Champor Champor

We don’t normally do our ‘dirty washing’ in public, but we wish to add some comments to the previous review.

We believe that the reviewer’s comments regarding the small portion sizes are grossly exaggerated. She notes that some of the dishes cost £14 – yet these are large portions, which her party did not have, as they only had the smaller plate dishes.

We admit there was a lapse of service, with the one £14 dish which she did order being delivered to another table. We apologised profusely and offered them two of these dishes with our compliments, but all she wanted was discount.

Her bill for the four guests came to £77.60, including a bottle of wine and a beer – which equates to £19.40 per head.

However, because she made such a big scene in full view of other guests in the restaurant, we agreed that we would only charge her £50 – a mere £12.50 per head, which was, frankly, a pittance for what they had had.

She conveniently forgot to mention this detail in her review.

Charles Tyler

Champor-Champor
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Champor-Champor - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Monday, January 07, 2008

I decided to go to Champor Champor for a special occassion and was very disappointed when we turned up to find out that they were trying out a new 'tapas' menu. The food was extremely over priced with a small plate of vegetables costing £6 and some tapas dishes costing £14. I have never been somewhere where they charge so much for such small portions. I was expecting the soft shell crab tempura to taste of crab with a light delicate batter, instead all I could taste was a greasy thick batter. Tapas dishes should be reasonably priced, easy to share and served quickly. Several of the dishes were small bowls of soup (£7 each) which were not possible to share so we ended up buying one soup per person. When we ordered more food it took too long to come and meant that the rest of the food was cold by the time it arrived. The new menu simply doesn't work. What topped off the evening was when some of our food was delivered to the wrong table! I refused to pay the 15% service charge as the staff were rude, delivered our food to the wrong table and did not seem to know much about the food on the menu. I fed my comments back to the owners whose only offer of compensation was to replace for free the food which had been eaten by the other table. had expected an offer of discount on the bill as the food and experience was definately not worth the cost charged, but they refused to offer a discount. The key to a successful restaurant is keeping the customers happy and I left feeling very unhappy. For the food and service prices that this restaurant charges you expect an excellent eating experience. Unfortunately I was disappointed on every single aspect.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, January 06, 2008

As with all the reviews on these sort of websites, restaurants are good sometimes and not so good at other times.

Luckily we had an excellent experience so hope fully they are reading these reviews and making the necessary adjustments.

We booked quite late on a Saturday afternoon and they were very upfront that they could fit us in early (7-30) but would need the table back by 9-30. The way that they put this to us was very honest and polite and worked fine for us.

We had a quick look at the website which does this restaurant an injustice...so guys, get some better photos on there and make the website as classy as your restaurant! The interior shows that you have great taste and style.

So we turned up and were lucky enough to be given the mezzanine table. Now this must be the most romantic table in London outside of a full river view. Loved it.

The food? Well the portions were larger than they looked (and generally we don't go out any more because we're actually hungry) and meant that we were not able to get onto the imaginative deserts. They looked great though.

The starters and mains that we had were nicely spiced with very interesting flavours. No complains here this time.

The service was discrete and polite with a nice sense of humour.

So a real, positive surprise for us. Not cheap but exceeded our expectations & you can't say more fair than that. Thank you.
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Terry Harrison
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Sunday, March 18, 2007

I have been to this restaurant many times and each time I am delighted by the experience. It is in fact my favourite restaurant and has been since I discovered it about 4 years ago. As I know whatever I choose on the menu will taste beautiful, I am tempted by things I would not normally try and have never been disappointed. A decent lock on the toilets would be good though!
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Joanne Richards
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 05, 2007

What a terrible restaurant experience. The restaurant manager was down right rude and the food offering was quite poor. We started with overcooked 'canapes' of non-descript meat and vegetables followed by tiny main courses (the vegetarian main tasted good but was smaller than most side dishes). To add insult to injury the manager refused to put a candle on our friend's cake until we agreed that at least 3 of us would order dessert.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Saturday, February 24, 2007

Having heard such wonderful things about this restaurant, from London Eating's website and independent reviews alike, we had been expecting quite a bit from Champor Champor. Unfortunately, it did not deliver.

We had a reservation for Valentine's evening (possibly the wrong time to go..?) A set menu of four courses including amuse brioche for £50.00 a head. Although we found the restaurant, and its staff very charming the food did not live up to our high hopes. Amuse Brioche of frogs legs and hot smoked salmon weren't that great. Frogs legs tasted very oily/fried and the Salmon with Yoghurt had an unpleasant aftertaste. The bread basket that we had heard so much about was "ok" - not worth the rave reviews it has received. Our starters of duck consommé with mushroom tortellini (The Consommé being one of the more successful dishes of the evening) and a crab dish which was actually very poor. We both enjoyed our sorbet before the main courses - But maybe, for me, this was to disperse the aftertaste my crab dish had left. My main course of sweet miso roast cod was actually good - The fish being extremely fresh and the sauce that accompanied it also worked well. However, my partner's slow cooked beef sirloin was as tough as a car tyre - Maybe this cut of beef shouldn't be prepared slow cooked? Either way it was not tender like you expect a slow cooked piece of meat to be. The celeriac and parmesan foam combination that accompanied the beef was more successful, but not enough so to salvage the central focus for the dish which was verging on the inedible. To finish we had a mixed selection of deserts - A jelly, Ice-cream and smoked banana cheesecake (I believe the smoked banana element is a signature of the restaurant). The jelly was uninspired. The vanilla bean ice-cream, although very flavoursome had ice crystals which is not something you would expect for a restaurant of this calibre. The cheesecake was good, although we did find the smoked flavour a little too strong for both of our pallets.

To sum up - This restaurant is unique, we both loved the setting and the concept (although we didn't appreciate the burning incense). The food, however definitely did not live up to our aspirations. For us, the dishes and the execution were under par - And for the money (£143 incl service) was quite disappointing. I also feel 15% service is a little too high.

The evening ended rather embarrassingly when my partner was shown to the lavatory only to find a lady sitting on the toilet. I would suggest locks/better locks are fitted. It's a real shame because we live locally and dine out frequently. Unfortunately though, I don't think we will return or recommend Champor Champor based on our experience.
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GP & MG
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Thursday, February 15, 2007

I absolutely love this restaurant - it is easily one of the most charming and magical places to eat in London and there is real skill and care taken in both the cooking and the staff's approach to their customers.

I think that an evening here is best kept to couples or small groups of four to really appreciate the ambiance and the wonderful food.
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Jennifer
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, February 05, 2007

I was a bit un-nerved by the previous two reviews, as I had booked my birthday party at this restaurant prior to reading them. It is one of my favourite restaurants, but I'd never been as part of a group before.

Anyway... 14 of us went last weekend and, as usual the food was delightful and the ambience warm and fun. The service seemed to be fine as well. Certainly, I can hardly imagine the sweet staff there being rude.

As the previous reviewer notes, we were asked to pre-order from the three-course menu, which was priced at £29.90 (the Festive Menu) but there were no price supplements.

It is not a cheap night out, but then I wouldn't expect it to be with such a fine attention to detail that they give everything at this restaurant. We ended up paying about £55 per head (including the 15% service charge) but we all agreed it was well worth the money - much more so than one other Asiany-fusiony sort of restaurant I went to recently (and have reviewed on this site), where we paid a tad less but I left feeling robbed.

I still reckon this place rocks, though being quite small and intimate it may be better for smaller groups rather than big, raucous parties...
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Charlie P
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, December 04, 2006

I am inclined to agree with the last reviewer. I was recently at a party there for a large group. We were made choose our food in advance from a limited menu. We were also asked to choose three courses, which at £27.5 a pop plus supplements plus 15% service charge is very overpriced. When it came to paying the bill, there was a real struggle, as I think we were charged for more wine than we actually drank but no one was keeping too close tabs on it (over one bottle per person eating, which I don't think was really the case... but maybe I'm wrong). I'm not sure we quite made the 15% service, but they really didn't deserve it.

The food was quite pleasant and interesting. My dish was pretty good, but I've definitely had better for less.

Service was quite attentive on the night and the staff were patient when handed lots of credit cards at the end. The decor of the restaurant itself is quirky and unusual and I loved the smell of incense on entering. I would recommend for something a little different if you're in the area, are a small group, and aren't too strapped for cash.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

While trying to book a restaurant for a large group the other day, I recalled a recent experience at a restaurant called Champor Champor where the presentation was beautiful, the food not bad at all and the service absolutely appalling to the point of extreme rudeness. People eating as couples seemed, by contrast, to be having a very enjoyable experience. Completely unsuitable for groups of more than 4 is probably the best description of this restaurant.
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Ruth Paignton
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, October 17, 2006