As you walk up Chapel Market, Dolcetto is a great unexpected find! The atmosphere is warm and it is one of those places that looks inviting and makes you want to go in.

The restaurant area is made up of beige chairs and wooden tables and has an open kitchen with the pizza oven in full view. The red brick walls give it a rustic feel but it also feels really modern with the funky framed pictures.

The Bruschetta Tradizionale was two thin slices of toasted bread, topped with plenty of plenty of chopped tomatoes. The Calamari Fritti starter was great. You could tell that the calamari was fresh as it was not at all chewy or rubbery. The deep fried calamari was served with some salad and a tangy tartare sauce.

The pizza menu was quite quirky. Some of the pizzas had been named after cars, such as Ferrari F40 and Lamborghini Gallardo. We went for something less adventurous and had the Pizza Vegetariana. We weren’t sure which vegetables to expect as the menu only said seasoned vegetables. This vegetarian pizza had a crisp base and was topped with big slices of courgettes, peppers, olives and mushrooms. It was nice that the pizza came already sliced, which made it a lot easier to eat.

My favourite dish had to be the Risotto ai Porcini. It had a wonderful rich flavour to it. Lots of sliced mushrooms together with the creamy rice made it a hearty dish. A really great side dish was the roast potatoes. These were absolutely perfect: crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. They were definitely very moreish.

The tiramisu was lovely and creamy and just what you’d expect from such a dessert. Layers of cream sandwiched between the sponge layers. The chocolate fudge cake was a big portion and had a dense texture.

Dolcetto, 18 Chapel Market, Islington, London, N1 9EZ

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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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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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