All reader reviews by Backdrifter

Cafe Sol

Is this a chain with a branch in Greenwich too? Anyway I went to the Clapham one and it was okay but confirmed my suspicion that there are no decent Mexican places in London. They all adopt the approach that any place doing anything remotely Mexican must be 'fun' and have loud music. The best Mexicans I went to have been in York & Edinburgh and were just normal restaurants without the hey-woo-yeah factor. But there's a market for hey-woo-yeah so I can't blame places for playing to it.

Here I had chicken fajitas that sizzled nicely on arrival but were a bit bland. The accompaniments were good - sour cream, guacamole, salsa etc. The Dos Equus beer was good & frosty. There didn't seem to be any Mexican desserts but I might be mistaken. Service was friendly but faltering, and with long gaps after my main - oddly given only 2 or 3 other tables were occupied.

Not bad, just not great either and probably not worth a return visit for me, not with the wealth of restaurants in the area.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 6

The French Table

On my last visit I had one of the best restaurant meals I've ever experienced. All elements came together perfectly - I really could not have asked for any improvement on anything.

Some of the earlier reviews touched on problems with service - in the past I too found this to be the case on occasions but it seems to have been ironed out. We experienced no slip-ups at all and all staff were friendly, polite and efficient. I ate duck croustillant to start, and stuck with my trusty pork trilogy as main; this is always on the menu but the three component elements change each time. The star of this line-up was the pork belly and fois gras mini-burger, a quite simply heavenly combination. Even the bread of the miniature 'bap' was spot-on, slightly sweet and broioche-like with sesame seeds on top. The fois gras was perfect. We sides of mashed potato, which we already knew to be good, and sliced carrots which were subtly flavoured with cumin - a combination I wouldn't have thought of but it worked brilliantly.

For dessert I swooned my way through another 3-way 5-star selection, this time frozen mango parfait, kiwi compote and coconut sorbet. Each component in itself could have made a delicious dessert, teamed up they were stunning.

By the time we got to coffee we were on such a roll we thought what-the-hell and got Armagnacs as well, and these unsurprisingly were top of the shop. The entire meal was a triumph and I'll remember it for a long time.

Monday, November 05, 2007
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9

St John

A familiar pattern for me - have a good visit to St John, then some time later read a slew of negative comments here, go back to the restaurant and find all is well. And it's happened again. I never experience the kind of pitfalls others here seem to, thankfully. And I'm a very fussy diner.

I hadn't had the bone marrow for some time so chose that; it was possibly the best serving I've had, with everything I love about this sloppy, tasty, tactile dish absolutely to the fore. How could I have stayed away from it for so long? For main I had venison liver with lentils, which featured two hefty slabs of meltingly tender liver with earthy, intense lentils, nicely accompanied by dollops of dijon mustard.

As usual the staff were helpful, and friendly but not overbearing. They made sure to ask whether I needed to get away by a certain time, which I did, and accordingly advised on waiting time for the courses.

Yet again then, I'm happy to report that the malaise others find is afflicting St John isn't evident to me. Maybe I'm just really lucky. I'm hoping to be part of a group booking for a xmas dinner here so that will be interesting, as most of the reports of group meals are not good.

Thursday, November 01, 2007
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7

Mustards Brasserie

A first visit to this place that I've walked past dozens of times and which has always looked quite inviting. I ordered from the set menu (£15.95 for 2 courses at time of writing) which had an interesting if slightly odd assortment of dishes for what on the surface seems to be a French brasserie - Thai fishcakes and beef enchiladas sitting among the more expected crostini and coq au vin. Nothing wrong with that though. However, I did go with those latter two - crostini to start, coq for main. The starter was the star of the show, a generous portion of creamy goat's cheese on a crispy crouton, perched on wilted peppers with salad leaves and a dark balsamic dressing. The coq au vin was heavy on carrot and parsnip and light on mushrooms, with a tender breast and leg of chicken in a rich unctuous red wine sauce. A smaller plate with not so much root veg would have been better but it was good. A glass of the house red was a good accompaniment, while a glass of the house champagne kicked the whole proceedings off very nicely - perfectly chilled.

For dessert I tried the treacle tart which came with excellent vanilla cream but bland ice cream - the latter was superfluous. The tart itself was okay. I've yet to find a really top-notch restaurant treacle tart so any tips will be gratefully received! (Even the one at that bastion of Britishness, St John, didn't hit the mark for me). I liked the general feel of the place, and the service was very good. I think I will give it at least one more visit.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6

Canteen at RFH

After my first visit to Canteen RFH I was sufficiently pleased to plan a return visit. It has a wide-ranging menu covering breakfast and 'lighter' plates as well as lunch & dinner plus daily pie and roast specials. I had a small plate portion of devilled kidneys on toast which could have served as a main as it had a generous heaping of tender lamb kidneys in a zingy sauce - very tasty; I followed this with pork belly with roasted apple which featured tender, flavourful meat (though the top layer of fat was chewy rather than crispy) nicely perfumed with fennel seeds. I added a silky side dish of mashed potato. My friend had a delicious pear and roquefort salad followed by smoked haddock. We both tried the treacle tart which was surprisingly light but didn't match up to the starters and mains.

Staff were friendly and helpful and organised a table for us quickly after warning us we might have to wait about 20 minutes (we hadn't booked). The surroundings were a bit soulless but this was offset by food and service. I'd definitely like to explore the menu a bit more as so far it seems promising.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 7

Ikkyusan

Having previously noted it did dim sum all day and evening I went there for the first time last night, being in the mood for some tasty snacks and not having a whole lot of time.

It took a good 10 minutes or more for them to inform me one of the 4 dishes was unavailable and could I choose a replacement. Half an hour after my order, the other 3 dishes arrived and were delicious - lovely slippery prawn dumplings, the firm and generous prawns contrasting beautifully with the gelatinous coating; luscious charsiu pork buns, and savoury morsels of sticky rice with sausage and peanut. Flavours and textures were spot-on, great stuff. But of my substitute 4th dish there was no sign, and regretfully (and somewhat irritably) I had to cancel it and leave, as my time had run out. The staff were helpful and friendly throughout, but service points lost for the wait.

I will go back to try again, but strictly when I'm not under any time constraints. Other dishes I saw being served all looked impeccably presented, as though all elements had been individually, painstakingly teased into position. Perhaps the kitchen should devote less time to this, and more to just preparing and serving the excellent food they can obviously turn out.

Friday, September 22, 2006
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 8

Al-Dar

I've been here several times, most recently last night, and have never had any of the sorts of problems described below. They sound pretty bad and I don't blame those reviewers for vowing to never return. All I can say is that, so far, all my experiences have been acceptable. And I'm pretty fussy!

Yesterday, for example, I had baba ganoush (roasted aubergine puree with olive oil, garlic, mint, parsely and beans) which came with a dish of crunchy pickles and a basketfull of warm flatbread, none of which was indicated on the menu. I also had a lamb shawarma sandwich, tightly wrapped and stuffed with tasty grilled lamb slices and salad. The fresh lemonade was BEAUTIFUL - whizzed up to order, frosty with ice and zingy with chunks of not-quite-broken-down lemon. On a hot day, it was heaven. And the restaurant itself was an air-conditioned oasis of coolness. Including two big glasses of the lemon, the total was £12.50.

Yes, the service is never exactly welcoming here but I've not found it to be so to the point of rudeness and it was briskly efficient. It sounds like, to date, I've been a lot luckier than the reviewers below - or perhaps they've been supremely unlucky. My advice is to give it a try.

Friday, July 21, 2006
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 8

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (Battersea)

As someone else said - not very spacious; be prepared to wait for a table. And be prepared to pay a bit more for your burger than you're used to, if you haven't eaten at one of these places that are appearing now that specialise in good quality burgers. But also be prepared to enjoy a decent burger made from very tasty beef, perfectly grilled.

The menu is long and includes some fiddly-sounding combos; I just went for the "classic" - burger, bun, onion, relish, lettuce, tomato. A side order of "fries" - actually very good chunky chips - completed the assembly. A chocolate milkshake was cold, thick - but not too thick - and pretty good, served in a frosty aluminium jug that just seemed to keep on giving. I must have chugged about 3 glassfuls from it - one will easily do for two... if you can bear to share it.

I would certainly revisit this branch or try one of the other branches - there are a few now. Burger, chips and shake came to about a tenner in total. I felt it was worth it for the quality of what I got. The staff were friendly and helpful without being overbearing.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 9