Adam S.'s Profile

Sorry Chipotle but I'm just not feeling it. When I saw the hoardings going up opposite Foyles I thought "Oh good", my American friends were pretty excited and I'm always hearing how much certain people miss Chipotle. In the last few years there's been an explosion in places to get a burrito in London but the Mexican food density is still nowhere near as high as in California and there's a big difference between genuine Californian-esque burrito places and terrible faux-Mexican Restaurants.

I felt a bit like this place was a cross between the two, it's obviously part of a chain so I wasn't expecting much character, which was good as there wasn't any, it looked like the whole place had been designed as a cross between a Magnet kitchen and a McDonalds. The first time I intended to go was just after it opened and there was a queue outside the door. We went elsewhere. The second time it was still busy but not quite as bad. I ordered my burrito but had to take some time to explain the system to my confused friends. I felt embarrassed by the price, thinking this was a "fast food" kind of place I told them it'd be quite cheap but at £7-8 for a burrito plus £1.40 for guac I was a bit gobsmacked.

The burrito I had was pretty lacklustre, the meat was tough, the ingredients were all separate so it was a mouthful of rice followed by a mouthful of beans rather than them all mixing up nicely. Halfway through the flimsy tortilla gave up and burst in the tin foil meaning I had to finish it with a knife and fork which is the perfect sign of a bad burrito. Similar things happened to my friends. Even then the resulting, grey mess wasn't that nice, I actually left some and people who know me know I would never abandon a burrito unless it was seriously dire.

I don't know why I'm giving this place 2 stars instead of 1. I mean I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been, it was at least clean, the toilets were alright and the staff were friendly, it's got an excellent location too. A major but selective gripe is that being a rather rotund person (probably through too many burritos) I found the tables too low and small, the chairs were fixed so I had to squeeze my tree trunk legs in between the seat and table. Uncomfortable.

Anyone who says this is the 'best' Mexican food or anywhere near needs to click that box at the top and search for 'burritos' and 'London' because seriously, people, there are so many way better places out there.

I went here just after it opened a few months ago so this review is a bit out of date, I spent a while looking for it so I could review it but I've only just dug out the business card from the dregs of my bag.

This place was excellent. I am a bit burrito-mad so if I see a new burrito place in London I just have to try it out. I had a carnitas burrito with all the usual; rice, pinto beans, guac, sour cream and mild salsa. When I went I think everything had 1/3 off for their opening offer and when I asked the incredibly friendly woman behind the counter how long it'd last she said she didn't know, "a while". The burrito was fantastic, moist meat, tasty rice, sturdy tortilla (just like it should be). It was good value too at around £5.

There's a good selection of drinks and I think they had some Mexican sodas but my memory is a little hazy and their tortilla chips were tasty. The store itself is mostly take-out orientated for people who work nearby but there were about 4 or 5 tables to sit at, it was a little dark and the décor was a little clichéd. That's why for take-out I'd give this place 5 but for eat in (which I did) it gets a 4. When I'd finished eating I told the woman at the counter just how much I liked her burrito and she seemed genuinely chuffed.

If I worked nearby I'd weigh even more than I do already and that's saying something. This shop is excellently located just by Covent Garden if you don't fancy the usual Pizza Hut, Garfunkel's and Starbucks offerings for lunch.

I went here the other day again and took my vegetarian friend I was more impressed than last time. They've updated the menu and it's looking more inspired, when you're offering only veggie food you have to be more interesting, you can't just do "meat" + "veg" it has to be a whole meal out of the veg.

I had a veggie burger with sweet potato fries and it was really lovely, I don't remember what my friend had but I know she enjoyed it. The atmosphere was great this time around, it is a really buzzy place for lunch in Norwich.

Overall I don't think it's hugely different from when I've been before I just think it changes depending on the time of day and what you pick from the menu. If you're a vegetarian then this place is a must and if you're not it's still worth a look.

I ventured to Reading on an excursion from Uxbridge expecting to find a fairly monotonous, dull town. That's what I found in all honesty except for one or two gems. This place was one of the gems.

More specifically than Oxfam it is an Oxfam Music Shop and it's really one of the best offerings Oxfam has. There are boxes filled with records of all genres from bluegrass to techno and a good selection of CDs and music books too. The prices are much better than you'd find in London and more akin to a charity shop than a record store.

For me the best part was the classical music selection. 10 records for £5. That's 50p for an LP. Insane. I was giddy, I couldn't take too many back with me but I managed to find 10 with some supremely awesome arrangements and wonderfully designed covers. At 50p you can just pick 10 random records and take them home to listen to, if you don't like it you can redonate it at no really great loss and if you do then it's a bonus. I really wish I lived closer so I could go back time and time again.

Also, erm, the staff were supremely hot. I mean it's kind of a cliché that hot indie types would work in an Oxfam music store but they do. Seriously.

I'm so happy that Norwich can sustain a good, old-fashioned independent record store. This place is the epitome of that. It's got a wide selection of vinyl and CDs from bands you know and bands you don't and a deck in store if you are so inclined to "scratch".

The staff are helpful but it can feel a little like you don't belong if you're not quite hip and trendy. That's always the case with these places though so you just have to tell yourself you are cool enough. If I need gig tickets I find this is a really good place to come, they've got all the gigs listed outside and it's easy to buy them for all the major venues in Norwich.

This is what a record shop should be. The only problem is money, I don't have any and for that reason it's an utter tease. I go in for a single and I want to come out with my arms filled but I can't.

Also kudos to the guy in there for being honest and saying it'd be cheaper and better to just buy a new record player from Cash Converters than to buy a new needle from him. He might have lost that sale but he gained this good review and my future business.

A standard WH Smith by most measures. It's useful that's for sure and I've never found them not to stock The Times and The Guardian (which can be a bit of a bug bare in smaller newsagents in Norwich). They also stock local papers for such exotic locations as Diss and Bungay. There's a good range of magazines for a WH Smith in a railway station, could be improved but The Economist, Creative Review and Rail were all there. It's a shame the same can't be said for books. Mostly best-selling non-fiction and pulpy fiction and a weirdly abundant supply of erotic novels.

There's a handy range of maps and guidebooks for both Norwich and London as well as a nice display of old-style railway posters on greetings cards. I wouldn't buy any food or drink from here as it's very overpriced, the Co-Operative across the way is still expensive but generally cheaper. On the whole better than it could be but still not great, it's a WH Smith after all.

Ah yes, and because it's a WH Smith the poor member of staff at the till will be forced to palm off half-price chocolate and discount vouchers onto you. It's not their fault but I do not want a massive bar of Galaxy and I will never go to Drayton Manor so why do I need these things?

Norwich maybe be a city with an 'indie spirit' but it's coffee shops seems to be losing the battle against the big chains. The city centre is monopolised by Costa, Starbucks and Nero and whilst I don't have as much against them as most people it is nice to find somewhere a bit different.

Hence The Vanilla Bean House. It's a bit out of the centre on London Road heading towards Tombland. It's got a fairly large outdoor seating area in the middle of the street, some tall benches in the window and a more comfortable area upstairs, it's really quite tastefully designed and there's usually a copy of The Times or Guardian available.

The coffee is good, I've only had lattés so I can't speak for it's pedigree but it tastes as good as Starbucks and when you drink in you get a little crispy straw thing which is a nice touch. There's also a good selection of other drinks, not only Coke and Fanta but also elderflower presse and that ilk.

The sandwiches are certainly the best thing about this place. Whilst they may look a bit lacklustre, like something you'd make at home wrapped up like a packed lunch they are really good quality with lots of filling. The prawn and avocado sandwich was on a nice granary bread and they didn't go easy on either the prawns or avocado and I'm guessing they added a bit of Tabasco as it had a good kick to it.

It's not cheap, cheap but it's not expensive. You can get a cold drink, packet of crisps and a decent sandwich for under £5 and the coffees are around the usual £1.90-£2.50 mark.

Certainly worth a try for a quiet lunch or for people watching in the outside seating.

I'm really um-ing and urr-ing between 3 and 4 stars on this one. I thought the burritos were pretty average, the rice was plain not flavoured, the salsa was quite watery and it seemed a bit smaller than ones I've had elsewhere. Saying that it was still ruddy delicious, burritos aren't as hard as they used to be to get hold of in London so with this new competition I think I'm going to plum for 3 stars.

The staff were friendly and the tortilla chips were tastier than they are in Chilango but the steak I had was quite chewy and the guy on the till was very abrupt with me and got me a Coke when I asked for a Sprite. There's only two benches to sit down on and they're outside. I think I should make that quite clear to Yelp that this is a stall on the market, I went here based on Yelp reviews and didn't quite pick that up and was kind of expecting to sit inside, still there's nothing wrong with that as long as you realise.

So yes 3 stars because it's good food but it could be a lot better.

Saw this in the Time Out guide to London and thought I'd give it a shot with my partner. We went in and it was a little quiet but the woman behind the bar greeted us very warmly. We sat down and looked at the incredibly detailed and wide-ranging menus for tea. I will say at this point it costs from around £3.50-£7 to sample the teas and it did make me wince a bit then I thought about the Frappuccino I have in Starbucks sometimes and how that costs £3.80 and it made me feel a bit better.

We were helped to pick two different teas, I had a Nockcha, a type of Korean green tea and Rob had an oolong tea. She explained to us all about the flavours and how it arrives in 3 different infusions (so essentially you get 3 cups of tea) and how the process works, the differences between the infusions. I also ordered a walnut and miso biscuit which she said went very well with my tea.

When it arrived in lovely little porcelain cups it was absolutely lovely, a toasty flavour in the first infusion, the second was smooth and almost smoky and the last one was, as the woman told me, a bit worse-for-wear. It tasted a bit bitter and slightly of seaweed. Still, a realy nice experience. The biscuit was lovely, both salty and sweet and you get two sizeable ones for £1.50. All together our tea-tasting experience came to £10 and it was worth it just to have it explained to us and it really made me consider tea a lot more than PG tips and semi-skimmed.

Certainly somewhere to go for an experience, a treat. The reason this place gets 5 instead of 4 stars was the service. We had an Asian woman who was one of the chirpiest and most lovely people I've ever had serve me, she was attentive and seemingly infinitely knowledgeable. If you're her boss and you're reading this then give her a sticker or a raise or something. Thanks for the super experience.

If I were to be reviewing the building and the gift shop this place would fall in the 4/5 star category and it's highly likely that most people who visit this museum only remember or want to see the building and gift shop and therein lies the reason why the rest of it only gets 2 stars.

The Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, White Cube Gallery all of these are excellent art museums with fantastic art. They attract rather boring people who want to look at art. People like me. The Tate Modern is like the parallel of Chuck E. Cheese in art galleries. As soon as you walk through the door you notice that most people here have been guided here by the free guidebooks they got when they booked their trip. Whilst I think as many people as possible should see art I don't think the Tate Modern is in any way a good introduction to the art world and I think that's reflected in the fact that the average visitor seems totally dis-interested.

The art here is often cryptic, weird and with that kind of hidden message mentality I find quite irritating in Modern Art. If you can push through the crowds to see some of the famous works here they are quite impressive but most of it is just baffling. Nothing compared to the beauty of the work in it's sister gallery on Millbank.

That's not to say there's no merit to the Tate Modern. It's worth one visit just to see the enormous turbine hall and the doubt-less impressive work contained within it. It's worth seeing the famous works and having a trot around, probably much better when it's quiet in the evenings. The gift shop is certainly worthy of a browse. I'm not saying don't visit I'm just saying don't expect to be entertained for a whole day without being irritated.

Oh also, I do owe them kudos for putting on an Arshile Gorky exhibition. I think the Tate Modern and Gorky have a lot in common. The more mundane elements of Gorky's work are, in my opinion, the most impressive just as the more mundane elements of the Tate Modern are the most well thought out.