Angel "The Almighty" A.'s Profile

I came here in the summer of last year on a double date with my boyfriend, my cousin and his girl. We arrived quite late that Friday evening as we had plans to watch the midnight showing of Batman at the O2, but it was fairly empty at the restaurant. We were greeted by the manager who happened to be a friend of my cousins, and I must say this did help boost the service quite a bit. We were seated in a cosy corner and our food came quickly. I ordered 3 Pina Coladas and I have to say, they were the best Pina's I've tasted in a long time! Thick, creamy, coconutty and lots of rum! The food was good (my cousin and I are Thai, we wouldn't pay for Thai food if it wasn't good!), and we also got a discount off the bill. I was quite tispy by the time we left.. any place that can get me merry has to be good!

So yesterday I was craving the Fruit Enchilada they have on their menu at Chiquitos. The same Fruit Enchilada which gave my last visit their 2 stars (this was a good thing considering the service on my last visit!). But it was a Friday night.. the same as the last time I was there and received one of the worst restaurant services I had ever received. But I was craving.. and what a woman craves, a woman gets.

My boyfriend finished work early last night so we got to Chiquitos around 6ish.. and it was a good thing we did as there was a big table in the middle of the restaurant which was clearly reserved for a work Christmas party. My main complaint about this place yesterday was the fact that despite the restaurant being close to empty when we got there, we stood like idiots for about 3-4 minutes waiting to be seated. Doesn't sound like a long time but I assure you, when you're starving and waiting to be seated in an empty restaurant, it's a long time!

However, we had a very sweet girl as our server and she was very friendly, bubbly and talkative which made me happy. We ordered our food and everything arrived in the correct order and in good time. The food was good although I didn't finish my Santa Fe Wrap as I had to make room for dessert, of course!

At one point during our meal it did get very loud, a combination of their music and the work Xmas do next to us. One woman asked to hold my baby.. the whole table had been staring at her because they said she was so cute. The little diva even got a balloon from a member of staff (mummy's gonna have some fun singing with the helium!).

Our second pitcher of Pina Colada took some time, but we ordered nice and early so hadn't yet finished our first pitcher so that was okay.

The restaurant itself is on the ground floor and is wheelchair accessible, the toilets are also on the ground floor. There are disabled parking pays outside, but they always tend to be full of sports cars with no blue badges. Someone really needs to monitor these bays, it's bloody annoying (I have a blue badge because of my back).

I came here late afternoon Thursday to have a light dinner with my friend. I had been here once before with the girls when I was pregnant, and although neither times did I pick up the bill, I saw from the menu that the food here is quite cheap. I ordered a starter and a drink and it probably came upto about a fiver. Cheap date, I know.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a friendly member of staff and were seated somewhere with enough room for my baby's pram not to get into anyone's way. The service was good, staff were on the ball and were pleasant and when I ordered my starter the waitress asked if I was ordering anything else as the starter was quite small. How thoughtful. The food on both occasions was good so I have no complaints there.

There are outdoor seats and it is wheelchair accessible, although I'm not sure where the toilets are as there is also an upstairs section.

It's a nice little place for reasonably good Mexican food at a good price. Will be coming back here with the boyfriend soon.

I'm amused to find someone else has already yelped this place! Ghetto indeed. Trust me, I know.. I used to work there.

4am wake up calls were not the one on a Sunday morning in November a few years back when I had a stall here with my mother and sister selling Thai food. As a seller's point of view, this place is fucked up. You'd have to have your stall set up by 7am (tents, tables, the whole lot), flask of hot drink at the ready, prepared to be bombarded by cheap bastards who think 5 hand-made mini spring rolls for £1 is too expensive. The price they charged us for our corner stall next to all the bloody clothes was extortion! £10,000 (yes) for the stall, then £300 per day! I still can't believe we fell for it. Our bad. Putting us by the clothes and not with the rest of the food stalls? Their bad.

From a visitors point of view yes, you can find a lot of cheap things there be it for your car, your feet, your home.. you name it. But don't expect any of it to last more than a couple of months. I personally didn't find it too daunting, I mean the only dodginess I got was from the 14 year old in the stall across from us who just wouldn't give up on trying to get my phone number. Oh, and someone thought my sister (18 years older than me but she looks very young) was my mother! No wonder I was getting chatted up by 14 year olds!

As ghetto as it is, I kinda have the urge to venture back to this market to see what bargains I can find there nowadays. If I do, I shall re-yelp.

Oh Bagel Bite. How I love thee on those drunken nights back from the club at 4am.. you save me from having to eat from Cottage Chicken on the other side of the Green.

Bagel Bite has been my 5am pit stop after a 16 hour shift at the casino, my saviour at 4am after the club when all the little Chinese restaurants in Soho were full, and has filled my belly at 3am's when I just could not sleep.

Not too much to say about Bagel Bite except this is the best place for food in the middle of the night when all the other places are either shut, or are Cottage Chicken. The guys working there are friendly and quick with orders and the bagels etc are always fresh and tasty! It's a small take-away joint but it's a shame there is nowhere to park when you want to pop in for a quick bagel, but in the middle of the night everyone just parks in the bus stops anyway.

I had never been into a Lush store before. I always assumed it was just a place with nice smelling soaps made of all sorts of chemicals and tested on animals. It just didn't intereste me. Until I read about it on Yelp.

Having given birth just short of 4 months ago, my hair had started to fall out a lot. I needed something to use on my hair which would help maintain its condition and stop it from falling out so much.

My boyfriend and I went into the Lush store in Westfield while I was waiting for my prescription in Boots. It's a small store which gets crowded with under 10 customers in it, so when I first went in I had to scan the store myself for the hair products. I then stood there for quite some time before my boyfriend managed to find someone to help. The guy was doing something else but when I asked if he was busy he cheerfully threw the cardboard box behind the counter and greeted me with a huge smile. He was extremely friendly and very knowledgeable. He helped me chose the right shampoo and conditioner and also a pre-treatment for my hair. He really knew what he was talking about and advised me on how to care for my hair and scalp also. He told me what was in each of the products and how they would help.

I left that day with a round pink shampoo bar, a bottle of conditioner, and a snake oil treatment. So far I have used each of the products twice and although my hair is still falling out, I have to say I have definitely noticed a small difference already. It's not falling out as much and that's exactly what I was looking for.

My boyfriend and I came here a few times when we were living in East London. It has delicious food - I particularly love the calamari.. however they somehow managed to get our orders wrong every time we visit.

It's a reasonable sized restaurant with some outdoor seating and a nice bar. They're hardly busy, the waitresses are always really lovely but they just can't get an order right. Everytime we've been here things have always either been forgotten or the wrong thing has been bought. I understand it's a Tapas bar so you order a selection of small dishes, but they write it down! How are they always managing to get it wrong?

Once, after my baby was born we came here and were made to be seated near the entrance - by the glass doors which let in a breeze. I assume they did this because they had a couple of tables inside and were worried my baby would start crying and disrupt the customers. They had clearly overlooked the fact that we were customers also. I ate my whole meal absolutely freezing with my jacket still on the whole time, and my baby's coat and blanket wrapped around her keeping her warm. I don't know what kind of noise they had expected from a 3 week old baby! Needless to say there wasn't a peep from her.

Overall good food, bad service. If I were in the area it's possible I would pop in for a bite, but definitely not worth travelling to the other side of London for when there are Tapas bars this side of the city which are just as good.

I've been coming to this temple since I was in the womb (I'm 26) and my Thai Buddhist mother has been coming here for over 30 years. As someone said this is a formal Thai Temple, but there are many many other Thai Temples around London and the UK. However, this is the only one that is backed by the Thai government.

The best day to come is a Sunday. From 1-4pm there is a Thai school for children wanting to learn the language, both speaking and reading/writing - this is where I learnt to read and write Thai. There are loads of people you can mingle with and monks are always walking around and are available to talk whenever. They all speak English, although with the older head monk you may need to politely raise your voice a little so that he can hear you (bless him!).

There are no nuns residing in this temple, however each year men and women can become temporary monks and nuns for 2 weeks, and they live in the temple. This is tradition and is seen as doing a good thing. If someone in the family passes away young men will usually become a monk in honour of that person for a week or two.

I know this temple like the back of my hand, so now for a tour. As you enter the temple grounds there are 2 small cottages, the smallest one closest to the main road is home to a family who look after the temple and the monks, so don't try to go inside! The bigger cottage is where you will find the monks' quarters (upstairs - where the general public are not allowed). Downstairs you will find the kitchen, the Buddha room and the main dining area. Monks will have breakfast early in the morning, then lunch around midday. Once they have finished the public can then have their lunch (for free).. many people who come to the temple will make food from home and bring this to share. The Buddha room is where you can go to sit or pray, but you are required to sit on the floor as sitting on a higher level than the Buddha figures (or standing over a sitting monk) is regarded as very disrespectful.

Further inside the temple is a bigger temple building. The front side has the entrance for a bigger Buddha room with amazing hand-painted artwork on the walls and postacards to buy (cameras not permitted), and entering at the back brings you downstairs into a big hall. Both are available for the general public to view, and if the doors are locked you can simply ask a monk to open it for you.

Shoes are to be taken off when entering inside any of the temple buildings or cottages. This is partly for hygiene but also a Thai tradition, even when entering a Thai person's house.

There is a pond which stretches out along the temple grounds with 3 small bridges for people to cross into the wooded area. This area used to be where my friends and I used to play, however nowadays it's much more open and inviting. There are paths for people to walk along and plaques to read some nice Buddhist verses. There are also some small Buddha figures sitting around which you can make an offering to (something small like a stone or ribbon - you could also make a wish).

Twice a year Thai fesivals are held on the temple grounds. One in April to celebrate the Thai New Year (Songkran) and one in November (Loy Kratong). At both festivals there are stalls in the car park selling authentic Thai food from both restaurants and individuals. Food is delicious and well prepared (all stalls must have a basic food hygiene certificate). My mother used to have a stall and sometimes still sells at these festivals, her Thai sweets are infamous in the Thai community (she's not the lady selling them at the back of her car, this lady is not permitted to have a stall at festivals.. a hyginene warning about that's lady's sweets.. check for ants in the boxed sweets - from personal experience). Admission is always free but during festival days parking is on the streets only, and even then you may find it difficult to find parking nearby. Best way to come is on the 93 bus which stops about 5-10 minutes away on the main road, coming from either Wimbledon or Putney.

Despite a warning from my best friend and a previous experience here with very slow service, my boyfriend and I decided to give this place another go.

Upon arrival we were immediately seated at a table with enough space for our baby's pram to be parked somewhere that wouldn't get in the way of other customers. Our waitress was quick in taking our order and our dinner actually arrived pretty fast. As always it was good, starters arrived first followed by our chicken katsu curries with rice.

Despite being seated right at the back of the restaurant, I was so cold I ate my whole meal with my jacket still on.. and so did many of the customers there. Keep in mind this was December 1st so we were all in heavy winter coats!

We ordered our favourite dessert, the coconut ice cream with mango sauce and coconut flakes (you MUST try it if you like coconut & mango!) but this took longer to arrive than our food did. I saw the waitress who took our order lean over to take a peek at our table to see if we had got our dessert or not, then quickly bought it over. She obviously forgot or assumed someone else was bringing it over.

I really like the food at Wagamama's so I often have dinner here even if the service is a little slow. I didn't like the fact that it was cold in this restaurant though - I want to be comfortable during my meal.

It's all on one level and although it looks as if it is suitable for those who are disabled, I would strongly advise against coming here if you have any problems with your back or legs. The seats are not the most comfortable and the toilets are up 4 flights of stairs! I completely forgot about this as the last time I was here was when I was pregnant and getting up and down all those stairs 5 times during my meal then having to sit on a hard wooden bench with no backrest was extremely uncomfortable.

Holland Park reminds me of my dad (R.I.P Jan 2000). He used to take me here pretty much everyday in the summer and we'd sit by the fish pond catching some rays or playing football.

This is my favourite park in London. I grew up within walking distance of Holland Park and I am grateful of this. The Kyoto Garden is lovely! I've had a few photoshoots here (I model) so it's a great backdrop for taking photos, but it's also such a nice scene just for a walk or to sit on one of the benches.

There are loads of paths and walk ways and hidden parts of this park which make it somewhat magical. There is a play area for children - I used to come here with my primary school.

It's lovely all year round with the peacocks greeting you in the spring and summer, the lovely fall leaves in the autumn which makes going for a stroll with the kids lots of fun, and the beautiful winter frost making everything look as if it's frozen in time. Bring your cameras.. no matter wha time of year you're planning on visiting this park.