All reader reviews by jembert

Suchard Thai Restaurant

This place has great tasting, quite good value thai food. Good for a lunch time outing.

Take your pick - most of the dishes are very good here. Don't expect a top notch dining experience - just take it for what it is - simple, tastey, good food.

I would say it is a bit on the small side and slightly cramped. Some of the staff can be a little scary also. Expect to have your bill thrown on the table rather than placed.

There is a sister restaurant called the Suchard Free house - which is a pub just a few minutes away on Crucifix lane. They have exaclty the same menus there. I think it's probably owned by the same people. The pub is much nicer. It has friendly staff and plenty of space. Go there instead if you dont mind the walk.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7

Goodman

Very nice restaurant! Was able to book a table online very easily. That's something I really appreciate during a hectic work day.

When I got there I was warmly greeted then shown to my table.

Beef carpaccio starter was very nice, flavours were spot on, with a decent amount of acidity in the dressing.

I went for the Goodman ribeye - medium rare. It was cooked to perfection and tasted beautiful. Rather pricey though. I got a great sized serving of chips and veg with it - nothing to fault here either. In other restaurants they are very stingey with the sides.

For dessert I got the apple tart. I found the apple and the pastry rather on the thin side - would've like it to have been a bit thicker with some texture. But it was served with gorgeous vanilla ice cream which made up for it a little.

Overall, it was a great experience, with nice friendly staff, and more importantly the food was great.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8

Dim T (London Bridge)

Good location, good decor and seating, nice Thai crackers. But that's about it really.

I found myself perplexed whilst deciding what to order. The menu seemed like a thoughtlessly thrown together mix of flavours and dishes or various countries. Asian fusion? More like Asian Con-fusion.

There's nothing really authentic about the choice of foods there - in wanting to be creative and original they've alienated the customer (me) somewhat. There WAS something I was familiar with - the Pad Thai, so I ordered that with prawns.

It came to me in a heaped mess on my plate, with no thought about presentation. For the price I was paying I got very little also. A BIG let down was that the prawns came back semi-cooked. They looked still translucent in places and were still raw in the middle. I sent it right back with the complaint - it came back again with the same problem. Totally unacceptable! I decided to send it back again and just ask for something simple like chicken. I overheard the manager speak to the waiter and say “maybe he just doesn’t like prawns”. This irritated me a lot! They were totally ignorant to the feedback I had tried to give them.

So, the third attempt - what I got was a big gloopy mess on my plate - it had been cooked to mush. The chicken was obviously precooked then sliced. It had a distinctive taste of being refrigerated for a while also. Everyone knows in any decent restaurant you cooked everything fresh to order. (and you also cook the egg before you cook the noodles - so you don't end up with mush)

This was not my first visit to DIM T. I work nearby and have been invited by colleagues to lunch there. - in general the food there is just so very bland or the flavours used just don’t work.

BTW you can buy those Thai crackers in a shop then fry them to order. I have a few boxes at home. So the quality of the crackers was nothing to do with them.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0