I made the reservation with a sweet dear on the phone, I was expecting a small, simple family kitchen. However, Little Georgia is housed in a beautiful converted corner pub with Georgian newsprint wallpaper, posters and other paraphernalia adorning the inside. The menu contained all the classics and the portions were big which meant we reverted to our over-ordering-type. We shared a delicious beetroot salad (which he was so impressed by he subsequently has made it at home); a giant bowl of borscht; badrijnis salad which contained succulent aubergine and my favourite – kotnis lobio, a warming bean stew. We also had the traditional Georgian cheese bread ‘khachapuri’ which was actually my least favourite as the bread was thick and heavy and the cheese slightly sour (maybe that’s how it’s meant to be) but overall this was a spectacular meal at good value. The total bill came to just over £30 and we left feeling heavy and happy.

He said: Little Georgia deserves to be packed to the rafters every night. But I don’t know how it would cope if it was: what’s great about this place is that it tastes just like home-cooked food & I’m sure that if you went into the kitchen there would be no-one else but a slightly plump Mum with a paisley shawl on her head and a mouth half-filled with gold teeth, working though a cloud of order slips. We went on a Sunday night, with room for dozens more, and waited god knows how long for our food. But it was worth every second. Nearly every dish we tried was the best version of that dish we’d had in any of London’s surprisingly many Georgian restaurants. The borshcht was killer, the aubergine caponata-type thing was killer, the beetroot salad was so good that the second I went home I scribbled the ingredients on the shopping list so that I could make it myself in case of emergency. Just the lobio was a bit of a let-down. If you haven’t had it before Georgian food is similar to middle eastern food with echoes of Iranian; but it is also the very best, most evolved version of that tradition. It’s all familiar, but indescribably and so satisfyingly different. Lots of hidden walnut, pomegranate etc. So, so good. When you mention Georgian food the dish that everybody bangs-on about is kacha puri (flat bread with cheese baked-in), which is great comfort food if you’ve just escaped from months of captivity in some Chechen hell-hole, but it’s kinda ‘meh’ compared to everything else. Here it was really very good: the bread fluffy, and the cheese not fatty. But next time I will have lobiani (the same thing except with a heady kidney-bean mash instead of cheese). Please let it be soon!

Hana, 351 West End Lane, London NW6 1LT

Hana, 351 West End Lane, London NW6 1LT

11/05/2013

www.hanarestaurant.co.uk

She said: Craving Persian food we hopped on the scooter to West Hampstead. Hana is a small neighbourhood Iranian hiding around the corner of a green at the top of West End Lane. Décor is simple, it’s the food that is such a delight and with our practice of dining in central London so often I had forgotten what ‘normal’ restaurant prices are when you move outside Zone 1. It took great restraint not to over-order mezze dishes so I stuck with a borani spinach which I scooped up with some light, warm Persian bread and I shared his Ash e Resteh which was perfectly balanced with all the right flavours of a soup that has a lot of nostalgia value for me (my best friend’s father from primary school used to make it whenever I came round to play)…For mains I had a spinach and bean Ghormez Sabzi and shared his Aubergine Khorosheth Bademjan – both delicious stews which came with fluffy rice and a cucumber, onion and tomato salad at good portion sizes. At £30 for two including soft drinks this was a lovely local dining experience with good service, great food and the sort of relaxed atmosphere that you would expect with a neighbourhood place. Hana certainly makes me want to seek out more local places outside the centre of London.

He said: Hana is a classic example of a really good neighbourhood restaurant. The cooking is attentive, the portions generous, the service friendly, and the prices reeled right back from the stratospheric heights of Central London. The presentation and setting is at the cosy suburban midway point between the usual Persian clichés of, at one end, neon lights and plastics chairs and, at the other end life-size gilt statues of Xerxes, lion fountains, gold cutlery, etc. Hana has a refreshing down-to-earth-ness which is a welcomed contrast from the feverish worshiping at the Altar of Food going on these days (but hopefully not too much in these posts). Like the famous Freud quip (‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar’) sometimes all you want is great food without fuss and without feeling fleeced or guilty about how much you spent on it. Hana’s the place to find it. Fight the power! Support your local businesses, even if you have to take the tube a few stops further than usual.

Plum and Spilt Milk, Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB

Plum and Spilt Milk, Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB

05/05/2013

www.plumandspiltmilk.com

She said: He had wandered into the new Great Northern Hotel opposite St Pancras Station when early for a work-related meeting in the area and had a quick look at this hidden gem of a restaurant on the first floor. On discovering it was during its ‘soft launch’ week with 50% of the food bill we quickly made a booking for the bank holiday weekend. Despite the rather mouthful of a name, Plum and Spilt Milk is a wonderful find in the developing King’s Cross quarter. Passing a rather modest, cloakroom check-in style entrance on the ground floor to the hotel, the scene quickly changed to a soft toned staircase leading to a beautiful corner room that beamed invitingly with its vase-shaped warm lighting, bright, large windows all-around, dark, polished furnishings and beautiful banquettes. The service was friendly and enthusiastic throughout. The menu offered a good range of European dishes at reasonable prices (even without the opening promotion) which I took my time over whilst enjoying a perfect lychee and chilli martini (Oriental Express). To start, I had a mushroom tart which was heavenly; melting cheese, flaky pastry and delicious mushrooms complimented each other. I had to remind myself to savour my mouthfuls as I just wanted to get as much of it as I could as quickly as I could. I dipped into his haddock soufflé a couple of times which was also a delight. For mains, I had the pan roasted cod which came on a bed of mash and I ordered a side of honey carrots. The fish was a generous portion and cooked just right and just about left me room for desert – despite again digging into some of his artichoke ravioli which was amazing. We opted for the tarte tartin for two. After about maybe 25 minutes we were presented with complimentary champagne and strawberry sorbets ‘while we wait’ which must have been to make up for the tarte absenteeism. But when the tarte did arrive it was huge and heavenly. The caramel oozed with every bite and the apples and thin pastry conspired to make you reach for more and more. The waiter was quick to heat my tepid latte on request which worked perfectly with the tarte tartin; I kept going until I was unable to lift my spoon. Because of the promotion the whole thing came in at am amazing £54 but I would definitely return and recommend Plum wholeheartedly – be it for corporate lunches, dining with friends and family or celebrations. It’s great to see the King’s Cross area getting such a fantastic, chic, delicious addition to the dining scene.

He said: Combine the parameters `Kings Cross’, `hotel restaurant’ and `outside-the-box [i.e. dumb] name’, and expectations have hit rock-bottom. So imagine my surprise when I walked away after a languorous Sunday lunch thinking that we’d just discovered a new favourite. Everything works, from the moment you walk into the gorgeous first-floor space bathed in light flooding from windows on all three sides, to the split second before stepping back out into London’s biggest construction site. Plum hits the sweet spot bang on the nose: it’s inventive but familiar, stylish but comfortable, serious but friendly, all that and excellent value too. A lot of attention to detail has gone into this place, and it shows. Things kicked off with a delicious rum cocktail [it was after all, a balmy 11 degrees outside], then I followed with a fine soufflé of smoked haddock, and artichoke ravioli served with rocket, parmesan, spinach and a sweet reduction. For once the ravioli came in a man-sized portion; full marks to Plum for that. And to finish we shared a tarte tatin, that classic desert which, like all ‘simple’ dishes of so few ingredients divides absolutely everyone about the ‘right’ way to do it. To quote Sublime, this was the wrong way but so right. Judging by the very few other guests we are way ahead of the buzz on this one, but Plum deserves to succeed, and you should go without hesitation. Let  the tourists keep Balthazar – this is much better.

Banana Tree, 103-109 Wardour Street, London W1F 0UQ

Banana Tree, 103-109 Wardour Street, London W1F 0UQ

16/03/2013

www.bananatree.co.uk

She said: I had spotted this out of the corner of my eye when rushing to the underground one morning after failing to secure standby theatre tickets and thought it was worth popping back for. It was. Banana Tree is an ‘Indochina’ restaurant set in an industrial-style space in the middle of Soho. The menu offers a great range of Asian dishes for every taste. It was difficult choosing and then he noticed the special which allows you to have a main course with a noodle salad, corn cakes, prawn crackers and rice at a great price. I opted for the Seafood Kari which was a mix of tiger prawns, tilapia fish fillets and

fishcakes in a Malaysian red curry paste. The food was excellent, service efficient, setting modern-trendy but not in a self-conscious way and including drinks and him needing to have two main courses, a reasonable £40 in total. Will definitely be back and with 5 other London locations it should be easy to find the opportunity.

He said: if you wade through the mist of time, do you remember the first time you had a Wagamama? Well that’s the excitement I felt at Banana Tree. I wanted to try absolutely everything, it all seemed so cheap, and I got to have it right here in a stylish room in the middle of Soho, instead of on a paper plate at some delicious but dangerous joint (think e-coli Russian roulette) at the dodgy end of Zone 2. I confess that the décor is what kept me from going in the first couple of times I walked passed: it all seemed so self-consciously urban and cool. But the urban/oriental thing actually works once you’re tucking in, with a glass of Malay spice tea in one hand. I usually avoid vegan, but this seemed like the place to try, and I’m very glad I did; good eating and good karma. We ordered more than we could eat, and it all came in at just under £40 for two including service. I’m a sucker for good food at good prices, and can’t wait to go back, hopefully today!