Eatreview Blog's Reviews

Last night four of us went to Taqueria in Notting Hill. Taqueria is a Mexican restaurant on Westbourne Grove. I haven't eaten Mexican food in a long, long time so I was really excited about trying something and somewhere new.

You can't book a table at Taqueria so you're either lucky enough to bag one or you need to wait at the bar until one becomes available. We arrived at 7.30pm and managed to get one of the last tables. The place was already buzzing and rocking.

The interior is simple but stylish. They have definitely made the most of the space.

The staff are great too. Friendly and polite without being in your face or overbearing.

The menu is simple enough, a choice of Antojitos, Tostadas, Sopas and Tacos. They also have a lot of extras too.

We kicked off the meal by ordering beers and margaritas. The margarita was delicious. A great kick, especially with the salt.

We decided to get a selection of different dishes and so ordered the following to start:

Quesadillas with chicken. Botana (to share) which is refried beans with crumbled cheese, guacamole, salsa, pickled jalapenos and totopos and a Caldo tlalpeno which is a soup of chicken broth, chicken, chickpeas, rice, avocado, chile chipotle, diced onion, corriander and lime.

The three dishes kind of arrived at the same time, there was a slight delay between the Botana and the Quesadilla and Caldo tlalpeno. The Botana was good and we all liked the refried beans. They don't look that appetising but were absolutely moreish. The Quesadilla was delicious, small but delicious. The soup looked and tasted the best we think.

For our main course we all became a little predictable and ordered the Taco Carne Asada which is char grilled skirt steak, avocado mash and salsa Mexicana. We ordered a side of the black beans, so the Frijoles refritos. The Tacos came and looked good. They tasted just amazing. The skirt steak delicious against the fresh avocado and salsa. They salsa was gentle and didn't overpower the dish.

For… More

Today I met a friend for lunch at Cafe Boheme in Soho. I've always really liked Cafe Boheme. I love French food and the menu has always been good and the service just brilliant.

We rocked up not having made a reservation and managed to get a table for two. The staff are always so pleasant and go out of their way to look after you. I love the decor, very smart. I guess the only downside is that the tables and chairs are tightly packed together so there is a little bit of bumping and shoving. But hey, this is Central London and it adds to the atmosphere.

The menu is good and never fails to disappoint. You could still order breakfast along with small plates, sandwiches, salads, dishes that could be starters or main dishes, full on starters and main dishes and puddings. Brilliant. A good mix of classic French cuisine as well as other European and I guess American themed food. Basically you can get a good burger and chips if you want to!

Whilst we purused the menu we ordered a bottle of sparkling water and they brought bread to the table. In the end we ordered an eggs benedict with a green salad as a side and three small plates including smoked salmon blinis, goujons of plaice and vegetable beignets.

The food arrived and looked good. The waitress explained the three small plates along with the dips and sauces that came with it. It really did look good. And tasted great too. The smoked salmon was beautifully cured and the blinis were light and fluffy. The goujons of plaice were perfectly breaded and piping hot. The plaice was fresh and meaty and the tartare sauce perfect. The vegetable beignets were lightly battered and absolutely moreish.

The eggs benedict were brilliant. The eggs were perfectly cooked, nice and runny on to the lightly toasted muffins and of course the ham. The hollandaise sauce was light and the perfect consistency.

We were too full for pudding so we grabbed coffee.

The bill came in at £41.34 including service. Not bad really. I will always go back to… More

Today I met a friend for breakfast at Automat in Dover Street, Mayfair. I think American breakfasts are the best in the world so was looking forward to visiting the diner and catching up with my friend.

I booked a table in advance. The booking system is simple and straightforward and the girl I spoke to was polite.

We were running late so I rang in advance to change the booking, pushing it back a little. All good although I was told I needed to vacate the table by 12pm from a 10.30am booking, no worries.

The greeting was good. The restaurant was on the quiet side but it did pick up throughout brunch. We managed to get a booth which was great, lots of room and comfortable seats.

I ordered a coffee and looked over the menu. The classics are on there as well as other dishes. Not as American as I would have liked. It's actually quite a large menu for breakfast / brunch. We both decided to order pancakes, one with strawberries and one with blueberries. Both pancakes would come with maple syrup.

No sooner had we ordered than our pancakes arrived. It was speedy… and I'll tell you why. I assumed the pancakes would be made fresh to order but instead the kitchen had pre-cooked a batch and heated them up. The pancakes that arrived looked good but were luke warm… not nice. I really don't like it when food is not cooked properly. The chef should have checked to make sure they were sufficiently cooked. In fact they should have been cooked from fresh. The maple syrup was already all over the pancakes. Again not good. I guess I should have checked as I prefer to add my own and just assumed it would be served separately. The blueberries came with a hideous compote on top of the pancakes.

So in a nutshell I didn't enjoy breakfast this morning. Personally I'd cut the menu in half and cook fresh to order. Better to do five things right than reheat and serve just warm.

Would I go back to Automat? I liked the decor and menu reads well. The staff are a little cold and robotic. We had one… More