Errays
305/307 Upper Street, London N1
ph 020 7359 7487
Modern British

29th August 7.45pm
Gillian & Kathy Young, Tan & Grant, Ade & Ben

Have always meant to try this and what a good reason to try it - with Gilliand her daughter kathy. The interior of dark wood veneer walls and dark wood tables spotlight with splashes of orange and red flowers gives it a modern atmosphere although Ben thought it looked a bit Ikea.

The removal of the louvered glass to normal glass seems to have improved the approachbility of this place, on this weekday night it was full - a change from when we've walked past in the last few months.

We all enjoyed our starters of mushroom crostini, toasted goats cheese, the prawns and the crab cakes. Gillian & Kathy said the teriyaki salmon was good, I enjoyed the steak and roast chicken was also appreciated.

I had to try the dessert, which was jelly and ice-cream - very nice but the biggest portion of strawberry jelly I've seen in a long time!

The service was a little slow and difficult to get our waitress' attention. £22 pp
7/10 let down by slow service.

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Oxo Tower Restaurant, Bar & Brasserie
Bargehouse St
South Bank London SE1
ph 020 7401 2255
www.oxotower.co.uk

Modern British/Pacific Rim

Friday, 7.30pm 4th October 2002
Vin & Kathy, Christina & Vin Jr, Ade & Ben

Such a dramatic location with a great view makes Oxo brasserie a very trendy place to hang out in. Lots of beautiful people packed into the bar area chatted animatedly while the two blues guitarists provided them with background music. Unfortunately for us diners, the music was very much in our foreground as the amplifiers were directed at the tables. Made conversation very difficult and very noisy and lessened my appreciation of the good musicianship which was being displayed.

pic borrowed from www.london-eating.co.uk . To read their review click here

The menu showed oriental influence and was a good example of fusion food. The kids enjoyed the hot and sour soup and Vin and I tucked into the crispy pork belly - very good. The main of the lamb provencale style was appreciated by Vin, I found it a little rich for my own personal taste, no fault of the chef.

Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten Ben's order so we had to wait quite a long time and when it did arrive, it was slightly cold. Ben and Kathy had ordered the open vegetable ravioli which sounded good on paper but upon tasting it, it was disappointingly boring. The waiter tried to make amends by not charging us for our side dishes (all 2 of them), which was at least more than what some other London restaurants would do. Because the food had arrived so late, they made arrangements for us not to have to vacate our table by 9.30, so they should! The kids were suffering from jet lag, the globetrotters that they were, and the guitarists had started up again, so we decided to skip dessert.

All in all, some beautiful touches of cuisine, but quite a disappointing dining experience.
6/10

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China City
Lisle Street, London W1
no booking required
Chinese

Saturday 7pmish, 5th October 2002
The Bolmios, Tan & Grant, Annette, Ade & Ben

This has been the second time that I have been extremely impressed by this restaurant. The courtyard was busy with diners again which gave it a nice atmosphere. The food was amazingly good. We started with some prawn crackers, very good wonton soup and whole Aromatic duck with pancakes (the duck was a little overdone). The main dishes were all very good - Sweet & Sour Pork, Beef with black bean and peppers, Prawns Cantonese style, Chicken & cashew nuts, bak choy, char shiu and in particular the shiu yuk was good. A new dish we tried was the Malaysian noodles but they turned out to be a bit too spicy for our table. 3 portions each of the Special Fried Rice and Plain rice were enough for the 9 of us, the fried rice went down really well with this particular group and we had ordered too much bak faan. Good friendly service.
£17pp

8/10

Read previous review of this restaurant

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Belgo Noord
72 Chalk Farm Rd
London NW1
Belgian

Saturday, 8.30pm, 28th September 2002
Jenn & Les, Tan & Grant, Ade & Ben, Wendy & Mike

The original Belgo that started the successful chain of classier McD's - you know what to expect and you get it at Belgos. The selection of beers never fail to impress, and the mussels are always enjoyed by the seafood lovers at the table.

This Belgos did not have the cod and chips I liked at Bierodrome, but I went for the filet steak. Sadly it was much too red too be the medium I ordered, but to be honest it was so filling, I could only manage to eat the outer sides of the portion! Frites as always were good and crispy.

The dessert also hit the spot - simple but yum, my sundae of strawberry sauce on vanilla ice-cream with biscuity bits was great. The interior is industrial and modern, decorated with witty risque Belgian word pairs. Busy and loud on this Saturday night with young 20-somethings.

7/10