Waterfront (London)

Waterfront is actually a restaurant/bar that is owned by King's College London (shout-out to my uni, woo) and located within the Student Union building. It was recently refurbished to give it a cleaner, more modern style. It also boasts wonderful views of the River Thames and the London Eye.

The food served here is classic, American bistro-style choices including burgers and hot dogs. They do have some healthier meal options including salad and jacket potatoes for those trying to avoid 'fast food' type dishes. They also offer a yummy vegetarian burger (mozzarella and pesto, pictured below), which is my usual choice here. The food is definitely not incredible, but the prices (£5.50 will get you a burger and a MASSIVE side of curly chips, which you must not miss while here by the way) and the views are, which makes this place worth going to. Waterfront has a friendly, sociable atmosphere, especially in the evening when students gather to hang out and have a drink. Or two. Or many, actually.

Food: B-

Ambience/Deco: B
Service: A 
Price: £

Balthazar (London)

I recently had the pleasure of sampling the French-brasserie inspired restaurant Balthazar, situated in Covent Garden. This is one of those restaurants where I can safely say that absolutely everything on the menu sounded enticing. It was so hard to choose between the dishes that even though our party was small and admittedly we were not too hungry, we ended up ordering an array of appetisers, including fresh scallop, oysters, escargot, steak tartare and onion soup. Each of these dishes arrived together promptly (a major plus for me in restaurants is always when food arrives at the same time), and were wonderfully presented - simple yet appealing. For mains, I ordered the grilled salmon, whilst the others had beef stroganoff and duck shepherd's pie. Again, the presentation was simple but the food itself spoke volumes. Everything was fresh, well-seasoned and generally delicious.

Balthazar is a more upscale restaurant. It has an intimate setting and wonderful interiors, with a luxurious, deep red colour scheme and dark furnishings. The wait staff are not only attentive, but sociable and friendly. My one complaint would be that the mains took a while to come; but ultimately they were well worth the wait. I would recommend this restaurant if you want to go somewhere for a special occasion and overall nice dining experience.

Scallops and oyster platter.

Grilled salmon on spinach with lentils and walnuts.

Beef stroganoff and duck shepherd's pie.

Sorry that these photos all have a yellow hue, the lighting in the restaurant was quite dim.

Food: A

Ambience/Deco: A
Service: A
Price: $$$$ (It is slightly expensive, but worth it)

Peyton and Byrne (London)

Covent Garden is full of cosy little cafes with an array of delicious desserts. Peyton and Byrne on Wellington Street is another one of these places. Although there are various Peyton and Byrne bakeries around London, and the company also has several restaurants under its belt, it still retains an intimate, cafe atmosphere that does not feel overly commercial. When you look upon it from the outside, it looks like a cute Parisian coffee shop. The decor inside also matches this description.

When my friends and I went, we all decided to order a different cake/pastry so we could sample a variety of their delicious-looking offerings. We ended up ordering lemon drizzle cake, carrot cake, and a chocolate cupcake (they had a different name, but that was essentially what it was). I have to say, every single one of these items were incredible. The lemon cake was fluffy and light with a strong, fresh taste of lemon - don't you hate when sometimes it seems like places have used bottled lemon juice rather than fresh lemons in their 'lemon' cakes? The carrot cake also lived up to its name, in the sense that the carrot taste wasn't overwhelmed by the creamy topping, as can usually be the case with lower quality versions of this dessert. Finally, the chocolate cupcake had an rich, intense flavour. Overall, I'd highly recommend this place for their dessert.

Food: A

Ambience/Deco: A
Service: B (Nothing spectacular)
Price: $ (Slightly expensive, but worth it)

Jamie's Union Jacks (London)

First of all, apologies that this is being published late!

I normally write incredibly positive restaurant reviews or the opposite. Generally, I need to have intense feelings of like/dislike towards a place for it to merit a review on this blog. As I mentioned in my previous post, however, I do not have as much time and money to try out loads of places in London and then be choosey about my reviews. Therefore sometimes I have to review places that fall somewhere in the middle category. I believe this could still be helpful though; I mean you might not want to settle for 'average' and this could serve to save you some money and encourage you to find a better meal elsewhere.

So, the restaurant I am reviewing today is Jamie's Union Jacks, particularly the Covent Garden branch. I went there with a couple of friends for a light lunch. We ordered from the 'cold' menu, having quiches and salads. The proportions of the salad were rather disappointing and it was not filling enough for the price that they charged. The quiches tasted good, but again at £7 for a slice, it was not entirely worth it.

Union Jacks is situated in the middle of Covent Garden square, surrounded by shops and people walking around. It is somewhere I'd imagine would be better for a quick, informal lunch rather than a nice, intimate meal as the setting is a casual, cafe style. All in all, the food was quite average so unless you're quite intent on sampling one of super-chef Jamie Oliver's restaurants, I'd say to give this a miss.

Spinach and cheese quiche.

Photo credit: www.andythornton.com

Food: C+

Ambience/Deco: A-
Service: B+
Price: $-$$

Canadian Thanksgiving (Home)

In my second year of university, I moved in with someone from Canada and she introduced me and the rest of our housemates to the concept of Canadian Thanksgiving. I always thought Thanksgiving was limited to America, but nope the Canadians celebrate it too. Anyway, last year we prepared a nice meal altogether and we decided to keep that tradition alive.

Although I don't have the prettiest photos to show you, I decided to do a spontaneous blogpost anyway (I say spontaneous as I have now otherwise decided on a fixed schedule on my blog - I will be updating Wednesdays and Sundays). Our meal was pretty healthy, consisting of some garlic bread for appetisers, followed by roast vegetables (parsnips, eggplant, zucchini, and sweet carrots), grilled corn on the cob, sweet potato mash, and of course, roast chicken. I stayed away from the last one as I am a self-proclaimed pescetarian at the moment, however. And of course we weren't entirely healthy, topping off the meal with an indulgent chocolate cake from Tesco. This is obviously not the greatest cake I've had (you'll have to go to Hummingbird Bakery or Patisserie Valerie for that), but it can instantly be transformed by adding some froyo or icecream on the side, to give it more moisture and richness.

Pre-cooked chicken.

Garlic bread to start.

Turkey hands!

Sorry for the presentation - we're students after all.

Expertly carved roast chicken.

Wahaca (London)

First of all, I know it's been a long time since I last posted and I apologise for my inconsistency. I am back in London and in university now, which means I generally eat out less because a) I have actually developed a fondness for cooking during my time at uni, and b) London can be pricey for uni students, and it's harder to maintain the same lifestyle as in Hong Kong and Manila. But in any case, I have been visiting one particular restaurant consistently this past month. I've been there three times, and I feel like when you're in London and there's so much variety,  that many times a month would make this place worthy of being dubbed a regular haunt.

The restaurant I speak of now is Wahaca. It's a Mexican chain restaurant with locations in Waterloo, Southbank, and more. I particularly like the Waterloo location as you don't have to wait as long for a table, unlike say in Covent Garden. Wahaca's decor is fun and slightly mismatched, befitting the restaurant's chilled vice. It is the kind of place you'd want to go with your friends, with food portions that are perfect for sharing and a great atmosphere for casual drinks.

The Wahaca menu will look familiar for those who enjoy Mexican food - they have the usual tacos, burritos, nachos etc. They do place their own spin on these dishes, however, by introducing new and interesting flavours. For instance, their plantain taco is not only unique, but actually incredibly tasty also. Whilst most of the dishes I've sampled on their menu are pretty good, I do have to warn you against some misses. For instance the cactus taco that I ordered featured 'grilled cheese', which in my case was really burnt cheese that added a strange flavour to the taco overall. I couldn't finish it. I would like to end this review on a sweet note though. You have to try the churros with chocolate sauce. The churros were delicate and crispy, the chocolate bitter, rich, and creamy. I know the food options here aren't particularly healthy, but most were a definite hit!

Pork taco (front) and cactus taco (back).

Thanks to my friend Alison for these photos!

Food: B+

Ambience/Deco: A
Service: B+
Price: $$