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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A mid week Mexican lunch meant a visit to Chimichanga! The restaurant is really spacious and has the booth seating on a raised level at the back. The interior is made up of large stone arches and large wooden posts!

It had to be the classic nachos to start with; this would also give us time to decide on the rest of our meal! The sharing appetiser of chicken nachos fit the bill perfectly. We were presented with a huge bowl of crispy tortilla chips, topped with chunks of chargrilled chicken, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa! There was no disappointment with these and we happily munched our way through these delights!

Seen as I had filled myself up on the nachos, I couldn’t face having a main dish as I assumed that they would be big portions. So I opted for the side dishes of Mexican rice and black beans. This was a good combination and the rice was not too spicy. The beans were whole and not mashed up like refried beans. It was a filling meal, even though they were side dishes!

The rest of my family had the wraps! These were huge and were generously filled! They were served with chips. I’m glad that I did go for the lighter option as I definitely wouldn’t have managed to have such a big meal!

The staff were friendly and gave service with a smile. They did not bother us through the meal once it had all been served. It meant that we could have a relaxing lunch and did not feel that we were being rushed!

Chimichanga has a good menu with lots of choice! It’s a nice place to go to for a gathering with family and friends!

Chimichanga, Unit 2b Chaplin Square, Great North Leisure Park, Finchley, London, N12 0GL

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The Highgate Pantry has a big display of tempting sweet things in its window! Cupcakes, fruit tarts, macaroons, fruit crumble slices, egg custards and the list goes on!

An afternoon filled with tea, cake and the girls brought us to this bakery! We were spoilt for choice so we decided that the only way around that was to pick a few cakes and to share them!

Two fruit tarts, one lemon and one cherry, and a plum crumble slice were our final choices! The cherry tart had plump cherries bursting with flavour. The lemon tart was tangy but also sweet! Both had good pastry! Big slices of plums mixed with a cake like filling made up the crumble slice. It would have been nice to have had a little more crumble topping.

The tea was served by the cup. The English Breakfast tea was a good accompaniment to the cakes!

The staff were friendly and did not rush us. The Highgate Pantry also serves hot dishes such as jacket potatoes and it also does various bakes, pastries and sandwiches.

The interior of The Highgate Pantry is quite small which means that the tables are close together. Also, customers queuing for takeaway items are waiting around the seating area. This is a sweet little shop but would definitely benefit by having a larger seating area.

The Highgate Pantry, 57 Highgate High Street, London, N6 5JX

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