Sabrina's Passions' Reviews

On the site of a former Sushi joint (RIP), welcome newcomer Goldfish steps in to the City, injecting a dose of ordinary, down-to-earth & long awaited Chinese cookery. Nothing like the posh, gussied up versions in the Square Mile that can charge £18 for a main course that you'd be hard pushed to find for more than £4 in a takeaway. Main courses at Goldfish are averagely about £7-8, unless you are being very flash and opting for the £38 Lobster Noodles, of course. (Worth every penny by the way)

The decor isn't flash in anyway, this is your standard run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant where service is swift and the food is good. Nothing more, nothing less. Admittedly, the prices are a little hiked, no doubt to accommodate the astronomical rents of this part of town, but still very nice. They also do great Dim-Sum and you can get everything as takeaway too. Really very handy in my opinion and I've already made several trips there both to sit and eat and also to grab a little ‘desk-lunch’ too.

£24.50 for a tablespoon of Risotto with few small chunks of King crab claw??? Somebody call the police, because i've been robbed! Its not often that i leave a restaurant with the feeling that i have been ripped-off, but lunch was nothing short of daylight robbery. Having vetted the menu online in advance, it really did look superb. French-Oriental fusion, boasting everything from your classic French beef tartare, using the finest Charolais beef to the more fusion Eastern dish of tuna tartare with a lightly spiced soya dressing. The list of starters (or Entrees if you're feeling French) were packed with exciting sounding dishes, that i couldn't wait to try. The main courses all sounded great, especially with a special section listing their house specialities and signature dishes, which I was very much looking forward to sinking my teeth into.

Staff are curteous enough and the restaurant is plush and comfortable. We open the menu and to my great disappointment, the menu is just a fraction of its online listing and i fear we have fallen victim to the dreaded “Reduced A La Carte” menu, that literally gives you a few choices in each section. We chose the tuna tartare, crispy chilli squid and the oysters. All three dishes were as you'd expect… perfectly good, but not anything extraordinary. I was more than satisfied, but wished that we were able to choose from the full menu, to have perhaps had the chance to try something more exciting.

The main course is really where my disappointment came. My friend ordered ‘Pyrenees Confit Shoulder of Lamb with Grilled Aubergine & Onion Chutney’ and i chose the exotic sounding ‘Roast King Crab, Yozu Kosho Butter with Crab & Chive Risotto’. I balked at the plate when it was placed in front of me… I couldn't believe how tiny the portion was, especially as my dish cost a hefty £8 more than my friends, so to see literally a few mouthfuls on my plate, disturbed me. £24.50 for 4 mouthfuls and not a dollop of Beluga caviar or white truffle in… More

The first obstacle with this place is finding it, so it may be worth noting that it is at the Oxford Circus end of Wardour Street and not Shaftesbury Avenue end as I'd initially thought. Arriving at lunch time is a bit strange as the interior is very dark and the infamous lit interactive tables arent really and functional until you sit down and begin to order.

The tables themselves are the key reason for eating here really… Its all a bit conceptualised and the fact the food happens to be pretty decent is just lucky really. Using the touch-screen interactive system on the tables, you can order food and drink, call a waitress (although it was faster to just wave to get their attention), you can play games and also change the colour or ‘skins’ of your table to lots of varied bright backgrounds.

But I ask you, is this really what you want to be doing over dinner??? Ignoring your fellow diners and fiddling with screen after screen of options? It can be quite tedious to have to figure it all out, and I did begin to wish I could just get a normal menu! The fact that we had to move because our first table wasn't working was also rather annoying but not enough to put me off the experience.

The food is your bog standard combo of Sushi, Asian-inspired salads and dishes and lots of interesting plates. Not bad at all, very decent in fact. They also do a good selection of cocktails, which is always great especially if you arent rushing through a meal and want to enjoy it. But then again, if you are planning on having a hurried meal, then Inamo is not really the right venue for you.

I do love Thai food. What’s not to love when the basic principle of their cooking encompasses spicy, sweet, hot and sour… something to appease everyone really. But I do find it a struggle to pay the prices demanded at some supposedly upscale Thai eateries (mentioning no names) as the whole point of Thai food is it is humble regional cuisine and should be full of flavour and low on price. Having once worked for a Thai restaurant group, I know what to expect and can therefore be a harsh critic at times. You only need to have visited Thailand once to know exactly how fresh and flavoursome the food really should be; it’s really not rocket science and as a nation we are more knowledgeable about food from the far east then ever before.

Busaba Eathai in Panton Street, just off of Leicester Square is the restaurant group’s latest opening. Brainchild of restaurateur Alan Yau, creator of eateries like Wagamama, Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Sake No Hana and Cha Cha Moon, Busaba now has 4 branches in London with another soon to open in Old Street, EC1. For those of us who have eaten at Wagamama, the concept at Busaba Eathai will be familiar with casual bench seating and tables shared with other diners, except Busaba’s tables are square instead of the classic elongated tables at Wagamama.

I sip an ice cold Guava Cooler as my eager eyes dart all over the menu, enticed by noodle and rice dishes, curries and sides. Pad Thai with prawns, Thai calamari, goong Tohd prawns along with red lamb curry, steamed rice and ‘morning glory’ greens in yellow bean sauce. My friend Mo and I are absolutely starving and have no qualms about possibly over-ordering; after all when it comes to Thai food variety of dishes is key as is sharing, which I find a little harder to do when something is really good.

The Pad Thai is a delicious heap of wok-fried rice noodles with crunchy vegetables, fried tofu and giant prawns and accompanied by a fat wedge of lime and some crushed peanuts which I add to the noodles. Every… More

Find it annoying that delis attract swarms of people despite astronomical prices. Since opening a few weeks ago, Mount Street deli has been mentioned all over the place, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Chocolate cake from Annabel's? I must say I have had the same cake at Annabel's and this isn't a patch on it I'm afraid whether it's the same recipe or not is questionable.

What is weird is that on a summer day in June their dish of the day is a very Wintery Irish stew with barley, which is really bizarre. Are they not aware of seasonality? How odd. Minestrone is the soup of the day, another slightly odd choice. For a Mayfair-based deli, I would expect more appropriate seasonal selections.
I'm sure they taste delicious but its not really what I want to eat on a Sunny day in June.

Mount Street Deli gets a luke-warm reception from me… When I want to pay exorbitant prices, I will happily plod along to Ottolenghi instead, where at least every single dish is utterly delicious and vibrant, colourful and full of flavour.

If I’m being perfectly honest, I have not been to El Pirata since 1996 when I used to work around the corner as a switchboard operator. It was the venue where our staff nights out would be held and looking back, they were actually incredibly fun nights. We would get utterly hammered, eat plate after plate of Tapas and then tuck in to huge pans of Paella, staggering out around midnight and head to some late night not-so-hot-spot and continue the party. I guess I put El Pirata to the back of my mind along with all those memories of my late teens.

Over 14 years later and shockingly little has changed at El Pirata. In fact nothing has changed here apart from the fact that chain-smoking inside the restaurant is no longer a viable which, now I’m virtually smoke free, is not such a bad thing. The décor is still exactly the same, white (ish) walls with dark wood beams and terracotta tile floors; very simple and really on-the-money in the authenticity sweepstakes. Our host is a portrait of the stereotypical Spanish waiter with thick Spanish accent, almost jolly in his enthusiasm but very nice and hospitable.

We are served a platter of delicately sliced Pata Negra ham, the most expensive ham in the world delivering a delicious nutty flavour courtesy of the acorns the pigs are fed on. I am quite happy to make this my entire meal but cannot resist the selection of Spanish cheeses, Padron peppers, tender deep-fried medallions of monkfish and the popular ‘Gambas a la plancha’ – prawns dropped into boiling hot oil with garlic and a fiery kick of chillies. A wonderful selection of delicious and varied dishes that were fresh and flavoursome and very enjoyable.

Our main course had to be the Paella Marinara; it’s vibrant gold hue reminiscent of the warm early evening sunshine of Spain in summer. The huge cast iron Paella pan is served straight to the table and is studded with giant prawns, tender squid perfectly cooked mussels and clams. I love sunshine cooking and anything that comes from… More

Hallelujah! Finally, the City has been given a decent restaurant and bar that offers great quality food without charging ridiculous prices. Not everyone in the City gets a fat-cat bonus at the end of the year you know! Not only is The Anthologist welcome but it is a breath of fresh air. A huge bar coupled with so many different dining areas, each unique from secluded tables for two to bench seating, bar seating and even deli counter seating, there is something for everyone here. The decor is lovely, the open kitchen does lots to keep you entertained. They have a fab seafood bar and a proper deli that sells all kinds of delights including speciality teas and wonderful olive oils. Anthologist caters to everyones needs. The menu is really varied, peppered with lots of City boy favourites like burgers and what can only be described as the biggest club sandwich I have ever seen, so large that even me (mouth-almighty) could not get my mouth around it and I cant believe how reasonably priced it all is… Did I mention it was resonably priced? If sarnies aren't your thing, fabulous seafood, spaghetti vongole, steaks, chicken, sharing platters, prawn and lemongrass lollipops, calamari – well, the list is endless!

Desserts are super cool with childhood favourites like banana splits and knickerbocker glory on the menu, its official, I'm in love. The only problem is that this place is so busy, you really need to book a week in advance, which is a bit of a dampener for a spontaneous lunch or dinner… But its well worth it!

Literally meaning ‘Sake Flower’, Sake No Hana has had a recent facelift, transforming the ground floor entrance with a little cocktail bar. Gone are the Japanese Tatami tables which have made way for a more slick dining room, concentrating on normal seating with an open kitchen prep area poised for showmanship.

You wouldn’t expect a restaurant to have escalators inside, but they do at Sake No Hana and once at the top the dining room reminds me of a Swedish sauna with wood clad walls and flooring, all earth-Motherish and soothing. A vast contrast from the electric blue lights and dark black panelling of the slick, chic interior of Yau’s Hakkasan design choice.

Service is impeccable and polished and the menu, courtesy of Chef Daisuke Hayashi, is several pages long but features lots of traditional dishes like ‘Shabu Shabu’ as well as the more common Robata grill selections and a huge selection of assorted Tempuras. We chose an assortment of dishes including seared razor clams with wasabi and soya, rib-beef tataki, braised aubergine with duck, seared tuna and green tea soba salad, Iberico pork and ribeye beef Shabu Shabu and a selection of sushi including the crunchy Alaskan snow crab maki rolls.

At first bite the razor clams are delicate and sweet and accompanying wasabi and soya dressing is pleasant and not overpowering in anyway. Beef tataki is as it should be with thinly sliced slivers of raw beef with a delicious sesame dressing and the thick ruby slices of seared tuna are a delight accompanied by green tea soba noodle salad, which is nice enough although the yoghurt like dressing seems a little out of place.

The braised aubergine with duck is a real triumph served in a small bowl with dainty cubes of aubergine in a deep and glossy sauce and sitting underneath them hides a little shredded duck and red bean paste. The duck has imparted a meaty rich flavour into the sauce and the whole thing is just beyond delicious.

I am very excited about the arrival of the Shabu… More