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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The Blue Legume has never been noticed by myself, the many times that I have walked along Upper Street. It has a unique characteristic blue aubergine-like vegetable artefact as part of its sign!

There is outdoor seating at the front, which then goes through into the cafe area! The kitchen, counter and cake fridges are in the middle of the cafe area and then there is extra seating area at the back! The back area seemed like it had a lot of daylight coming into it!

The weekend brunch started off with smoothies! I had the berry smoothie and my friend had the spirulina one! Both were presented to us beautifully in sugar edged glasses and a Viennese biscuit on the side! A bright colourful start to our Sunday!

My berry smoothie was delicious! I’m not sure which berries were in it but I think that I could also taste banana! My friend said that her spirulina one was equally enjoyable with a sweet apple like flavour! This surprised me as from its green colour, I was expecting it to taste bitter!

The Blue Legume had many items on the menu including breakfast dishes, salads, burgers and paninis. I narrowed it down to two of the breakfast items, one which was a Mediterranean breakfast of grilled halloumi, feta cheese, poached egg, olives, jam and toast. But then I decided to go for the classic eggs florentine!

The eggs florentine came with some salad. The poached eggs were cooked with hard yolks, as I had asked for them to be as such! The hollandaise sauce had a lovely tangy flavour and the toasted muffin was soft! It also had a good amount of spinach!

The staff were friendly and provided us with a great service! The Blue Legume had a really cute and quirky feel to it. The tables were all decorated with pretty delicate pink flowers in small vases! The ceiling was covered with different styles of mirrors. I only noticed this once my friend pointed it out! There was a grandfather clock as part of the seating area! It felt a bit like you were in a country style cottage!

The Blue Legume is a gem of a place with lovely staff and good quality food!

The Blue Legume, 177 Upper Street, Angel, London, N1 1RG

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Browns feels more like a restaurant but you can go here just for drinks! There are wicker seats near the window, seats along the bar, and then there’s the big dining area. It has quite a nice relaxed atmosphere with its jazz music softly playing in the background. The atmosphere is also created by its soft lighting and dark wood decor.

Browns has a range of teas and coffees as well as cocktails and soft drinks. I decided to have the Ceylon tea but unfortunately it was not available on this day. So, I went for the regular Earl Grey.  The tea was served by the pot and it was nice that it was loose tea leaves.

Everything about Browns seemed quite nice and it would have been a place that we would have returned to. But then, when we wanted to order a second drink, the problems started. Firstly, it was hard to get the attention of the staff. It was like they were walking around with blinkers on!

Then, once we finally managed to order the drink, it never came. Even when we went up to the bar to ask if the drink had been made, we were told that it would be served shortly.

Quite a bit of time lapsed and still no drink. Browns did not realise that the ridiculously slow customer service was not doing them any favours. After a couple more queries about the drink, it finally came.

Even though we were quite happy at first that the staff did not rush us, the lack of attention and poor service really disappointed us.

All in all, Browns is a pleasant place, but the service that the staff provided could be greatly improved.

Browns Bar & Brasserie, 9 Islington Green, Angel, London, N1 8DU

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