An afternoon tea with an Indian twist is what 3 Oceans provides! Gone away are the traditional scones and in come the vegetable samosas!

It made a refreshing change to have many savoury items and less of the sweet ones! Instead of small finger sandwiches, we were given two whole sandwiches, cut into triangles! The cheese and tomato one had thick slices of cheese and was on granary bread. The egg mayonnaise one was made with wholemeal bread! There were the options also to have smoked salmon, prawn and ham sandwiches, but we decided just to have the cheese and egg ones.

For the Indian snacks, we were given vegetable samosas, crispy bhajia and kachori. None of these were greasy or oily and all had a mild spice level! The vegetable samosas had a crispy pastry and were filled with mashed vegetables. The kachori also had a similar sort of a filling but were made with a batter outer rather than pastry. The bhajias were sliced potatoes cooked in batter too! All were very moreish and went well with the mint, yoghurt chutney and the tamarind chutney!

As if that wasn’t all filling enough, there were also the chocolate based desserts! There was a rich chocolate cake and also a brownie style cake. Both were very rich and had pieces of nuts in them!

3 Oceans had a lot of teas to choose from; the list spread over two pages! I had the lychee red tea which was a black tea! It had a wonderful sweet subtle fruity flavour! The tea was served by the pot! It was really nice that the staff did not mind giving us additional pots of hot water to replenish the tea through our meal!

The restaurant area was clean and spacious! There were cream cushioned high backed chairs and dark wooden tables. It also has a separate bar area.

The staff were absolutely fantastic and so friendly! They made sure everything was to our liking all the time that we were dining here. It made us feel that we were getting such personal service and made us enjoy our time at 3 Oceans. Even though there was a private event going to happen that evening, the staff in no way made us rush. They let us take our time and did not make us feel uncomfortable or that we were getting in their way!

3 Oceans is a lovely friendly place to go to, with great attention paid to the food and service!

3 Oceans, 4 Lodge Lane, Off North Finchley High Road, London, N12 8JR

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Lakorn Thai is an average Thai restaurant close to the Sadlers Wells Theatre in Islington. The food is not outstanding nor is it bad.

The restaurant seemed to have two dining areas: one close to the entrance and one through an archway. Lakorn Thai was nicely decorated and was also quite light due to its cream interior.

On this particular evening, the restaurant was quite cold even though we were given a table near a heater. While I was waiting for my friends to arrive, there were at least two different groups of people who left the restaurant without dining there. The reason that they gave was that the place was too cold.

The selection of food that we had was the vegetable spring rolls, vegetable tempura and vegetarian Pad Thai. The food was brought out surprisingly fast, not long after we had ordered.

The spring rolls were nice and crispy. The tempura included broccoli, mushrooms and peppers. The batter was light and the tempura tasted good with the dipping sauce.

The Pad Thai was slightly disappointing. It was too sweet and did not have any tangy flavours. The noodles were cooked well and the dish had big chunks of tofu, egg and beansprouts. Even though we asked for extra vegetables in the Pad Thai, this request did not seem to have been met.

The staff were friendly and gave us service with a smile. There were a couple of communication issues though, as a few of the staff did not really understand English very well. So when we asked them questions, they just smiled politely and then another member of staff would come and step in to deal with our query.

Lakorn Thai, 199 Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TJ

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For a really special occasion, Portal is the place to go! Exquisite food, excellent service and a wonderful atmosphere is what this restaurant is all about!

On entering Portal, there is the bar area. The restaurant area is slightly separated from the bar and it extends right through into the conservatory! As we were early, we started off with drinks at the bar. The bar staff were really knowledgeable about the drinks and made us feel comfortable straight away!

As soon as the restaurant was opened for the dinner service, we were shown through to the light filled conservatory and our drinks were carried through for us! This dining area looked out onto the greenery filled garden. The tables were decorated with fresh pink roses in black square vases and white square candles! There was also a room filled with neat rows of the different wines at the back end of the conservatory!

The friendly staff presented us with a bread tray which allowed us to choose our bread roll of choice! The waitress was helpful with recommendations of the food and also explained us to us quite thoroughly about the dishes that we enquired about.

As we were waiting for the starters, the staff bought over a couple of canapes, which were complimentary from the chef. These were little biscuit spoons with artichoke purée, topped with mackerel. The canapes were really nice and we were pleasantly surprised that they were served warm!

The hot starter of roasted green pepper salad with grilled sardines was lovely. The sardines were rolled up and on a skewer on top of the sliced peppers and onions.

Both of our main dishes were presented beautifully and looked too pretty to eat! There was a great amount of attention to detail! The Portuguese turnip leaves rice with grilled halloumi cheese and tomato concasse was absolutely perfect. The rice and turnip leaves tower was surrounded by raspberries, blackberries, orange crisps and fig crisps! The halloumi cheese had been grilled just right. All the flavours worked well together. This dish was extremely pleasing to the eye and to the palate!

Portuguese octopus rice with pan fried octopus fillets and watercress salad was the main dish that my friend chose! The octopus fillets were tender and cooked to perfection. The tomato based rice was served from a steaming iron pot which the staff brought to the table to serve from!

Our dessert was pumpkin souffle with strawberry ice-cream. It has to be the best dessert that I have ever tasted. The pumpkin souffle oozed with the warm liquid centre. It was not served in a ramekin how souffles are normally served. The pumpkin souffle was topped with fresh strawberry and blackberry pieces. The strawberry ice cream tasted like we were eating fresh strawberries. It had such an intense flavour. To top it off, the strawberry crisps and starfruit crisps were also great! The whole dessert was amazing!

Portal served us with the most wonderful dining experience and one which we will always remember!

Portal Restaurant and Bar, 88 St John Street, London, EC1M 4EH

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