Yellow River Café
206 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 1RQ
ph 020 8891 3611
Chinese, Malaysian & Thai

27th November 2000

Ben, Ade & Debbie H

By booking ahead, we got a great table in the booths at the back of the restaurant (non-smoking). The Maitre d was very helpful.

There is mix of Chinese, Malaysian and Thai food to choose from. We ordered the Yellow River version of Peking duck which is called Crispy Sichuan Aromatic Duck, which is served with hoi sin sauce and pancakes. It was good, although some of the pancakes stuck together. It is 'restaurant food' not the home cooking staples from Ken Hom. The menu caters to western tastes - sweet and sour pork, sichaun crispy shredded beef.

The pork bits of the Sweet & Sour Pork were a bit hard, but the sauce was good and not too atomic orange. Generous portion.
Vegetables: Gai laan was good.
Pad Thai. Not bad.
Cantonese Crispy Lemon chicken: The westernised version which is like Chicken Schnitzel. Small portion. A bit dry and boring.

What a pleasure it is to dine in a Chinese restaurant in which attention is paid to the décor, the crockery and clean cutlery. The décor is modern and warm, with wood veneer and black lacquered tables, and red and yellow lanterns. The crockery sports the yellow river logo at the top. Very cool.
Cost: £15pp

7/10

Second visit
December 2000
Lyn (Ben's ma), Ade & Ben

The second time we dined here we went with Lyn and ordered the same thing except had the Yellow River Coconut Prawn curry which was tasty yet very hot! The lemon chicken second time around was better as it was not as dry.
The prawn crackers are very good. Not oily, and quite thick. They have a spicy flavour to them.

It's great to have a range of Oriental dishes of Chinese, Malaysian and Thai, although the dishes chosen to represent that country are limited to western favour.

Celebrity spotting: Meera Syal from Goodness Gracious Me and writer of the wonderful film Bhaji on the Beach

8/10

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Ginnan
1/2 Rosebery Court, 36A Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 5HP
M-F lunch, dinner (6-10.30pm), Sat dinner until 10pm
020-7278-0008
Japanese

Tuesday, 20th February 2001

Adrienne & Tania

From the outside you can't see inside Ginnan. Once inside, the restaurant is large and spacious, although is stuck in a 80s timewarp with pink and grey decor.

The clientele consisted of many Japanese businessmen, and was quite full for a Tuesday night in the middle of Farringdon.

The menu was a little difficult to work out if you want to order anything other than the set dinner (actually quite a lot of food for £25, if sushi is the main part of the set then £28). However, we settled on large sashimi and sushi. The sashimi was very disappointing - tuna, salmon and snapper - as the tuna was still slightly frozen in the centre. It was also a very small portion for £12. Avoid the sashimi and order the sushi.

The sushi was much more satisfying. It consisted of 6 small tuna sushi roll, 1 prawn, 2 salmon, 2 tuna, 1 roe (actually nice for a change), 1 snapper. Good and fresh and had a kick to it with strong wasabi added.

Also pleasing was the generous portion of tempura. The batter was just right.

The Unagi sushi was also good, nicely presented on a slate plate and with a big cut of eel. Tasty, although not hot.

Overall, Ginnan is good for conversation as it was quiet, yet not too quiet. Good value for money if the sashimi is avoided. They will also pay £2.50 of your taxi fare there with a receipt.

The service was friendly although a little slow. £20pp

7/10

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Ken Hom at Imperial City
Royal Exchange
London EC3 (near Bank tube)
ph 020 7626 3437
Open M - F 11.30 - 9pm
Chinese

Entry to this restaurant is at street level, then one descends down a large spiral staircase. The sight that greets is the bar, stretching out into the cavernous open plan room of the vaults of the Royal Exchange, and the maitre d in a cheongsam…a blue-eyed blonde. That sums up this joint - Westernised, watered-down Chinese.

The Treasures of the Sea (seafood hotpot) was bland, and the platter of BBQ roast duck and pork nothing to write home about.

The other downside is that this place is situated in the City, so it was full of loud mouth suits at the next table who assumed I couldn't speak English and hassled my husband about which bank he worked for, before talking loudly about their visit to a strip joint.

Good points: the décor; food arrived very quickly, lessening the time we had to endure the next table.

Service: The tables were incompletely set and we were confusingly shown the Xmas menu and had to ask for the regular menu. This also upset the boys at the next table, and they were upset that they didn't get table napkins.

£50 for what should have cost about £15 in Chinatown.

Good on Ken Hom for charging these City suckers a bomb and laughing all the way to the bank.

3/10

Gonbei
151 Kings Cross Rd, Kings Cross WC1 9BN
ph 020 7278 0619
dinner 6pm-11pm
Japanese

Saturday 9.15pm, 31st March 2001

Ben, Adrienne & Tania

Upon entering the restaurant, we were cheerily greeted by the sushi chef. The interior is standard Japanese restaurant look - slightly run down, but okay.

Service was very quick as we were one of the few tables in there. We decided upon the set menus as the dishes were value for money. To order an assorted sushi was £12, and tempura was £7, so to add an extra £6 to get a whole lot more made sense!

The dishes arrived in quick succession, all nicely presented. The pickled seaweed was tasty. The sashimi was of a very good quality, the tuna was melt in the mouth.

The tempura was also of a high standard with the batter crispy and light.

The unagi sushi was delicious, nicely presented on a slate plate and with a big cut of eel. Tasty, although not hot. The yakitori was exceptionally tender and moist, not burnt, and with many delicious chunks of chicken on the skewer.

The sushi looked good, made up of mackerel, salmon, tuna, prawn, egg, and 3 small tuna sushi roll. All pretty good but the tamago (egg) was a bit wet and tasteless.

We were all left very full and just managed the scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

The sushi is the best tasting sushi, yakitori and tempura for the price we've found in London. Service was great, it's close to home, and I think it is going to become our local London Japanese restaurant.

8.5/10

After joining the long queue at Busaba Eathai, we decided that there was an urgency for food, so we headed into Chinatown instead. Anyway Ben and I have been to Busaba many many times.

Fung Shing is a clean restaurant with a good reputation in Chinatown.

We were greeted with friendly smiles and shown to a table straight away (thank goodness for my Cantonese classes).

The waiter spoke perfect English, the crockery was clean and un-chipped. All in all, a posh place! Even the toilets were clean! The decor in the restaurant was pleasant and cosy.

We started with Aromatic Duck with pancakes. When it arrived, it was impressive and tasted greeeeeat.
For mains, we ordered sweet and sour pork, sizzling chicken in ginger and black bean, sizzling chicken in spring onions and ginger, seafood and veges with noodles, bak choi, sizzling tiger prawns. When it arrived, portions were small but good. The sweet and sour pork was not atomic orange, but a normal colour! The food was really good. However as portions were small, we had to order more rice and more sweet and sour pork and more chicken in spring onions!

The wine list was comprehensive.

The boys ordered dessert - ice-cream, and also lychee that looked quite good.

One of the nicest dining experiences in Chinatown. Nice and clean. £27pp

Unfortunately we were very loud!

8/10

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Gallipoli
Upper Street, Islington, N1

Saturday afternoon, 9 March 2001

Nicola & Shane, Ade & Ben

One of the first sunny Saturday afternoons deserved sitting in a open-windowed cafe in Islington. We ordered the mix mezze for 2 and added 3 ala carte starters to share between the 4 of us. Brilliant move as it was fantastic to have a bit of everything. The tabuleh was fresh, the hummus beautiful, everything was great. The decor is a cafe-shabby, very bohemian with Middle Eastern lamps of every design hanging from the beams.
£32 for 4

8.5/10

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Wagamama
Camden, London NW1
Noodles

Saturday 7.30pm, 13th April 2002

Nicky & Oscar, Ben & Ade

Housed in a curved glass office building, from the street this Wagamama's looked like the staff canteen.

The food was yummy and had that freshly cooked taste. The yaki soba (stir fried noodles with prawns, chicken, egg and peppers) was not yukky at all (sorry about the pun).

Ben and I really liked the deep fried prawn goyoza dumplings, and Oscar liked the chicken goyoza.

Everthing was going well 0 fast servcie, delicious food, but when we had to rush off to catch the comedy at Jongleurs, the waiter forgot the bill and it was impossible to find anybody for 15 minutes. Even the two women that had been seated were waiting to order for a long time. It just seemed that once the place got busy, the staff weren't able to cope. Still, it was good until then!

7.5/10

Disclaimer: Please note reviews of restaurants are the personal opinion of a particular dining experience only. The writer is not a professional food critic and dining encounters are experienced in the role of a customer and the meal is paid for out of one's own pocket (or Ben's).

All content and images are the property of Adrienne Wong and may not be used or copied without permission. © 2002

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