Food fiend's Reviews

Excellent food – i had pan fried cod fillet with sauteed potatoes and spinach, delicious and i savoured every mouthful! It was packed out on a Sunday so id advise booking – i luckily got a table with booking but can imagine usually its nigh on impossible. There is parking in the area too which is a plus! There is an excellent deal of two courses for £15 though i had the a la carte as usual. Partner had fish cakes which looked humungous as did the puddings. I really had to hold back from being ‘nicely full’ rather than my usual ‘rolling out of the front door’. Loads of familes and friendly looking pub types + dogs.

Loved it and wish it was my local – am definitely heading back!

22/3/10

Went back again yesterday – fantastic meal (the Sunday roast) plus mouthwatering blueberry cheesecake – AND a scruffy dog to watch me eat – blissful. Again, wish it was my local…

I was actually pleasantly surprised with Black & Blue – we managed to get a table on a Saturday night but ive been nearby before and seen many waiting. Food was lovely and good value for money. My friend and i shared a beef main, which came with two sides of fries and a huge bowl of salad. Beef was more on the rare side but you could have asked for it to be cooked more if required.

The overall atmosphere is a very cool posh old diner type place – a good date spot or a carnivorous feast with friends. The bill came to £52 for the shared main, one glass of wine and two puddings – which i felt was a really good deal. You definitely dont feel hard done by with the portions and its certainly somewhere where id go back as a good alternative to all the posh places nearby – sometimes all you want is a decent steak and i think this is the place to beat.

We also went to Jamies Italian in Bath like the previous reviewer – i didnt want to like it as im not a huge fan of chains…but it's actually very good. It was a Tuesday lunchtime but was heaving. My partner noted it was mostly due to students and their parents. We only waited about 10min for a table and were given a buzzer to let us know when the table was ready.

Staff were really friendly and not pushy at all. I had a mushroom ravioli dish (small but also came in a large). It was meant to have ricotta but i couldnt taste it. It was pleasant to eat though. Partner had deep fried squid to start and carbonara with pancetta to follow – both which he felt were delicious. Overall the bill came to £27 for the two of us – so essentially two starters and a main plus drinks. There is a really good selection of well presented food at reasonable prices, music is good and the atmosphere was great. I think it's going to be a very popular place as the only real rival is Strada – Jamie's done it again…

Went to Tas after a night out at the IMAX – only about a ten minute walk away and a good alternative to some of the pricier options near the South Bank eg Skylon. Food is good, big portions and tasty and the place is almost always busy. We had free bread and tahini on the table as we arrived. Starters were big and tasty – fresh falafel and also feta cheese parcels (slightly lacking in taste) but still good portions. Our mains were big meaty mixed grills and another lamb dish, all again presented extremely well. I passed on pudding because we sat near the seventies style cabinet where they were sitting, wrapped in cling film, and this put me off slightly! Otherwise, the bill came to £44 for three starters and two mains plus drinks. I'd definitely recommend this as a great place post theatre – we were done in 45 mins and got home relatively quickly and nicely full! Not the best middle Eastern out there (Ozer in Oxford Circus and Al Waha in Queensway are both far better) but still one of the good ones worth a visit.

We popped into here for a girlie catchup and im so glad we decided to. The food was delicious and fresh – lots of yakitori type dishes which i love. There was a wide selection of fish and meat and everything felt light rather than soaked in sauces. The only issue was prices were per skewer – approx £1.60, but you had to order a minimum of two skewers, so the bill seemed quite confusing and i ended up thinking id been charged twice for things!

Id recommend the fried rice with egg – huge portion, fresh ingredients etc. The yakitori was very filling and it's hard to not overorder! Puddings for us were two chocolate puddings with almond ice cream – divine! Service was great and we ended up there till 11pm on a Friday night, wasnt shooed away or made to feel unwelcome despite how buzzy it was. I'd certainly return as it seems to be a great pre-theatre haunt like Busaba Ethai (though they tend to shoo you out and the deserts are a bit poor there). The food here was so delicious and fresh! Well worth a return visit.

I had heard fantastic things about the Anchor and Hope but the few times we had passed by, it was heaving, or the menu looked a bit too eclectic for my tastes. We came upon an empty restaurant on a Saturday for once so decided to take our chances.

I passed on the starters and went straight for the braised lamb neck as my main – very fatty (though this wasnt a bad thing) but probably not the ideal Saturday lunch before a day walking in the sun. It was quite big, bit fatty but tasty, a very hearty meal. Partner had roast chicken caesars salad which looked ok – again, nothing really special. I, of course, had pudding which was the pistachio-est pistachio cake id ever had, delicious, and a bit of a work of art for an obsessive baker like me!

The Anchor and Hope is hugely popular, despite me thinking it was just ‘nice’ – ive also had mixed experiences with their sister place Great Queen Street, once having a fantastic mindblowing roast chicken to share, then having a bland rump steak on another trip. The Anchor and Hope takes no bookings and if you are a fussy sort, id say come early, check the day's menu and have a backup just in case (Tas is over the road and ALWAYS heaving). Or else come on a Saturday lunchtime, i doubt you'd be disappointed, i just didnt see what the huge fuss was about…

Wild Honey is an excellent place to dine. I had already been to Arbutus and enjoyed my meal there so was curious to see what this place would offer. We wanted somewhere quite modern but decent bistro-ish food.
We went for Saturday lunch and the place was empty. When we finally left at closing time, there were only 3 other tables occupied. This dented the atmosphere slightly but the service wasnt affected in the least. Cocktails were made perfectly to order and the bread was delicious and warm…sigh! I slumped into my lovely booth seat, excited of what next!

I didnt fancy any of the starters which were the usual fare, but that was because i anticipated being a hog later. For mains, i had braised lamb with aubergines, peppers, feta cheese and pine nuts – a combination which worked really well though potentially sounding a bit strange to my lunchtime companions. I ordered a side of mash which i think was required. Cant do without my carbs! My family had chicken which was labelled as made for two but when it arrived, i think it could have easily been made separately, ie not one big chicken on one plate so i didnt really understand why a min of two could order! Everything worked really well perfectly, and we savoured every mouthful – i actually enjoyed this more than Arbutus as the tastes seemed to just work so well. The chicken came with some sort of cornbread type thing but again worked very well.

For pudding i had the floating islands which was part of the set menu. There was also the choices of cherry clafoutis, cheesecakes etc but all looked delicious. By the way, the set menu itself is limited but the normal menu has a decent choice.

Wild Honey is a place where you go for the food, rather than the atmosphere, although did strike me as a rather romantic place to have a meal in the evening. It's not huge, service was great, and the food was excellent. We had a great time. The bill came to £110 for 2 courses each plus drinks/coffees etc for three people so not cheap but… More

We popped over to Goodman having heard about its great reputation – and deciding to avoid Ceconnis nearby as it looked too fussy. Sometimes all you want is a nice burger!

The restaurant has the decor of a posh Cheers style bar – my sister and i ordered cocktails which werent too fancy but the menu was a good selection of various cuts of meat/burgers and the like. We ended up choosing burgers – these werent just any burgers thought. These were excellent home made burgers – mouthwatering chips and sides. I always raved about GBK until my partner got a gristle burger but i doubt this place has any trace of the dreaded gristle…

Both burgers were fabulously tasty and melt in the mouth meals. We didnt have pudding though the standard fare were here – meal came to £30ish for two mains and drinks so excellent value – im definitely going back! Great when you want to avoid the chains or for a break to the Saturday Central London shopping trip or just fancy a hearty night out.