Raoul’s Cafe – Little Venice

Reviewed on October 15th, 2010 by Dina

Raoul’s Cafe is definitely the place to come to for Sunday brunch! The cafe was so busy and full when we went there on this particular Sunday. We thought that we would be waiting a really long time for a table. So we were pleasantly surprised when we were seated within five or so minutes!

The perfect way to start the lazy Sunday was with a cup of Earl Grey Tea. I was happy that the tea was served by the pot! They also have a good range of fresh fruit smoothies. These are served in tall glasses and can be fairly filling!

There are a number of items on the menu that sounded tempting, from breakfast items to toasted sandwiches. The egg and mushrooms on toast was a good combination! Even though the menu specified that it was poached eggs, the staff didn’t mind me asking for scrambled eggs. The portobello mushrooms were full of flavour and it was all served on a slice of granary toast.

The eggs benedict did not disappoint either. This dish was poached eggs and ham on a toasted muffin with hollandaise sauce. The eggs were cooked to perfection with the runny yolks!

As for sandwiches, there are a few to choose from and the classic Club sandwich is a good choice! The granary bread was generously filled with bacon, chicken and salad. To accompany our main dishes, a big bowl of fries and a bowl of calamari made good side dishes!

All of the food was of a high quality and it was all freshly cooked! The service was really efficient and fast. Even though the cafe was full, we did not have to wait long for the food to be brought out to us. The staff were friendly and let us have a relaxing Sunday brunch!

Raoul’s Cafe has some outdoor seating. There are wooden tables and chairs indoors on one side of the cafe, and on the other is sofa style cushioned seating along one of the walls. Just as you enter the cafe, there is the counter fridge with lots of tempting cakes and desserts!

Raoul’s Cafe, 13 Clifton Road, Little Venice, London, W9 1SZ

Rating: ★★★★★

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Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria – Notting Hill

Reviewed on August 27th, 2010 by Dina

Great quality pizza and a lovely atmosphere is what you get at Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria! The restaurant is fairly small and you can see the big dome wood burning oven situated at the back of the dining area. There is also an outdoor seating area, which looked like it would accommodate the same amount of diners as the inside of the restaurant.

The interior of Portobello Ristorante is quite rustic! It has big wooden beams along the ceiling and bare stone brick walls. It is good that the windows can be fully opened as well, so on a warm summer’s night, it is ok to sit indoors.

We were given some good thick slices of crusty bread to start with! The pizza here is served by the half metre which means that you can order and sample different types of pizzas!

The pizza is impressively served on huge wooden boards that take up most of the table! We had the Ortolana pizza and it did not disappoint. It was topped with grilled aubergines, peppers, cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, capers, olives and mozzarella. The base of the pizza was perfectly cooked: thin and crisp!

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Ca’puccino – Westfield London

Reviewed on July 8th, 2010 by Dina

Ca’puccino has two floors and the relaxed atmosphere is helped by the spacious seating areas. The upstairs floor has some comfy seating and white leather chairs. The lighting is slightly dark. It would be very easy to spend quite a lot of time here. We liked the quirky decor of tower blocks of books distributed over the two floors!

Now onto the food!!! It all looked really fresh and of a high quality. It was nice that you could go see what was in the counter fridges and then make a decision on what to order. We were impressed with the quantity of items on the menu. Fresh food was constantly being put out in the covered counter fridges. 

Ca’puccino has a range of paninis and we opted for the catania. This toasted panini was made of sesame bread and was filled with grilled vegetables, sundried tomatoes and salad. It was of a good size which made it a filling lunch and was really tasty.

It was hard to decide which pastry or tart to go for. We finally decided to have the raspberry croissant and the mela e uvetta- apple, raisin and cinnamon tart. The croissant was great; flaky buttery pastry with just the right amount of fruit filling. The apple tart had the perfect sweetness and it was served with cream.

Another good sweet treat was the pane burro e crema Gianduja which was a small bread roll filled with butter and hazelnut Gianduja cream. It’s perfect if you fancy something to satisfy a chocolate craving but not too heavy. The bread roll was soft with a crusty top!

It was nice that effort was put into make all the dishes nicely presentable, making them even more scrumptious!

The staff were really friendly and efficient. It was nice that they knew the menu well and were helpful in answering our queries. They had no problem warming the desserts up for us and they made us feel really comfortable.

There were so many varieties of coffee and hot drinks on the menu. The soy latte was tasty and creamy! The tea was served by the pot and there was enough for a couple of cups. As well as all the great cakes, Ca’puccino has a very tempting ice-cream counter!

Ca’puccino, Lower Southern Terrace, Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, London, W12 7GF

Rating: ★★★★★

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