Update, Soma Kitchen, 230 Mile End Road, Stepney, London, E1 4LJ

The Soma Kitchen has started to lower some of its prices and they have started selling kebab wraps for £5.50 which includes a can of coke.  Also you can get a Lamb Shawama for £6.45 where as the price used to be £8.45.  This is more sensible pricing I think.  People still do complain of long waiting times however.

Soma Kitchen, 230 Mile End Road, Stepney, London, E1 4LJ

This is a new restaurant in Stepney green describing itself as an exclusive Mediterranean restaurant.  It is in the same building as the old Soma Bar and it follows a trend of pubs turning into halal eateries.

 

Really it’s a rather expensive kebab shop that also sells a few soft drinks as well as freshly made juices which are also on the pricey side   .

 

The kebabs are really very good and they are some of the best in the area.  The Lamb Shawamas and lamb shish kebabs are certainly the best you will find in Stepney but the bar is hardly set particularly high by the competition!!

 

I visited Soma Kitchen with a friend and despite the good quality of the kebabs I have some concerns about this restaurant.  There are problems that need to be addressed if the Soma Kitchen is to be a success.

 

We had  Falafel, lambs liver and Dolma as a starter.  The Dolma was described as stuffed pepper and indeed Dolma is stuffed vegetables which can include peppers.  We got stuffed vine leaves however and my friend wanted the peppers in particular as stated on the menu so she asked for them and what came back was like something from out of a tin.  We think it probably was tinned and this is not good.  Initially we were also given pastry stuffed with cheese rather than the liver so we had to send that back too.  Some of the staff seemed to have problems with the menu and I ended up wondering if they could actually read or maybe they had just not bothered to familiarise themselves with the menu.

 

.  With the exception of the stuffed peppers, the starters were of a reasonable quality when we finally got them.

 

I have had the Lamb Shawama kebab here in the past and it was very good.  This time I had a lamb dish fried with tomato and peppers.  It tasted too much of tomato for my liking , as though it had lots of tomato puree  in it.  I don’t know how the dish should taste however so this is not a criticism.  My friend had chicken Shish which was plentiful though she commented that the rice was a bit cold.

 

We also had a fresh carrot juice with Ginger which was made in the restaurant.  It tasted a bit watered down to me.

 

 

We ended up paying about £14 for a starter, a main, a carrot and ginger juice and a tea.  Some money was deducted for the difficulty we had with service.

 

If the service had been good we would have been happy to pay the full price which would have been about £17. I would have given it about 6.5 out of 10.  Chaotic ordering procedures and staff with little knowledge of the menu and poor English who sound like would-be local Asian gangsters does little in the way of making the restaurant feel exclusive or even high quality and I really think these serious teething problems will need to be addressed if the restaurant is to attract students, lecturers, hospital staff and other locals that will need to use it if the place is to thrive or even survive long term.  It is unlikely that the chicken shop masses of Stepney will even give the Soma Kitchen a look in as it is probably beyond their price range.  This is  fair enough when it comes to the kebabs.  I have had a Lamb Shawama in the Soma Kitchen and it was nice and very large.   There was loads of everything. the meet was spicy and of good quality.  There was also plenty of salad and pita bread.  At £8.95 it is not something most people would eat regularly and a smaller kebab for £5 might be a good seller.

 

My friend and me both agreed that we could give the Soma Kitchen no more than 4 out of 10.  If they sort things out in a month or 2 I will report back.

 

brilliant restaurant Southall

This review was posted by Adam Holdsworth on his blog

http://daggersdukc.blogspot.com/

 

This contains comments from Adam about whatever he is doing at the time.

 

The article below is a review of the Brilliant Restaurant which I will certainly visit if I am in the area.

 

 

 

Food: Indian

Contact details:

72-76 Western Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5DZ

www.brilliantrestaurant.com

 

We visited The Brilliant in Southall, Middlesex, today. As I grew up in nearby Hayes, I was miffied that during my time there, my parents had never taken

me here, as it had a good rep even back in the early 80s - it is actually a Southall institution, having been in the same area since the early 70s. As

Southall is one of the demographically "Indian" suburbs in Britain, let alone London, calling your restaurant The Brilliant in this environment is almost

a taunt: "come, criticise me, tell me I'm not brilliant, tell me I'm rubbish". In its favour, it has won plenty of awards. But the only award that matters

to us (insofar we came from distant suburban East London to be here) is what we think of it. Will we return? Will we recommend it to our friends? Was it

in fact, brilliant?

 

Let's find out.

 

Firstly, the guide dog situation. It is really, really difficult to eat Indian or Chinse while being accompanied by a guiding beast. There is a point,

after you've had maybe the third or forth row about whether the dog is allowed in, when you just assume that you will go into an eating establishment,

all guns blazing. Though I refuse to take nonsense from anyone about this (to refuse a guide dog is breaking the law and ignorance is no defence in my

opinion). Not a problem in The Brilliant, perhaps aided by the fact that one of the staff was obviously a dog lover and wanted to pet Nicki the Labrador

while she was being good beneath the table. They get a huge brownie point for the no-fuss welcome. What a relief.

 

The decor here is cool but in a friendly, inviting way, with dark wooden floorboards, spotlights and a clean, no-fuss style that doesn't intimidate but

still has enough sophistication, suggesting this interior design has been thought through. No job lot tables here - everything is in dark brown and dark

orange. All just-so. (9 out of 10).

 

Our service was friendly and the food arrived in a timely manner without any hanging around (a pet hate of mine is being left for ages after the main course

before your dessert order is taken). Service then was brisk and polite. (9 out of 10).

 

We ordered poppadoms as a pre-starter. I tend to find that a good, crisp, not-too-greasy poppadom indicates how the rest of the meal will turn out I was

right on this occasion, as we'll see. By the way, we ordered spicy poppadoms and blow me down, they were peppery. Fortunately, we both love pepper and

there are plenty of chutneys to dump them in to assist sweetening them up and bringing down the heat level a bit.

 

Our starters were tilapia fish pakora (9 out of 10). The high mark is given for the light batter made of gram flour, which didn't in any way kill off the

delicate flavour of the fish. I had meat samosas, filled with finely minced lamb. I give these 7 out of 10 - better than average and good quality meat.

 

For the main course, we had a lamb curry which Lynn described as basic but tasty and awarded it 6 out of 10. I had the lamb masala which on the menu, was

described as coming with a thick sauce flavoured with ginger, tomato and garlic. It left nothing to be desired: this was a dish delivered exactly what

was promised. I can barely think of anything to fault it on and will give it a full 10 out of 10 because it really was that good. Bravo. If my stomach

had been any larger I would have gone for second helpings.

 

Desert was a better than average pistachio kulfi which I'll give 7 marks for. It was served on an unusual long plate which didn't do anything for the flavour,

but did add a little interest presentation-wise.

 

So overall, was the Brilliant, brilliant. I think so. It is one of those establishments where you think every award was justified and gained from hard

work and attention to detail, as well as old fashioned customer service, rather than from "I'll scratch your back if you give me a plaudit" mentality.

There are few Indian restaurants this good in my view and I would go there far more often if only had the fortune to live closer.

wok and grill, Chronos Building, mile end road London

This restaurant used to be part of a small chain called Pandoos which was clearly designed to be a bit like Nandos.  It sells a range of grilled dishes and stir fries.  When it was Pandoos it sold curries but now it concentrates more on the stir fries.  Unusually for halal food outlets, the Wok and Grill also sells beef and steaks.

 

I had crispy chicken as a starter followed by stir fried spicy beef and rice.  The chicken was crispy though its texture was rather watery.  The beef was good and spicy but there wasn’t much of it.

 

It seems that most of the staff are the same as those who ran Pandoos so many of the same problems apply.  One member of staff speaks half decent English but the others don’t and they don’t seem to care much about what they do either.  I tried to ask what pudding they had and a member of staff babbled through about 4 of them.  I asked for descriptions and he either didn’t understand my question or didn’t want to understand so I decided not to bother with a  pudding.

 

I had to ask for the bill twice and finally got given a bill for £18.99 which seemed rather a lot for 2 main courses and a drink so I questioned it.  It turns out my bill was really £14.68.

 

That £18.99 looks like a figure the guy serving me just made up.   I don’t appreciate being deliberately overcharged by someone who either does not have the brains to calculate the bill or the prices to hand.

 

The food was fairly poor anyway but as I was nearly overcharged I don’t think I will be going back to this restaurant unless I get evidence that the quality of the staff have improved significantly.

 

I can only give this restaurant 3 out of 10

Delish Deli, 2, The Chronos Building, 9-25 Mile End Road, Stepney, London, E1 4TP

Delish is clearly an eatery which is trying to make itself a bit different from the rest.  It sells breakfasts, salads, a range of hot dishes, sandwiches and jacket potatoes.  So far I have tried the salad bowl, a shepherds  and a breakfast.  The salad bowl consist of choices of vegetables and cheese.  You have the usual lettuce tomato and onions but you also have carrots, sweetcorn, mushrooms peppers, sun dried tomatoes and also things like bean sprouts and bits of fruit.  It was really quite an extensive salad bowl which can be mixed with various meats such as chicken or turkey or you could have Tuna or prawn.  These ingredients  are available on their own or spicy so there is, for example, a Mexican spicy chicken.

 

The only hot lunch I have tried so far is the shepherds pie was quite good.  The potatoes were creamy and well mashed.  There was plenty of mince gravy and peas but I would have liked a richer tastier gravy.  Still I have had a lot worse.

 

The breakfasts  are acceptable though The sausages are really just average café quality.  There is no bacon though you can get turkey ham instead. coffee is filter coffee.  It is acceptable but it won’t blow your mind away! I find they tend to make it a little weak.  This may not be my first choice for breakfast.

 

Delish is really a cut above most of the rubbish found in Stepney.  It attracts a wide range of people including students and hospital workers and it seems to be quite successful. 

 

I was impressed by the range of food and the helpfulness of the staff.  Men and women work there and the level of English spoken by the staff is certainly reasonable.

 

In general then this is a decent place to eat and I would give it 7 out of 10.

A Passage To India, 76 Bold Street , Liverpool L1 4HR

The Passage to India has the reputation of being one of the best curry houses in Liverpool though it is said to be on the expensive side.  I had a prawn puri for starter and a Lamb  Jalfrezi with garlic rice as a main.  The quality of the ingredients were really quite good but there was absolutely no spice so I ended up feeling rather disappointed.  I have since seen an online menu available from Just-eat which suggests that the Jalfrezi dishes  are available  mild, medium or spicy.  On most menus Jalfrezi is cooked with chilli so I expected this dish to be quite hot.  We really should have been asked whether we wanted our curry mild medium or hot.  Neither myself or the friend I was with could see enough to read the menu in detail though he could read the dish names.  We therefore knew nothing about the different spice options available.

 

My starter and main dishes both came in a thick slightly creamy sauce which is typical of many of the posher Bangladeshi restaurants.  The portions were very generously sized  and I could probably have done with a bit less rice.

 

Over all then the quality of ingredients and portion size were excellent but the food was not spicy enough and we really should have been asked..

 

I give this restaurant 5 out of 10.  If the food had been a bit more spicy or we had been asked for our preferences then a score of 7 may well have been possible.

Mexigo Mexican Grill 72 Bold Street Liverpool L1 4HR

This is a take away which sells various kinds of soft pancakes full of beef or chicken with guacamole  salsa rice and beans.  The pancakes which include tacos  and Burritos.    It’s the usual British Mexican restaurant type of thing.  Not bad if you want a quick bite though all the food is a bit similar.

 

I call this a takeaway but it does have a lot of tables and chairs inside, it’s just that all the food comes in boxes with plastic knives and forks as though you were going to take it away.  I’ve never been a fan of this kind of food as a take away, particularly if you want to eat it on the go as it’s so messy to eat.  If I’m going to eat this kind of food I want it on a plate with some decent cutlery.

 

A friend and me both had beef with all the usual accompaniments with extra mushrooms and a soft drink.  The person serving us was quiet and didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about being there.  eating the food from the box was less than ideal.  I can’t say the food was horrible, and at £8.00 the price was acceptable though it is on the high side given the poor presentation.

 

So Mexigo served Average food with poor presentation and barely adequate service.   This made this takeaway a fairly forgettable place  so I give it 5 out of 10.

 

Cookies and Cream 7 Mile End Road, London E1 4TP

Cookies and cream is essentially an Ice-cream  parlour  which sells a few other things such as waffles and milk shakes.

 

When I went there I had 1 scoop of coconut ice cream  and one scoop of pistachio ice cream.  The coconut ice cream did contain actual coconut but there was no evident of the pistachio nuts in the pistachio ice cream.  2 scoops cost £2.25 which is quite expensive.  Yes the bowls are very impressive but I’m more interested in what’s in the bowl to be honest.

 

I also had an Oreos  milk shake.  This is a milk shake with Oreo biscuits ground up in it to give the milkshake a chocolate flavour.  Oreos are definitely one of America’s better chocolate biscuits in my opinion and the Oreo milk shake worked well as a concept  The milkshake was nice an thick.  The only problem was that little chunks of Oreo tended to block the straw.

 

This ice cream parlour is surprisingly busy even in the winter.  It seems to be well used by local Asians even though it is not cheap so for them it’s quite a trendy hang out joint.

 

Cookies and Cream only sells about 25 flavours of ice cream which is nothing compared to many ice cream parlours.  Food is well presented but a little limited in substance.  I don’t mind this place but it is not interesting enough to travel to it from a great distance.  I can’t say any of the food I had was unpleasant and the guy behind the counter read out all the flavours.  I give this place 6 out of 10

King Eddies, 47 Broadway, Stratford, London E15 4BQ

 

This pub is actually called King Edward VII but all locals know it as King Eddies and the website is actually www.kingeddie.co.uk

 

I visited this pub with a friend on Sunday.  A policeman guiding me across the road recommended the chips saying they were home made and cooked in goose fat.  My friend and myself  therefore ordered fish and chips which at £11 was rather expensive.

 

 

King Eddies is really a gastro pub though it is a lot more relaxed and pub like than many.  During our visit there was a pub quiz and people were also enjoying what seemed to be a rather posher do in the function room upstairs.  The beers on offer included 2 from Warys and I think Marsdens pedigree.  There also seemed to be a wide range of spirits available.  At £3.20 a pint it was not that cheap but the prices are by no means unheard of in London.  Staff were very helpful and they read us out the menu.  Waiting time at the bar was short even when the pub was quite busy.  These were all good signs and had it not been for the food I would have given it 7.5 out of 10.  There are pubs with a bigger range of ale at cheaper prices which would have upped  the score further.

 

Coming back   to the food, I was disappointed to find that the fish came with thin fries.  No sign of home made chips cooked in goose fat!  The fish was large  but although the batter was quite thin  there was more batter than fish.

 

The meal was advertised as coming with mushy  peas.  This meant a little pot of peas ground do a pure mixed with mint and a few other things in a small pot.  If your going to do northern style mushy peas do it properly otherwise just stick to a portion of garden peas or similar.  The home made Tartar sauce was nice.  It had capers in it.

 

The size of the portion was large on the whole and so it should be for £11.  I just felt that quality was rather lacking.  I can have fries in McDonalds  for much less money.

 

This pub does sell other food such as Venison so maybe at some point I will go back there, but I will be on the lookout for other reviews.

 

Given the poor quality of the food I can only give this pub 5.5 out of 10.  If I can get something of better quality then the mark could easily go up by another couple of points.

 

 

Zanes 588 Mile End Road, London E3 4PH

Zanes used to be the Mile Stone which used to be a pub. No alcohol there now however. It’s one of the many halal restaurants in the area.

This restaurant sells a typical range of curries, starters and other Bangladeshi/Indian food but it also sells steaks as well along with a range of desserts. One person who worked there, the owner I believe, spoke great English and he was knowledgeable and helpful. His colleague, however who served me first, seemed to speak virtually no English. He seemed unable to read the menu and it took a lot of coaxing to get details of the food available out of him. Normally I would have turned straight around and left. I am blind and I cannot read their menu and I do have a problem with staff who choose to live and work in a restaurant when they can’t even speak enough of the language to read a menu. As it was I did not ask the price, but more of this later. A friend told me this restaurant looked nice so rather than just walking out I bit my tongue and persevered.

This meal formed the only food intake of the day so I was out for a big feed! I was curious about what the steak would be like so I ordered this first. It came with nicely cooked new potatoes in their skins. They were sold to me as roast potatoes but never mind, they were nice. The steak came with peppers, onions, pieces of cauliflower and a few carrots. So, the accompaniments were fine. The steak was another matter. It was tough and maybe slightly over cooked. Certainly it was rather dry. I am told that Halal meat tends to have all blood drained from it but surely, steak needs some blood. I’m no expert so can’t say if this was the problem but whatever the problem the steak was a disgrace. They could have at least tenderised it.

I still decided to go with some more typical food however to see how it was prepared. I had a portion of sheek kebabs, that’s the mince kebabs in a sausage shape. The kebabs were juicy and fresh. The samosas were well filled and pleasantly spiced and generally much better than the steak.

I then went for dessert. I chose the Halva and what was supposed to be a Crème Brulé. The Crème Brullé was nice though it was in fact a Crème Caramel rather than the Crème Brullé which is thick custard type stuff under a hard caramel lid in a bowl. Crème Caramel is a bit like a caramelised egg custard. The Halva contained chocolate and was nice and gloopy. I do not know what Halva should be like so I can’t comment on authenticity. For drinks I had 2 glasses of lemonade which just came from a plastic bottle.

My bill came to £31.00. With the exception of the steak, the food was very good. The owner spoke good English and was helpful. However the steak was dreadful, the Crème Brullé was not as it should have been and the other staff were not knowledgeable and service didn’t seem to be part of their culture. I therefore give this restaurant 4.5 out of 10. The food does show some good potential however. The quality of some of the food does make me want to go back but this will be either with a sighted person who can read the menu or if not, I will only eat if I can get the help of a staff member who speaks good enough English to go through the menu with me.