Victoria 's Reviews

An excellent choice for a group party in Kensignton.

It's a sprawling restaurant full of seperate rooms and nooks and crannys, covered in Italian movie memorabillia. Lots of Fellini posters, rare album covers and even some signed knickers and a negligee in the basement (am hoping from a well known 60's siren and not from a happy punter).

The food was excellent, I got food envy looking at the scallop starter. I had the foie gras with a grape salad which was delicious, followed by their showcase main course the risotto served in a huge parmesan rind. I loved the performance of dishing the rissoto onto my plate and scraping lots of fresh parmesan into it in the process. Other succesful dishes on the table included their special main course of rabbit ragu ravioli in a butter and sage sauce.

The homemade ice cream was beautifully done and the presentation of the chocolate tart and tiramisu looked fantastic.

It's worth noting they had a truffle based special menu which included a starter of stuffed guinea fowl with white truffles at £32. I've never had truffles before and at those prices I am not going to in the near future either.

A lot of reviews about this restaurant mention the prices. It is undeniably expensive. It was perfect for our occasion and if you won't balk at a goats cheese salad starter at £15 you'll love it. I just couldn't justify those prices if I was eating without the expense account.

The service was excellent and it's a really unsual restaurant with reliable Italian dishes. Charming, quirky, friendly and very very expensive!

I love Il Bordello!

I used to live in Wapping and every time family or friends visited they would always demand a trip to this restaurant. They do very reasonably priced pizza or pasta and have an extensive specials board that includes good cuts of meat and excellent fresh fish – including Dover sole and lobster.

Their portion sizes are indeed massive, I would recommend a ratio of 3 starters between 5 people to share if you want any chance of a 3 course meal! My favourite starter is a brilliantly simple prawn and avacado mush (they don't describe it as that on the menu..) wrapped in huge sheets of smoked salmon. You get 3 monster sized rolls in a portion so it's very easy to share!

Their mushroom raviolli is outrageously rich and impossible to finish but totally delicious. I've never ordered pizza there but it looks good – my family tended to stick to the pastas and the specials board. I remember my Dad raving about the liver there.

It's always packed, including Monday nights so make sure you book. Despite their popularity I have never been rushed or noticed any table turning. The service is totally Italian. Charming, chaotic, noisy, sometimes a bit lazy sometimes amazingly efficient. Don't go with anyone uptight, it depends which way the wind is blowing…

I'll keep going back, it's so rare now to eat somewhere with such a strong personality.

And if you have to wait for your table – just wander over the road to the brilliant Captain Kidd pub and have a pint on the huge terrace overlooking the Thames. A night out I'm always in the mood for irrelevant of the season, state of mind or state of wallet!

Visited Brasserie Max on my mission to find the best breakfast venues in London.

Gorgeous room with a great layout, lovely food but patchy service. Also the most expensive breakfast of anywhere I visited by a long way (that includes The Wolseley, Cecconis etc). From memory the English breakfast was £19. For bacon, eggs, toast and beans. I felt robbed!

The sort of place I'd take my Mum if we were in Covent Garden for an informal afternoon tea in lovely surroundings, not sure I'd risk it with clients.