glen m.'s Profile

This is hands down my favourite restaurant in London.

What's not to like?

Serious meat-o-philes have everything they want here, from nose to tail. The staff will patiently explain every odd bit (or breed) of cow or pig to you without patronising.

Regular eaters can always get something "regular"-- rack of lamb, steak, etc.

The vegetarian options are gorgeous, top-quality. I've been here with vegetarians and I've even been tempted by the veg menu.

Then, there's the wine list. It's huge. It's heavily French and British (and complements the food well, because of it). And you can get something like 30 wines by the glass, all at decent prices.

Sure, it's a bit on the spendy side. But you pay for quality of ingredients, service, and technique. Where the hell else are you going to get Michelin-starred food without pomp or circumstance at under £40 a head?

If you are in London, and you like food, you should eat here at least once (the experience will bring you back)

Cheap, cheerful, decent food.

We ordered an array of food and it was all nice, but sort of came out too quickly so we had to decide between cold tempura and warm sushi. Overall, it was, as we say back in America, aaaight. Cheap. Decent.

TERRIBLE  sake, though. Honestly. for £3/bottle they could get something decent like Sho Chiku Bai, and they could seriously up their sake game (and their profit margins) with a short visit by someone who knows their sake.

Went for lunch, would love to come back for dinner.

Feels posh without being posh. The food is fairly simple, well presented, well-cooked, and solid. Slightly experimental without being too much so. Excellent wine list, typically overpriced, though that's a London thing...  And fantastic, delicious bread. Not a huge amount of food, but the variety made it more satisfying.

Also, the business is a social enterprise -- training eco-chefs. This isn't the easist thing to do by far.

Down Green Ct, one of Soho's attractive sex streets, there's a beacon of shining... yellow and orange and red. In this place is Yalla Yalla, which means "fast fast".

The food is simple Lebanese street food, and done fairly well. There's a whole array of takeaway as well as a few tables.

The Good
The food is simple and, actually, top quality. The baba ghannoush was silky, buttery, flavourful, and loaded. The hummous, while I prefer it thick, was creamy and delicious. Kibbeh was spiced enough to bring out the lamb, not the spice. Prawns were cooked the right amount- and the shell came away cleanly. Fattoush was not overwhelming, crisp, fresh vegetables and not too acidic.

The bright, clean decor was a pleasure to eat and drink in. The tables were really cool looking, if perhaps the stools were a bit short, and the curious arrangement of logs as legs meant that you had a really awkward leg positioning to get in and out, and you couldn't shuffle around on those too-short stools. My bum was aching, even the next day.

I would recommend the lebanese wine. The most expensive one, at £23, was eminently drinkable with hints of subtle flavours, though not overpowering the food in the least- pleasurable, fruit-forward flavours without being jammy, with a hint of old-world spice hovering underneath.

The Bad
The aforementioned tables and stools were rather uncomfortable- especially if you were lingering over a last few glasses of wine on a date. The service, while competent, was to be honest, just barely so, considering our meal, no pudding, with wine was about £60- although we did probably overdo it a bit.

The biggest problem, however, was the takeaway counter- it's not really separate, in fact, it's just the counter where the local punters used to buy their porn over, and it sits right by about 1/3 of the diner's heads. Combine this with the fact that it's creakingly overloaded with Lavash wrapped around succulent food, right at my head height, and it felt like I was being watched during my whole meal by Falafel-in-lavash and filo dough. The counter is, unfortunately, just too narrow for these trays filled with their takeaway, and I was afraid that I was going to rub the side of my head on them.

So?
I'd go back, though. The food was really rather special. I'd be more likely to stumble in after a few pints than to take a date, however- unless it was my new date from the few pints.

Ultimately, I think Yalla Yalla can't decide if it's upscale or downscale- Yes, YY, there is profit in downscale, but you could raise the prices by 50p and have a proper lovely hole in the wall special place for those "in the know"...

This place probably has the best martinis in London.

It also makes you feel super swank-- unmarked black door, very exclusive, but at the same time not pretentious at all, once you're in the door.

It's too bad it's a member's club-- and a pretty spendy one at that-- but I may consider it after the next promotion (especially if I start traveling more to NYC)

But seriously. I dream about those martinis.

Inexpensive. Cheerful. Totally decent  pho. Too bad about the curry, though.

This place used to do a stunning, unusual prawn curry that was like something you'd get way off the beaten path in Viet Nam. They've replaced it with something more standard, which is too bad.

It's an inexpensive place you can get on the St. John Smithfield drag. It'd be really nice if there were more Pho options-- it's not the same without tripe, tendon, etc... but I suppose London's not quite ready for that. The broth cuts it, though.

OK stuff, OK prices, TERRIBLE service.

I had a friend go to reserve a waistcoat; he said I was a 40L, and was given a small. Had to return the next day to get the right size (M).

THEN the unacceptable: My friend (who is, OK, rather large-- think a 4X shirt and he's like 6'3") went in, had his measurements taken, and returned the requisite several days later to get fitted.

They'd put together all the wrong sizes for everything, the tuxedo was shiny and over-worn, and the worst part is the guy-- remember, this is the guy who measured the client-- said "Damn, you're a mess". To his client. Because of his own crappy tux.

Thanks, Selix. Maybe this is why no one dresses up in San Francisco.

I used to really like this place, but soggy bacon, underseasoned insipid home fries, cold dry toast, and undercooked over easy eggs combines with the typically blah service to leave me significantly underwhelmed. I wish I'd just gone to Squat and Gobble.

I'd give 2 1/2 stars, but I'm keeping up my tradition of giving the benefit of the doubt.

It's six bucks, which gets it higher. I really think they have the talent to do a $20 show, but they have little in the way of showmanship. That being said, they are doing a traditional style freakshow that runs all the time-- i.e., move the punters through. I'd really rather pay more for a longer, better planned show.

Showmanship. That's what they're missing. Each act should be about three times as long and the dead time between acts needs to be cut. Build our anticipation and then serve us up some freaky disgusting goodness. There are hints of it-- the sword swallower has this cute bumbling thing. The human blockhead does a pretty decent job, but it's just... a little slow overall. And rushing to give us the payoff without our asking for it.

Great bar, great beer (get the amber) great food. Simple, fast New Orleans food like you'd have gotten at your neighborhood bar anytime over the last 40 years or more. Great po-boys, fantastic drippy roast beef, and wonderful gumbo.

mmm... wash it all down with the largest glass of iced tea you've ever seen...