Sherene J.'s Profile

'Meh' just about sums it up. I was there on a weekday evening when I was running out of inspiration and decided to settle for what looked very much like fast food. There was one counter staff who seemed unhappy about having to bother with customers. Food was doled out unenthusiastically and I got a half-heartedly wrapped Caribbean Roti with curried Chicken with a potato & chickpea mix. Good fast food is the kind where you don't feel unhealthy eating it...Wrap it Up didn't meet that criteria for me, could have been the average food which felt like too much carbs or the bland service. Either way, I haven't been back since...

This family run Argentine Grill is simply fabulous. We went for Parrillada Constancia (Special Grill Selection (minimum two people) with Two steaks of your choice, two Argentine Style Pork Sausages, Black Pudding, Provolone Cheese with oregano) for a reasonable £24.50/person (minimum 2). We also had Cebolla Asada con Pimienta Negra (Roasted Onion w/ Black Pepper) and way too much wine between our large party of 8-10. There was generally an abundance of food on offer and it would have been easy to miss the quality of food amidst all that chaos. However, the steak held its own; I ordered mine medium rare, while some of my more purist friends went for the practically-mooing rare version, and neither of us parties had anything to complain about. The meat was juicy and tasty, and notably with no side sauces to disguise its flavour. They don't skimp on the portion sizes around here, so expect to leave with your seams bursting if you go for the grill selections.

The service was great, and the waitress was patient with our rather boisterous group. The place seemed new but you could sense the pride with which they served their food. That said, the atmosphere was friendly rather than pretentious. The open grill always makes for a fascinating setting.

I am no steak connoisseur - I don't go looking for steak places around town, but I do know that I liked this place way more than Gaucho where I have been a few times now.

'Woohoo! As good as it gets!' really.

I have been feeling terribly guilty about disappearing from the Yelp scene off late, incredibly busy days and all. I was /this/ close to not rsvp'ing to this event but decided to come anyway. And I'm so glad I did. I have been to Tortilla before, at Islington and in Canary Wharf, but there was something special about last night. Maybe it was the margaritas (in three flavours!) or the fact that the restaurant was way more spacious than one would imagine and closed for the day, just to host us (!), or maybe it was the fact that I ran into the founder & Chief Burrito Officer, Brandon, who is an alum from my business school - very inspiring to see successful people from my institution :)

I had the steak burritos, with cheese, sour cream, guac, hot sauce and a topping of the green chilli stuff - beautiful. Loved it. Think I just discovered my favourite combo at Tortilla, can't believe I hadn't noticed the green chilli topping thus far. I'm bummed about having missed the masterclass but quite glad about meeting new people from the Yelp community...this was my first time at the Leadenhall market branch of Tortilla, I am certainly going back.

My MBA program is full of freshly-landed Americans who miss good Mexican food. Now I know where to send them!

When my friends, who know I am a fan of Thai cuisine, heard that I hadn't yet been to Busaba, looked at me aghast. I'd since resolved that I'd eat at the establishment at the first opportunity available. And such an occasion arrived soon enough when a friend was in town and made plans to meet his friends over dinner. And he said, we're meeting at Busaba at Piccadilly Circus. And I trotted on my high heels right over to the establishment across from Princi. And waited for a solid 20mins before I realised with no small degree of exasperation that there was indeed a new Busaba outlet closer to Piccadilly Circus than I had realised and I went over with a rumbling tummy and feet that were starting to complain.

I started with the relaxing ginger and honey tea served with a cashew and coconut cookie. I perused the pages of delicious sounding food, and for some unfathomable reason, I played safer than my usual adventurous self, and went for a rather staid Ginger Beef with Thai pepper, chilli and spring onion, with a side of Phad Phak with French bean, broccoli, courgette, baby corn, cashew and pine nut and Coconut rice. Food was tasty all round, and I was pleased with the preparations but I was not impressed with their somewhat mean serving size - of course, it could also be that I was ravenously hungry from standing around outside restaurants and trudging on my heels. The service was nothing to write home about but not too bad either. My vegetarian friend (I seem to have one with me in every Yelp review!) seemed happy with the selection on offer.

So ok, I will admit that I am probably being less kind to this establishment than I might have otherwise been. Also, on that evening, as I was meeting a bunch of new people, I couldn't appreciate the shared seating arrangement on benches and the loud ambiance of the restaurant. I'll just have to go back sometime to check for consistency, I guess!

There are not quite enough of reasonably priced and well-located restaurants in London which serve up freshly made and tasty South Indian fare. Or maybe I'm just an ignoramus who needs to know more. Either way, here is an establishment I had heard of so many times through many of my Indian friends that I felt ashamed that I hadn't been there yet.

On a random weeknight, the boyfriend and I felt a craving for South Indian cuisine but couldn't bear the thought of making a trek to East Ham to fulfill said craving when voila, we remembered about the much-heard-of Woodlands near Piccadilly Circus station. We made our way with no small degree of excitement and a mighty appetite - we were not planning on holding back that night.

When one sets out to a South Indian establishment, one does not expect a decent offering in terms of chaat variety. Chaat, FYI, refers to snacks/appetisers best had in North India at street-side vendors; it is essentially Indian junk food that evokes memories of home for many Indians. It is not a South Indian phenomenon and imagine our delight when we discover the whole variety on offer in the menu. We shared an Aloo Papri Chaat (Crispy pastry rounds topped with potato, yoghurt and tamarind sauce) - perfectly made, full credit to the chef who can juggle Southern & Northern cuisines so well.

I had the Onion Rava Masala Dosa (Cream of wheat pancake with sautéed onions and green chillies.Filled with the traditional potato, onions and peas mixture) and the boyfriend opted for the Mysore Masala Dosa (A delicious dosa cooked with butter, spicy 'red' chutneyand the traditional potato filling.) All Dosas are accompanied with Sambar (lentil dipping stew) and coconut chutney. Our long-suppressed cravings were much satiated and in our elation, we let ourselves go and even went ahead and ordered another Onion Rava Masala Dosa to split between the two of us - making it a greedy 1.5mains each between the two of us :P The dosas were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside - just the way they are meant to be and the sambar was redolent with spices and flavour, which is important...the best of dosas can be ruined by a bland serving of sambar.

We were rather full by the end of that and had to ruefully skip dessert but we lingered on for the Masala Tea - thumbs up for this too.

The prices are reasonable for the locality, best not to compare against the dirt-cheap establishments in East Ham. The service was great, we appreciated the thoughtfulness of the staff to split the dosa into halves, which we hadn't asked for and was really helpful.

This restaurant is a vegetarian establishment but there is not a chance you will feel the absence of meat on your platter as you explore the offerings on the menu. I am a meat-lover to boot, but I highly recommend that you check this restaurant out.

Excellent concept, can't wait to see this become a hit when it opens on 20th...I can't help but grin like a Cheshire cat about having been invited to an exclusive sneak preview at the Yelp Elite event.

"Bubbly Yelpers blowing Bubbles outside Bubbleology before being served a glass of bubbly followed by Bubble Tea" - I tweeted this while blowing bubbles at passers-by on Rupert Street; I believe many people were envious and wished to join in.

I'll admit that I never appreciated the Bubble Tea all that much when I lived in Singapore where Bubble Tea shops were a dime a dozen. But having been in London for the past few years, there are days when I yearn for a late night cafe or tea place to take a break from the constant alcohol consumption and that's where I see Bubbleology fit in, especially in the area where it is located. The variety of teas offered here cuts through a wide range of flavours but my favourites tend to be the milkier sorts - the honeydew tea and the jasmine green tea definitely hit a sweet spot. Amongst the fruity teas, the passionfruit tea packs in some serious punch. It was exciting to hear from Assad and Dan about all the ideas they have for introducing more flavours, putting together bubbleology kits to serve bubble tea at home, etc - these guys have done their homework and they are having a lot of fun in the process of bringing us Londoners some excellent bubble tea through all hours of the day :)

Worth noting in this establishment is their quirky decor, very science lab like, with lab coats for Bubbleologists, test tubes, beakers, pipettes and the works in fluorescent shades. The blackboard walls have detailed flowcharts on the history and process of bubble tea synthesis. Also worth a strong mention was the excellent service from their friendly staff as they brought around the cheesecakes, macaroons, chocolate cakes etc, along with oh-so-many-kinds-of-teas! Already looking fwd to go check out their "cruffin" offerings sometime for breakfast :)

It had been a tense day all day when I went to the Spitalfields area without a specific plan in mind and just when I was starting to give up hope, an email with good news popped up in my inbox and I decided it was time to celebrate with a fine cocktail and tasty food. A bit of Googling, Yelping and Tastecard-directory-looking-up later, my boyfriend and I stumbled upon this restaurant, a decidedly upmarket looking Indian place trying earnestly to not come across as yet another curry place.

We decided to try something different and went for their signature cocktails - I ordered the rum-based Scarlet Sting (Appleton Estate V/X, lime, sugar syrup, stalks of fresh mint, deseeded chilli and ginger beer), a very tasty concoction indeed and my boyfriend went for the Scarlet Blossom (Miller gin, fresh crushed pineapple, Cointreau, lemon juice, sugar syrup, Heering cherry liqueur, splash of Benedictine ginger ale) - trust me, they are not messing with the measures here, the gin was generously poured into this drink, for sure!

For starters, we split Aloo Tikka (Minced potato patty stuffed with garam massala and peas, accompanied with tamarind and mint sauce), pleasantly presented and easy to share. The menu showed an expensive range of dishes and having been to such over-priced establishments, we expected wee portions for mains so went a tad overboard with our orders, I believe. For mains, we went for their house specialities - Hara Masala Salmon (Scottish highland fish, marinated for several hours and slowly broiled in a clay oven, cooked in freshl coriander sauce with ginger, tomato, pepper, chilli, black pepper and lemon juice) - because it's not everyday that you see Salmon in Indian spices - and Nalli Ka Salan (Succulent lamb cooked in scarlet spices with fresh spinach) - because we wanted to rid ourselves of the guilt of not ordering veggies :P All this with a side of Garlic Naan of course.

The salmon was brilliantly done and held its own despite the thick spicy gravy it was served in - bet the Scottish highland fish has never been this transformed in other preparations. The lamb was indeed succulent and the spinach provided the necessary balance to the spiciness of the salmon. That said, nothing was searing hot - just the right kind of spicy. The naan was light and complemented the mains just so. The portions were rather hearty and we ended up feeling properly fed by the end of it, so much that we couldn't fathom ordering any dessert despite the celebratory mood. Service was attentive without being intrusive and the ambience was casual but trendy.

We managed to get a 50% off on our food so thanks to tastecard so felt quite happy with our meal, but I suspect I would have find the bill objectionably high at full price, therefore I qualify my 'Yay! I'm a fan' to 'Yay! I'm a fan as long as I'm dining at 50% off'.

I understand this place transforms into a reasonably priced take-away for wraps and such during lunch, but that's for another day...

It was a mission getting to this restaurant in southwest after a longish day at work in the City but thankfully, it proved well worth it! I hadn't read up about the more rustic setting provided downstairs so we sat ourselves down at the table in the modern, red-and-black themed section (which, to the paranoid passerby, might suggest a completely different sort of an establishment :P).

There were originally supposed to be 4 of us so we had a table for four booked but one had to drop out and another came an hour late (!). We must have been a very difficult table to manage for the poor lone waiter on our floor. I'm normally not fond of dining with fussy eaters but this evening I had two on my table, including someone allergic to egg (you'd be amazed at how many things have egg!) and another who's a vegan, but the waiter was exceedingly patient and even went downstairs to the kitchen to get suggestions from the chef himself on what's safe to consume. To top it all, my co-diners had bizarre requests on splitting the soup between two bowls and separating the vegetarian and non-veg peirogi (traditional dumplings) on different plates - yes, I'm not proud of these tendencies amongst some of my friends! But the waiter was exceedingly obliging and uncomplaining, to the point where I genuinely felt bad for the poor chap.

We needed to linger till our very late friend arrived but we found the drink and starter choices ample to fill our time. For drinks, I had the cocktail Grass Night - Zubrowka (Polish vodka), Apple juice, Fresh cucumber slices - refreshing! My friend had 50ml of the home-made flavoured vodka, Wisniowa Sour Cherry, which tasted lovely. For starters, the two of us who'd sat ourselves first split a Krokiet soup (rolled crepes filled with sauerkraut and wild mushrooms lightly fried in breadcrumbs, served with borscht) - Borscht is an clear burgundy soup with an earthy beet flavour and winey tones, and an excellent way to whet your appetite, can't recommend this enough!

For mains, by when our much-delayed friend had arrived, we had Zbojnicki ~ potato pancakes served with a hearty beef goulash (my egg-allergic friend had the pancakes replaced by mash) - a most hearty meal of tender beef and rich spices, I was most impressed! The potato pancakes were deep fried too, so all in all, already a heavy meal, before digging into the variety of peirogi (dumplings) in varieties of Pork, Sauerkraut & wild mushrooms and Farmer's cheese, potato and onion - all brilliant but I do like the variety with mushrooms the most. My vegan friend had ample choice and she went for Vegetarian golabki ~ cabbage leaves stuffed with wild mushrooms & rice, mash potatoes, mushroom sauce, a decidedly less spicy rendition than the other mains but most flavourful nonetheless.

To accompany our substantial mains, we ordered a pitcher of Miodowa Honey, hot honeyed wine which is more potent than it sounds. It had a little tealight underneath to keep it warm throughout. Come dessert time, we were stuffed silly and most loathe to eating anymore for days to come, but I had been recommended the home-made cheesecake at this place so we sat put for a while (the ever-patient waiter was understanding) and recovered till we found room in our stomachs to split the giant slice of Sernik ~ home baked cheesecake - a crumbly, light, not overly creamy cake which provided the perfect finish to the perfect Polish meal.

We left the waiter (Bartek) a well-earned generous tip and yet paid only 28quid/person for the staggering amount of food and drink for the three of us. We resolved to come back to be patrons of their excellent food and service. Next time, I shall be asking for the seating downstairs in the rustic decor and all... I urge all Yelpers to go check this place out :)

Posh part of town, posh-ish restaurant, easy to feel quite good walking through the doors of this establishment with dark walls, dim lighting, low thumping beat of music and discreet service. This is no ordinary curry house, by any measure - the clientele, the ambiance, the menu or the prices. This venue styles itself primarily as a bar which also offers a small selection of gourmet Indian dishes. The seating area is extensive but broken up into more intimate rooms. I perused through their extensive cocktail list, and noted that this venue matched the offerings at the Mint Leaf Lounge near Bank station, but I certainly liked the service at this branch much better.

For starters, the three of us (including a Norwegian friend visit from Oslo, he was excited about the Indian fare) ordered Tali Sambukh (Scottish Scallops with Star Anise and Green Peppercorn), Achari Paneer Tikka (Tandoor Grilled Paneer with Pickling Spices) and Haryali Chicken Tikka (Marinated with Ground Mint, Coriander and Kafir Lime Leaf) - each one of these starters was most artfully presented and whetted our appetites in just the right manner, with bursts of flavour but without searing our empty stomachs with excessive spices - thumbs up all around!

For mains, we ordered Baingan ka Bharta (Smoked Aubergine Mash with Ginger, Chilli and Cumin), Bhindi Masala (Okra Stir Fried with Tomato, Chilli and Spices) and Kadhai Ghosht (Tender Lamb with Freshly Ground Cumin, Chilli and Coriander) - mind that the portions here are not large and the emphasis is on freshness and flavour so do order accordingly. Each of these dishes was excellent and thankfully not floating in grease (which one would hope for, in such an establishment!) For breads, we had Roast Garlic Kulchas, Spiced potato Kulchas and Peshawari Naan - all of them freshly off the pan, of course.

We had started the dinner quite late in the evening on a weeknight - around 9.20pm so we skipped booze and desserts but we were well full at the end of the meal. I was happy with how smoothly my reservations were taken (on their website!) and how we were whisked into our private area. I also enjoyed having a waiter for the table to watch out  for all our needs even though we were placed in a quiet and somewhat secluded room - all in all, a pleasant experience, I highly recommend for evenings when you feel like an indulgence :)

And yet, I do not rate this a 5-star experience because this is an expected premium service at a price, not an unexpected delight.

It wasn't a planned night out. At the very last minute, I decided to join a couple of friends here for dinner before heading on to a house party (where home-made Bulgarian liquor would be served, mmm, but I digress). The venue is located in a by-alley and easy to miss and the restaurant is very compactly arranged across two floors; however, the seating is comfortable and we were not quite piled on top of each other, which is a relief in this part of town. The waitresses seemed friendly and prompt in their service.

The menu looked extensive and particularly suited to dining in a group but because of the asynchronous nature of our plans, we decided to go the individual portion way. Due to lack of time, I decided to stick to a known preparation - dolsot bibimbap. When the hot stone dish was brought out with rice topped with fresh vegetables and beef, it was, as per traditions of the cuisine, mixed at the table by the waitress and the chilli sauce was added into the mix. The food was tasty although the 'chilli sauce' didn't quite live up to its name. The kimchi was strictly no more than OK - the cabbage leaves were altogether too large to have absorbed the flavours fully and made for awkward maneuvering for what is usually considered a delicately sized pickle. They had an array of traditional Asian drinks, ranging from kalpiko, cinnamon rice gruel, plum wine, various herbal teas, etc - the drinks menu itself seems worthy of much exploration. All in all, I felt the 13quid/head charge incl service was rather reasonable for what was on offer.

This place, I feel, has the potential to be a 4-star if I go back to explore their BBQ and other group dining options, and I think I will! Beware, if you intend to pay using your credit card, they have a minimum of 15quid on the card.