Rate my Bistro

This is a cute Thai restaurant, which when you enter looks really small. We thought that it only had the four or so tables/booths. So we were surprised when we asked for a table, we were taken downstairs. I just assumed that the downstairs area would be the whole of the kitchen! On the lower level, Thai Pepper opens out into its main restaurant area with lots more seating.

The food seemed fresh as it took them a little time to make it.  The vegetarian dumplings were really tasty and you got six of them, so enough to share! Even though it said on the menu that they were steamed, they had crispy edges, so I’m not sure if they had been fried a little. Either way, they were good and they went well with the fried garlic and soya sauce.

It was a tough choice to decide whether to go for the Thai green curry with rice or the Pad Thai! Finally, I decided to go for the vegetarian Pad Thai noodles! Great fried rice noodles with carrots, bamboo shoots, baby corn, egg and crushed peanuts. This dish was just a bit too saucy towards the end of the dish. If I had to change anything about the Pad Thai is that I would make it a little less sweet and also I would add some tofu to it.

Thai Pepper is a small intimate restaurant with lovely friendly staff. One thing to note is that Thai Pepper is only open during the evenings and not in the day time.

Thai Pepper, 115 Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 6HY

Our Rating:

Melanzana was one of those places that we weren’t sure whether to go into or not. This was only because we thought it may just be a take away deli and we wanted somewhere that we could sit in and have hot drinks.

As soon as we entered, we were impressed with the colourful displays and the range of food in the deli. Little did we know that Melanzana was a restaurant as well! It’s a shame that some of the food was open on top of the counters. They had a range of breads, pastries, cold meats, olives and roasted vegetables.

The staff were friendly and allowed us to sit anywhere that we liked in the dining area. One of the staff didn’t speak/understand English very well, so when we asked for a hot soya milk, she brought us a hot chocolate made with soya milk instead. The mango fruit tea was served by the cup not the pot.

The foccacia bread was good and was topped with onions. It all tasted fresh and was a good portion. There was a lot of pizzas and pasta dishes being brought out to the other tables and they all looked delicious. If we are in the area again, then we will return to sample some of their hot dishes.

Melanzana is a little gem of a place in Battersea! It felt like it was run by a nice tight knit family group. All the food seemed to be fresh and looked like it was made on a regular basis on the premises.

Melanzana, 140 Westbridge Road, London, SW11 3PF

Our Rating:

Leon is quite a small casual restaurant! I liked it and think it would be good at any time of the day! On this particular occasion, I was there in the evening. It had quite a quirky feel to it. When I first entered, I wasn’t really sure what to expect and didn’t know if they would have much seating.

The waitress was really friendly and recommended lots of things on the menu including the Moroccan meatballs, sweet potato falafel and the original superfood salad! Although it was a busy time in the evening, there were a couple of tables free. I chose to sit in the middle part where they have the high chairs and this particular area separated the two halves of the seating area.

It was very dimly lit with some tealight candles! There were random books on the shelves, which I’m not sure if they were there just for decoration. It felt quite cosy and was the perfect place to warm up on a cold rainy day together with some hearty food! The atmosphere was very relaxed and there was some good jazz like music playing in the background.

I was more peckish than wanting a full blown meal so I was happy to see that Leon had a Kids menu! Some restaurants have age restrictions on their Kids menu but this was not the case with Leon.

The Leon Gobi was really good and as it was from the Kids menu, it was served with rice and peas instead of with fresh slaw. The Gobi was like a curry and consisted of chunks of cauliflower and sweet potato. The taste of the coconut milk definitely came through in this dish with the flavours of the spices being milder. The nutty taste of the brown rice was great and it went well with the peas, edamame and green beans! Even though it was a smaller portion than a main meal, I found that it was quite filling.

Leon is good if you have dietary restrictions. They specify on the menu which items are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, low GI, vegetarian and low animal fat.

The way that it works in Leon is partly self service. Quite a few eateries seem to adopt this idea. The waitress gave me the menu and she also gave me a small paper with the menu on it. She told me that I just filled out my table number and specified which items I wanted. I should then take this to the counter and hand it there. I sometimes prefer this method as then you are not waiting around for the attention of staff and usually it is a quicker way to get your food! This was the case with Leon as in the food was served pretty fast!

Leon has a great range of salads, main dishes, wraps, snacks and desserts. They also do smoothies, juices, coffee and tea. The soups change daily and they also have a daily main special. In the time that I was there, the type of soup that they were serving, changed a couple of times! It’s nice that they have such a variety. All the food seemed really fresh and healthy and you can tell that Leon takes pride in its meals.

Leon, 73-76 Strand, London, WC2R 0DE

Our Rating:

Loch Fyne is a lovely fish restaurant and it does have a few non fish items on the menu as well. This place is quite deceiving from the outside as it looks quite small. But when you go in, it is quite big!

The fish soup was very filling and quite hearty! It was tomato based with salmon and bream blended into it. It came with two slices of garlic bread.

For a side dish, the seasonal vegetables were ordered. Normally in restaurants, the seasonal vegetables are something like root vegetables. But in this case, we were pleasantly surprised that it was red cabbage with raisins, broccoli and carrots. We really enjoyed the sweet cabbage!

The beer-battered fish and chips was a huge portion! The haddock tasted very fresh but the batter was a little too heavy. The chips were perfect; they had the fluffy centre and were nice and crispy on the outside. The fish and chips were served with mushy peas and tartare sauce. All in all, this main meal was a match made in heaven!

We managed to have a little space for some dessert, so we had the chocolate and orange tart. It was presented really nicely and was served with berries and a berry sauce. The tart was made of a chocolate mousse, a layer of chocolate sauce and the base was a nutty biscuit. The flavours of the orange definitely came through. This dessert was so yummy but very rich!

It was good to complete the meal with some hot drinks! The latte was good and creamy. The English breakfast tea came by the pot and it could easily have served two people.

The staff at Loch Fyne were really friendly and helpful. We were given a bread basket while we decided on what to order. We had great service and could not fault it at all. The waitress was sweet when she brought us the dessert menu! It was not the typical hand held card menu. She actually brought us the dessert menu board!

The restaurant was great all in all! It felt very clean, tidy and spacious. There was also a fresh fish counter. Loch Fyne had everything for a nice relaxed good quality meal out.

Loch Fyne, 5-6 Egham High Street, Egham, TW20 9EA

Our Rating:

Wahaca calls itself Mexican market eating! This restaurant is located below street level. It all looks bright with a turquoise colour theme, wood panelling and bare concrete walls.

First impressions definitely count for something on most occasions and for Wahaca, this did not work in its favour. When we arrived, the restaurant was fairly empty. We asked for a table for three people and the waiter showed us to a table that was clearly just for two people. So we asked if we could change to a slighter bigger table and he let us but wasn’t too happy with us doing so.

I’ll talk about the food and drinks first and then go onto the service. Two very different experiences! I decided on sampling the street food, so had the seasonal vegetables tacos. These were three palm sized soft corn tortillas topped with vegetables. The seasonal vegetables were the autumn ones which included winter greens, butternut squash, red onions, garlic, mushrooms and ancho chilli. The vegetables were chopped up into bite size pieces and were tasty. The kick of the chilli came through even though it was not supposed to be a spicy dish!

To accompany the tacos, the green rice was a good choice. This was rice with onion, coriander and garlic. The rice was not served that hot, it was more like lukewarm.

To have something different to drink, the Horchata almond and rice milk took my fancy. This dairy free milk was served cold with cinnamon. It was too sweet for my liking. I’m not sure if sugar was added to it. If it was, then it would have tasted a lot better without it.

Now onto the staff and the service. The food was served fairly quickly and we were told that the dishes were likely to be served at different times, depending on when the kitchen made each one. We were fine with that aspect of it.

What really got to us was that the waitress was really annoying and very abrupt. She kept coming over constantly and asking if we needed anything or wanted to order additional items. This is acceptable the once or the twice, but we found it very rude of her to keep doing it. It meant that we could not have a conversation among ourselves without being interrupted.

Also, we felt that we were not allowed to take our time to enjoy the food and drink. We were given the impression that the staff wanted us to order, eat up our food and leave. Wahaca did get really busy while we were there and there were so many people all gathered and queuing around the seating area. It all did not make for a good dining experience.

At the end, the waitress just cleared up our table and told us that she was bringing us the bill. Even if there was a queue of people waiting for tables, we should have been allowed to take our time to enjoy the food and the company of friends. We were paying customers who had come out for a dinner get together. It is a shame that we had such a bad experience with the staff. They need to learn some basic manners and about good customer service.

Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4HG

Our Rating: