Bam-Bou

Having been to Vietnam in November, I was eagerly anticipating going to Bam Bou with my husband for his birthday last weekend.

Although we didn't readily recognise many of the dishes (no Pho?) we started off with great cocktails and did enjoy the meal itself. The starters (the dumplings and the crispy soft crab) were both delicious and reminded us of being back in the country. We were a bit disappointed by the lack of choice of main courses and my peppered beef was nice but not outstanding although my husband fared better with the braised beef (again, definitely reminiscent of the food we ate out there).

The desserts (poached pair and the creme brulee) were also hits and I would recommend these to other diners.

The wine was very expensive though - that was a major contributor to pushing our bill up to £110 so I would stick with Tiger beer as I saw others doing. Service was pleasant but we had to ask for our edamame and cocktails three times which wasn't a good start.

The main downside of the restaurant though is the way in which they've rammed in the tables. It was really frustrating not to be able to hear myself speak let alone try to hold a conversation and there was a group of 4 sitting around a tiny table but who noise-wise filled up the ground floor by shouting to each other. My husband had to restrain me from saying something to the staff who obviously didn't care. We were also on a table for two between other tables for two and the sound levels will obviously vary according to your fellow diners: one side were talking to each other perfectly normally and we didn't have a problem but the other side held a couple of loud gents doing a business deal and it just stopped our conversation in its tracks on occasions.

Overall I would recommend Bam Bou for the food but book early or late which it might be quieter as I would imagine the dining experience is a lot nicer when it's not so noisy!
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Keeley Lund
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I would give it an "OK". The restaurant is certainly trying very hard to create the Thai/Vietnamese atmosphere. Unfortunately, the food is very bland and reads better than it tastes. The starters and main courses all needed extra seasoning.

The service was "OK": very attentive topping up our wine glasses (hoping for us to order more wine), but otherwise difficult to attract their attention.

Verdict: will not go again. Once was enough and there are certainly many other similar restaurants which serve better tasting dishes and are more value for money.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Saturday, December 29, 2007

Went here with my wife on a Saturday night. Great atmosphere and stylish decor. The food was unusual and very good. We thought the service was pretty decent too.

The only drawback of the place is the feeling that the management want to get as much money out of you as possible. eg. before 9pm you only have a 2-hour slot so they can get as many in as they can; 12.5% service is added automatically to your bill.
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Donnie
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Sunday, December 02, 2007

Great food, great decor, great atmosphere - especially when sitting out on the terrace and people-watching on Charlotte Street!

Highly recommended - make sure you try the chocolate spring roles for pudding!
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Alex
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Thursday, October 11, 2007

I have been there twice and I've always been very happy with the food and the atmosphere. Sometimes can be noisy.

It's expensive but worth.
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CC
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, August 24, 2007

My boyfriend and I went to this restaurant last night for our anniversary and had a lovely meal. We arrived a little bit early, so asked if we couldn go up to the bar for a drink, which we were told would be fine. We returned downstairs about half an hour later to be shown to our table.

The dining room is large but has quite a few tables packed into it which can mean that your conversation can be overheard by the next table quite easily. I like busy restaurants, so I was relieved when slightly later on the room filled up and the noise level rose to a good (but not overbearing) level.

We had a lovely waitress who was very helpful and more than willing to help explain anything on the menu we didn't understand. We ordered 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 side dishes, water and a couple of glasses of wine, which I have to say were all fantastic.

Apart from quite a long pause between our starters and our main courses I could not fault a single thing about this place!

On leaving I thanked the the Maitre De for a lovely meal and he was absolutely charming. The previous reviews comments on the staff I must say are very harsh

I have to say that having read the previous mixed reviews I was nervous about coming here for an anniversary, but I am so pleased that we went. It was a lovely meal and we are both agreed that we will definitely be going back!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, May 17, 2007

great place for a really memorable night out. the atmos and buzz is better than anywhere in the same bracket. it reminded me of Hakkasan but with out the appaling staff attitude. our waitress was Camilla and she couldn't have been more attentive, friendly or accommodating. the dishes she recommended were all superb - pork with scallops and shiso leaf - baby back ribs - crispy whole bream - pot stickers (these were better than most dim sum specialists) - and really clever wine list (Albarino is a great match for the spicy Southeast asian food). my only gripe is the music which should have been more up tempo (Frank Sinatra, anyone?) and the tiny table for four of us which got cramped quite quickly (or we ordered too much food...)

top marks to Bam-Bou for a classy operation - we'll be back. (if they change the music).

alessandro ballati 3.5.07
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alessandro ballati
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, May 07, 2007

I love this place and everything about it!! I'm baffled by the bad notices below. I took my mum and dad here with my girlfriend on Friday night and the place was jammed. It was a risk because I know the place is quite loud and buzzy (I was part of a large party just before Christmas) and my folks are quite old but they loved it too. The food was delicious - lots of small interesting dishes like crispy bream and fragrant chicken salad.

The service was really attentive and friendly - our waiter (Greg, I think?) made us feel really welcome, even getting a cusion for my mum as well as recommending dishes and cocktails. The atmosphere was warm and energetic and the view down Charlotte Street through loads of twinkly candles very romantic.

Definitely a place I would go back to and recommend. There's a great bar right at the top of the rickety staircase too.

Daniel Meyer

14.4.07
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Daniel Meyer
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Bam Bou is not a great restaurant. Don't get me wrong, the food can be good in individual dishes, but the way the restaurant is run and managed is extremely cynical and seriously lowers the quality and value for money considerably.

Firstly, there's the usual two sittings rule, which means you can spend £130 on a dinner for two and still get kicked out at 9pm so that they can pack in more customers.

Secondly, the portions are, in many cases, absolutely tiny.

And finally, when the bill comes there is a service charge included which doesn't actually go to the people who serve you - the staff.

I asked our waiter about the service charge and he told us that it goes straight to the managment. In other words, it's just another way of hiking the bill.

Make you own mind up about that. But i can think of a lot of other places to spend my money and get a better all round experience which doesn't involve funding such cynical and exploitative money grabbing.
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James
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Thursday, March 29, 2007

Eating here was an awful experience. We had booked for 9 and were sat down at 9.30. The waitress tried to take our order immediately and was impatient and rude when we asked her to explain the menu. She then ignored us for 45 mins and when we finally order a lot of thing on the menu were not longer available. The bottle of red wine was very cold and out of 3 dishes ordered she managed to get one of them wrong. Do not go here unless you want rude service and overpriced food.
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Lisa
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Saturday, February 10, 2007