London - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops

I've generally only been here for the pub lunches, but the consistent quality makes this is popular Friday lunchtime haunt for myself and colleagues.

Standard pub fare food wise: sausages and mash, burgers, pies (recommended) and the like, quickly served and priced very reasonably (approx 6 pounds per main course). They serve reasonable beers (althogh not a massive selection of draft), including Staroprahmen. They do promote cocktails at reasonable value at 4.50 or 15 for a jug, but I've not tried these yet.

I recommened this pub as a safe bet for taking a group of people to for lunch. I don't know how it is in the evening however.
Check out my review of Ruse - I am johnsibly - on Qype

Canterbury - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - British - English - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants

We visited here for dinner after the first day of riding on our London to Paris bike ride, so we had an excellent appetite!

Deeson's emphasis is on local produce. Their menu is carfully designed as a showcase of the best that Kent ("the allotment of England") has to offer.

We really enjoyed the selection of British dishes, which were prepared with care, and tasted fantastic.

I won't detail all the dishes we tried, although I recommenced the excellent pork belly or rib eye steak for a main. Take a look at their menu for further examples:
http://www.deesonsrestaurant.co.uk/main_menu.php

For drinks we tried their carefully selected local bottled ales, and a delicious white wine from a local vineyard. They suggested appropriate drinks to match the various courses.

I though the restaurant offered excellent value for money. Not a cheap dinner but very good considering the quality.

I would have given this restaurant 5 stars, but our waitress was a little confused with her answers when asked questions about some of the dishes, which meant what we ordered was slightly different to what we expected. However, service was good apart from this, and I expect this was probably not the normal experience.

Looking forward to visiting again next time I'm in Cantebury!
Check out my review of Deeson's British Restaurant - I am johnsibly - on Qype

London - Services - Other Services - Property

Foxtons are the worst in the industry. My experience has been of them failing to turn up for meetings, being rushed looking round properties while being taking to see others I didn't want to see. The agents never seem to know anything about the properties they are showing or the local area.

One of the agents even sent an abusive email to a friend of mine because his flat sale was delayed and the agent didn't get his bonus in time to go on holiday!

Those ridiculous fees Urbanite mentioned subsidise the large glass fridges full of bottled water, plasma screen TVs in every window, and Mini Coopers that the all drive. They look flashy, but fail to deliver. In comparison they make all the other estate agents look good!
Check out my review of foxtons.co.uk - I am johnsibly - on Qype

Qype: Tortilla in London

London

Wow - I think I've found a new favorite place for lunch!

Tortilla is a fast food style Mexican. You queue up and order your burrito how you like it, in a very similar fashion to subway sandwiches (except you're choosing between meets, cheese, types of rice and beans, choice of three salsas etc.). As a bonus offer at lunchtimes a bottomless soft drink is only 50p. Beers are also available. This style is something I've experienced in Mexican places in California, but not in London.

You can opt for takeaway, but they offer a lot of seating on two floors as well. The restaurant itself is very clean and modern and is a pleasant place to eat. Quiet music plays in the background.

They make a big thing about how all the ingredients are fresh, and their meets are home marinated - and I think this is really reflected in the quality of the food because the burrito I had was delicious.

We arrived at 12:15 and there was not much of a queue. However we noticed that the queue built up quite a lot over the next 20 minutes so would recommend arriving a bit early.

I'll definitely be going here frequently (I'll add more photos on my next visit)
Check out my review of Tortilla - I am johnsibly - on Qype

Qype: Papa John's in London

London - Restaurants - Take Away

Offering a consistently high quality of pizza, Papa Johns is always a safe bet. The tasty range of pizzas on the menu, makes it hard to order a dud. Pizzas are generous on the topping side, and come with complimentary garlic (and sometimes salsa dips) to stick your crusts in (depending on pizza). You can order online and the delivery times always seem reliable. Every pizza I've ordered has come pipping hot.

Initially appearing more expensive than some of the competitors, be sure to take advantage of the "Offer" page to slice of a few pounds off your order.
Check out my review of Papa John's - I am johnsibly - on Qype

Qype: Pizza Gogo in London

London

"Once tried, never forgotten" Pizza Gogo claim. Quite accurate - I'm not sure I'll forget this disappointing pizza.

Responding to the menu through our letterbox, I opted for their X-TRA Value deal (free garlic bread and potato twisters) in addition to the super large pizza.

I was lured in by their cheap prices (relative to the consistently excellent Papa John's pizza). Sadly this was a mistake. Although the pizza arrived quickly, the results were thoroughly underwhelming. The "potato twisters" were undercooked and soggy, and after trying a couple they were discarded, moving onto the garlic bread. Not bad, but really just French bread with a fleeting garlic after-taste.

The pizza itself did not appear appetising. The cheese was over baked and dark brown. The base and toppings stingy and thin. Despite the appearance, the pizza didn't actually taste to bad, and we did make most of our way through it, but was way below expectations.

The only thing keeping me from rating 1 star was the fact that it arrived quickly; we certainly won't order from here again.

Conclusion: Pizza NoNo.
Check out my review of Pizza Gogo - I am johnsibly - on Qype

Qype: Gourmet Buffet in London

London - Restaurants - Chinese

We had a great time last night at the "Gourmet Buffet" Chinese karaoke restaurant, where we went for my friends birthday.

We hired one of the private rooms, which seats about 24 people across two tables. We all opted for the £9 buffet menu, which included starters which were served at the table by the waitresses. We then helped ourselves to the buffet which the stalf encouraged us to keep going back to (although after an ambishious first trip I was unable to do so).

The food isn't amazing (despite being self titled as Gourmet!), but was still pretty tasty for a buffet and certainly represented good value for money.

After washing down the food with several glasses of wine, we approached the karaoke. Luckily for the other guests, the private rooms seem to be almost completely soundproofed. I'm not an expert on karaoke, but it seemed to be a reasonably good system and the staff we're very helpful advising how to select our favourite tunes.

After belting out cheesy songs for a number of hours, we paid: a very reasonable £20 each easily meeting the £250 minimum spend required for the room. The staff then brought out complementary Chinese tea and another two free bottles of wine.

Overall a really fun night out, and a great destination to take a large group of people to particularly for a birthday as we did.
Check out my review of Gourmet Buffet - I am johnsibly - on Qype