Banana Tree Canteen

The food was nice enough, but you really must go for the baby chairs. Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd be writing when I originally started this blog in 2006.

Banana Tree started out some 20 years ago and has now expanded into a mini-chain across London, attracting good reviews. I stumbled upon their Islington branch the other day, and was lured in by a board promising a lunch from just £5.65. There are more exciting options on the menu -- which spans from Thailand to Singapore, via Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia -- but that price (plus service charge) bought me a plate of chicken pad thai, washed down with regularly refilled tap water.



The dish smelt burnt when it arrived, although I didn't actually find any culprits for the aroma. A few slices of red chilli added bite, raw bean sprouts provided some crunch and a wedge of lime contributed the zing. There were also a few crispy deep fried tortilla-ish chips on the side. It was a perfectly pleasant lunch, but no more.
The high chair on the other hand was simply awesome. The waiter produced a folded, cloth contraption, about A3 size. As I looked on dubiously, he arranged it into a cunning seat which attaches to the table with a solid metal frame. I'd never seen anything like it before. It would be very useful for visiting friends and family, or just for keeping in the car for times when your chosen cafe or restaurant doesn't have high chairs.



Banana Tree Canteen, 412-416 St John Street, Islington, EC1V 4NJ; Tel. 020 7278 7565; www.bananatree.co.uk

Czech and Slovak House

The house, on a residential stretch of road in West Hampstead, is advertised by a plastic chef outside and a wooden post from which a sign must have once hung. Inside, it feels like a slightly ramshackle hostel, and indeed I think they do let out some rooms to their compatriots. There's a bar and a casual room for eating or drinking, but we were ushered into the restaurant - reminiscent of a living room circa 1970s, with faded wall paper, a portrait of a grim looking officer and another of Havel, and white table cloths.



I wasn't very hungry, so settled on some fried bread with garlic & cheese (a mere 1.50). It might have been nicer with melted cheese, but it packed a strong garlicky punch and went well with the beer.



The fried goose liver with onion & bread (by far the most expensive starter at 7.00) was, to my disappointment, closer to the traditional English dish of liver and onions than to the French foie gras. But its order pronounced it very good.



The others went for roasted wild boar in cream sauce (11), one with saute potatoes and one with sauerkraut. The portions were huge, and the boar's sauce was surprisingly though pleasantly cheesy. The meat though was perhaps a touch tough.
I liked the fact that with each main one side dish of your choice was included - too often I've dithered over the dilemma of the more appealing main versus the one with the more appealing side dish.
On a Sunday afternoon, the place was reasonably busy with people (both Eastern European and English) finishing lunch, starting dinner, or simply having a few beers. The dark Bernard was delicious and cheap by London standards at only 3 quid per half-litre bottle.
The service was friendly, and they were more than happy for us to linger over beers and a game of cards even as the main dinner crowds starter to arrive.

Czech and Slovak House, 74 West End Lane, NW6 2LX; Tel. 0207 372 1193; Tube: West Hampstead; www.czechoslovak-restaurant.co.uk

El Rincon Quiteno

As we entered, I was a bit doubtful. By day the place is clearly a very ordinary sandwich place, with a counter stuffed with croissants, bog-standard sandwich fillings and the like. According to the large board above the counter, you can have an egg mayonnaise sarnie or a cheese and tomato toastie for under £2, or splash out on a jacket potato for a little over £3. There were the usual plastic tables and a slightly shabby feel, with the only stand-out being the modest South American themed wall hangings.
It was mostly empty, barring a couple of tables of locals and a large screen showing the football (turns out the owners are Chelsea fans). Not a place for a romantic evening, but then we were quite happy to half watch the game over dinner.
There's a cute story about the owner, Luis Torres, here, and a google search has revealed that it used to be a popular meeting place for theSocialist Worker Party. My Spanish isn't up to much, but with the help of google and babel fish, I reckon the name means a corner for the people of Quitos, Ecuador's capital.
They produced some menus from a hiding spot and all my doubts evaporated when the old, regular-looking guy sipping tea and munching on buttered pre-sliced bread at the table in front of us was asked how he wanted his steak cooked.

Starters (around £3-4) were a little English sounding, so we focused on a juicy grilled plantain topped with cheese and the tortilla -- a thick wedge, served with potent chilli sauce. Mains also included non-South American offerings, including a pasta section -- which might explain why some websites list the place as Italian. Instead we had the mixed grill for two, a huge pile of steak, pork, chorizo and plantain for just under £20, as well as the solo version (£11) which had no chicken but instead had a fried egg. Both were served with side plates of rice and a plain (iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions) but very plesantly and lightly dressed salad.

Obviously there is no website and I keep forgetting to take photos of menus, so the name of the other dish (£9-ish) is lost. But it featured a pool of refried beans, slices of sweet plantain, a strongly-flavoured chorizo sausage (a bit different to the Spanish ones), some beautifully crackling-ed fatty pork, a palette-cleansing avocado, rice and two cracker-type things, one of rice and one of plantain. (Rumour has it they can also serve guinea pig, a South American speciality, but it wasn't on the menu.)
We washed the food down with litre bottles of Ecuadorian beer (£6) and coffee (£1.70).
All in all it was very, very good and I am surprised that this place hasn't got a much wider following.

El Rincon Quiteno, 235 Holloway Road, N7 8HG; Tel. 020 7700 3670; Tube: Holloway Road

Fish Central

The plastic tables and the unprepossessing location in an untrendy corner of no-longer-quite-Clerkenwell-but-not-really-yet-Islington suggest that Fish Central is just another local chippie, dishing up huge plate fulls of golden fish and equally golden chips. But for every table of locals from a near-by council house, there's a couple sipping wine and picking on king prawns or scallops. Personally, I think this makes for a great, casual and slightly unusual vibe.
Normally the fish options – served deep fried, grilled,or cooked in matzo meal – start from £6.75 for plaice, but at the moment the place is part of the three courses for a tenner offer from The Times. (Incidentally is it me, or are these offers getting worse? Of this year's crop, this is probably the only vaguely central London which seems worth visiting to me and the value of which is notably improved by the offer.)
We started with a nice bottle of Prosecco (£14.95), wallowing in the surrealism of drinking Venetian fizz in a chippie. House wine starts from £9.45, there's also draft bitter and larger and – for the purists – mugs of strong tea for a bargain 55 pence.
From the set menu, my fish soup (normally £3.45) was alright, but did not benefit from the fresh memory of the one we had in Terminus Nord in Paris a couple weeks ago. The roasted Mediterranean vegetable bruschetta topped with mozzarella (£3.75) was decidedly underwhelming, while the large plate of crispy-coated squid rings was judged as OK, but not outstanding(£4.45).


Of the main courses, the mussels were also pretty average. But the chefs redeemed themselves with plates of flaky gurnard (sustainability brownie points, check) and mountains of crispy chips. Ultimately, this is still very much a chippie, and fish and chips is what it does best, while giving you option the wash them down with some very decent plonk. I would also heartily recommend the fisherman's platter (£19.95) - a huge plate of cod, plaice, haddock, skate and scampi which serves at least three very hungry people.

Fish Central, 149-155 Central Street, King Square, EC1V 8AP; Tel. 0207 2534 970; Tube: Old Street; www.fishcentral.co.uk (now how many chippies do you know with their own website??).

PS If you are in the area, there's a new (well, OK, it might have been there for years, but I've only just noticed) German Deli across the square, which stocks a promising selection of salamis and the like.

Smiths of Smithfield - SOS brunch

During the week, I have to get up far too early to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and try to stay very healthy on an early-morning ration of fruit and yoghurt. So come the weekend, I am always a big fan of something more complicated and brunch-like. For this, Smiths of Smithfields is perfect. The ground floor sweeps away its thumping, trendy bar persona of the previous evening and transforms into a buzzing cafe-style haven for those nursing morning-after hangovers. It's always packed and they don't take bookings, so brunch usually starts with a drink and a browse through the weekend papers on the squashy brown leather sofas in the corner, until a table is ready. The drinks include fresh orange juice (£2.20), teas and coffees (£1.50+), a selection of "morning after" tipples including shandy (?) and a damn good bloody Mary (£5.50), as well as grown up (ie alcoholic) milkshakes (£6.50 for an “apple crumble”). Served in giant metal beakers, these are a meal (or more accurately a desert) in themselves.
I like the brunch food menu for its variety - you can have anything from a fry up (in various permutations) to a BLT to a proper main course like sausage and mash. (Sensibly though, unlike the near-by 24-hour caff Tinseltown, they don't offer Thai green curry - hang offer food that ain't, as my husband once discovered the hard way.) On the last two visits I've had the eggs benedict with smoked salmon (£8.50), served on a halved muffin and smeared in creamy hollandaise. Their macaroni cheese with haddock (£6.50) isn't bad, but not cheesy enough. The club sandwich is huge, and the BLTs (£6.50) are also pretty good. Just don't try to economise with something like egg on toast (£2.50) - you will feel very jealous when everyone else gets their food.
Other than always being very busy, the other (no doubt related) drawback is the service, which can be a bit slow and a bit inattentive, especially if you order extra drinks). But for me the food and the buzzing atmosphere tip the balance firmly in SOS's favour. Plus Santa(s) and his(their) reindeer brunch there. (Oh, ok, it was probably just real people we saw lining their stomachs ahead of Santacon, but it was still cool.)

Smiths of Smithfield, 67-77 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ; Tel. 0207 251 7950; Tube: Barbican or Farringdon; www.smithsofsmithfield.co.uk

St John, N19 - best ailoi in Archway

We are very lucky to live within about a 15minute walk of literally dozens of great restaurants. The downside though is that it's all too easy not to discover what delights (or otherwise!) lie further afield. So the invitation to deepest, darkest Archway for some live music sounded like the beginning of adventure. We stumbled upon a corner of Ireland in the middle of North London. In the Lion pub, a man was belting out melancholy songs and strumming his guitar while old, weather-worn men and women nodded along, sipped their pints of Guinness and got lost in reveries of days gone by. The slightly younger customers were more cheerful, stomping out an energetic jig in the corner. Equally character-full Irish folk looked on from slightly caricaturised, faded paintings on the dark walls. The penalty you pay for living in central London is that you'll never get a gem like this as your local. (And while it may not offer any interesting beers, the other advantage of not being in central London is that it's cheap - I paid £11 for three pints and a large wine.)
As the food on offer at the Lion didn't seem to stretch beyond mini cheddars and bacon flavoured fries, we were reluctantly forced to leave in search of sustenance. With unusual foresight, I had looked the area up in my Harden's guide and had discovered that there was a well-reputed gastro joint just round the corner called St. John. Here too the drinks de jour were whiskey and Guinness, although there were also a couple of real ales on tap and the crowd was much younger. From the chalkboard menu, the leg of lamb came with all the trimmings you would expect in a generous roast, as well as a highly-rated onion sauce. The roast half of chicken with a peppercorn jus was also amply sized and beautifully juicy. I opted for the mussels with chorizo and onions, the salty sausage contrasting well with the tender crustaceans. The highlight of the meal though was the aioli. It was proffered when I asked for some mayo to go with the delightfully crispy home-made chips. It packed a serious punch of garlic and tasted freshly made. We got through two pots. It was heaven, and worth the trek to Archway in its own right.

St John, 91 Junction Rd, N19 5QU; Tel. 020 7272 1587. The Lion public house (also known as Sweeneys), 1 Junction Road N19 5QT. Tube (for both): Archway

Most Cafe Bar - most for beer, least for food?

We had come to the Christmas fair by Tower Bridge in search of festive cheer, German sausages and mulled wine. But – faced with an ice-cold Tuesday evening – the stalls had closed earlier than advertised and of our three quests we were only able to complete the one for mulled wine (which did come in very cute, boot-shaped cups).
Forced to look for sustenance elsewhere and too cold to wonder around aimlessly gazing in restaurant windows, we tumbled into the nearest eaterie. This turned out to be the Most Cafe Bar underneath the bridge. It was a tiny place, occupied by a large beer bar and a few tables poked around the sides. I say beer bar as that's clearly the speciality – the menu offers around 30 different varieties, spanning from an English stout to a chili beer from Arizona. Understandably, we had to try the latter. It was a normal enough looking bottle of lager, with an assuming little green chili floating inside. Taste-wise, the chili had clearly won the battle over the lager hands down – the drink tasted like some kind of accompaniment to nachos or fajitas. It wasn't overly spicy, but it definitely tasted like it should be “green”. (Does anyone else ever think foods taste of a particular colour?). Incidentally, it also didn't taste very nice and we left most of the bottle. We also sampled a cherry beer from the ever-wonderful Sam Smiths brewery, which reminded me of boiled cherry-flavoured sweets (in a good way). In comparison, my glass of house red seemed pretty dull in comparison – a fact I was secretly glad of.
The menu features some snacks (eg mezze platter, nachos), as well as robust-sounding mains from mussles to steaks. Tempted by the blue-cheese mash, I asked for a rare rib eye (11.95). The mash was indeed pretty good, as were the glazed carrots. But the steak was well done and fatty. My friend went for the scallops with the cauliflower pure (12.95) from the short specials list. She said it was nice but rather stingy portion-wise. The biggest let-down though were the olives we'd ordered to munch on before the food arrived. Despite two reminders they were served after the main courses. A small square bowl of green and black olives (nice, but looking and tasting like they'd come from a jar), an identical bowl of indifferent olive oil with a squirt of balsamic vinegar, and a third with some slices of a baguette. Nothing short of extortion at 4.50. I was tempted to send it back, but my friend needed the bread to supplement her main course.
It was a nice evening, and I might be tempted to come back and try more beers, but next time I'll eat elsewhere.
Most Cafe Bar; Horrace Jones Vault, 206-208 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 2UP; Tel. 020 74036030; Tube: Tower Hill or London Bridge; www.mostcafebar.co.uk

PS After some googling, I discover that in fact the cafe is owned by a Russian lady, with the cafe's name intended as a pun since "most" is also the Russian word for "bridge". If that's the case, then it's a great shame that the only Russian beer on offer is the now readily available Baltika lager.

The Porterhouse - come for the porter not the food

The Porterhouse is a huge multi-leveled labyrinth of a pub, linked together with exposed copper piping. Despite its size it is frequently packed to the rafters, and so must be doing something right. The beer for starters. The place has its own micro-brewery producing three stouts, three ales and three lagers. Plus they have a huge beer menu, including beers from as far afield as Palestine and Tahiti. In the line of duty we sampled, among others, a banana bread beer from Jamaica (very banana-y, quite nice, but not sure I could manage more than a glass), a Crocodile beer from Sweden (winner of best beer award....17 years ago!) and a "sexy" beer featuring a bikini-clad lady on the bottle (scratch and the bikini disappears, so the taste of the larger is rather beside the point!). The food menu features the kind of thing you need to soak up the beer - pizzas, pies, burgers, snacky platters - with most mains around the £7-9 mark. My favourite by far was the "frying pan". It literally came served in a cute iron frying pan (atop a plate), crammed full of potatoes, eggs, onions, chorizo and other stuff and it was very yummy. The steak sandwich on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment -- the granary bread and the mayo overpowered the miserly portion of well-done steak and I couldn't trace the parmesan advertised on the menu. The accompanying chips were thick cut and nice enough, though they lose points for serving the mayo in those little Heinz sachets. The burgers were also OK, but with no great "wow" factor. So overall I'd say this is a place to come for the beer and the atmosphere (and the music - they have Irish folk sessions on Sunday afternoons), but the food is good enough to mean you don't have to leave if you get a bit peckish.
The Porterhouse, 21-22 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, WC2 E7NA; Tel. 0207 379 7917; Tube: Covent Garden or Charing Cross; www.porterhousebrewco.com

Ye Olde Mitre - hark back to the good olde days

There are so many gastropubs around these days that it's a refreshing change to go somewhere that is resolutely stuck in a pub time warp, selling pickled eggs and brimming tankards of ale to a largely male clientele. And when such a visit involves a trip to Cambridgeshire without leaving central London, so much the better. Ye Olde Mitre is hidden away in an implausibly narrow passageway off Ely Place -- one-time home to the Bishop of Ely and thus ( apparently) part of Cambridgeshire. There are two entrances to the pub, one leading to the tiny front room and the other to the slightly roomier back one, with the bar in the middle. The dark wood panelling on the walls is decorated with pictures of English kings (including Henry VIII looking nothing like Jonathan Rhys Meyers from the latest BBC adaptation) and a notice proclaiming that Santa will be visiting on December 4 (yay!). Our pints of Deuchars (£2.85) are very well kept. It's the kind of place where you get chatting to the landlord and a few of the tables look like regulars. The food on offer is wonderfully simple. We try a cheese and onion toastie for £1.50 -- cut into little triangles and pungent with raw onion. I think the cheese is red Leicester (it's orange coloured), which isn't as good as mature cheddar, but it hits the spot and soaks up the beer and I have to be talked out of ordering another one. There's also sausage rolls, sausages and even giant gherkins (60 pence!) on offer. I am smitten, and have resolved to go back next week for more Deuchars, a gherkin and a mince pie.

Ye Old Mitre, Ely Court, off Ely Place, EC1N 6SJ; Tube: Chancery Lane

19 Numara Bos Cirrik - pide paradise

Of the Turkish places I have sampled along the stretch of multi-cultural Dalston, this is my favourite -- even it it's not frequented by Gilbert and George . The decor frills-free and plastic-tabled, with the attention focused on the large oven by the back wall. In there they make the house speciality, pideler, or Turkish pizzas. Mine was piled high with onions, other veg, cheese and spicy sausage. It was a little greasy but utterly more-ish. The various kebabs, served with lashings of yoghurt, were also very good. We couldn't finish them though, having feasted on houmous with warm bread and tiny black, chilly-covered olives, as well as the freebie onion salads. A bit of googling suggests one of them might have been izgara soğan (grilled onion with pomegranate and turnip sauce). We were stuffed for around £10 ahead, having washed the grub down with some beers from the off-licence next door (I think it was run by Poles, they were very excited when I bought Okocim). The restaurant is licensed though, and offers Effes beer as well as a small selection of wines. The service is quick, making this an ideal place for a pre-gig meal if you're heading to the near-by Vortex. Which, incidentally, has had a re-fit -- it now features Pizza Express style marble-topped tables, and no longer allows you to order in takeaways, but it has retained the charm, the good music, and the interesting selection of bottled beers.

19 Numara Bos Cirrik; 34 Stoke Newington Road; Dalston; N16 7XJ; Tel: 02072490400; Train: Dalston Kingsland, or buses including the 243.

Pham - wham, bam, sushi slam

By a rough estimate I must have walked past Pham around 1000 times over the past 5 years. But the location (until recently Whitecross street has looked more like the kind of place where you are likely to find mothers and babies in a pub at noon than a gastronomic experience) has always put me off. More recently though, I've heard a lot of high praise for this humble-looking sushi joint, both from newly discovered food blogs and from real people. The first few attempts to go there failed -- a pregnant friend couldn't face watching us gorge on raw fish which she wasn't allowed, a macho male friend was unimpressed by the idea of going anywhere that didn't serve giant slabs of beef and then last Friday when we finally made it there, they were fully booked.
So we cheated and ordered takeaway. (For the record, the decor was standard casual Japanese - close together tables, small room, a couple of Japanese prints on the wall.)

I had the sushi and sashimi combination set (15). There are 4 bits of juicy, thickly-cut sashimi of tuna and salmon. There are also six slices of the chef's special maki roll, which features avocado, tuna, crab stick and fish roe. I am not normally a fan of maki, but these are giant and gorgeous. Finally, there are four bits of nigiri, thin slices of fish atop mini-bricks of rice: tuna and salmon again, as well as sea bass. It's good. I'd even say very good. And after polishing off the lot I am well and truly stuffed, which with sushi for 15 quid is a bargain. But I guess I'm a little disappointed that the types of fish aren't more exciting.

Still, this time I definitely beat the husband who went for the house special bento box (12). The miso's good, as are the pickles and the sashimi appetiser. But the main course of sesame-seed covered pork loin is overly sweet and over cooked. (Though it's still nice enough to ensure there are no leftovers.)

Ultimately I guess that's always the danger with recommendations - it's easy to build up your expectations way too high. But we've got a copy of the menu now, and next time I will go for some more exciting things (like the "dragon" roll with eel, tobiko, asparagus and avocado.)

Pham, 159 Whitecross Street, EC1Y 8JL; Tube: Barbican or Old Street; Tel. 020 7251 6336; www.phamsushi.co.uk

The Dell - come for the views

It was a glorious, sunny Sunday, just the kind for lazing outdoors with the papers by the lake in autumn-golden Hyde Park. The Dell cafe is obviously aimed at the captive tourist market, but if you choose carefully, it ain't half bad. There are some swirly flours on one of the walls, but overall it feels like a canteen, complete with plastic chairs and brown food trays. The attraction however is clearly not the decor but the park -- visible through floor to ceiling windows as well as from the large terrace outside. Some of the food seems like a rip off: a small plastic cup of pumpkin soup and hunk of baguette for £4.50, uninspired-looking sandwiches for £4.15, a small tub of Greek salad (which most people seemed to be buying as a side dish) for £4... But the hot counter offers better value. For £7 you could get a tasty-looking salmon fillet served with piled of rice and ratatouille. Not cheap sure, but not too bad for a fully-fledged restaurant main course. I chose the goat's cheese tart (£4.50) -- a large square of puff pastry, topped with roast peppers and courgettes and crowned with a white circle of creamy cheesiness. With hindsight, I should have tried to stop the dinner lady from pouring two ladles of oil over the salad leaves, but it was still a very nice lunch. There's a good selection of beverages as well, from various modern soft drink concoctions for £2-ish (green tea and pomegranate anyone?), to wines and even bottles of London Pride (£3.50). And not a penguin bar in sight. To me, it's these tourist hot spot eateries which illustrate just how far England's culinary scene has come in the last 10, or even 5 years. Sure, it's not a destination venue. But, given the stunning destination, the venue has all the ingredients you need to while away a pleasant afternoon.

PS Hyde Park is clearly a place which attracts foodies -- they display a board of sponsors' names (who knew you could sponsor a park?), which includes a champagne house and a very posh organic supermarket.

The Dell, Hyde Park, Eastern side of Serpentine lake, W2 2UH; http://www.royalparks.org.uk; Tube: Hyde Park Corner

Leon - cheerful grazing

Leon is a cheerful Mediterranean influenced chain which is fast conquering London. Sadly the menus in the Spitalfields branch no longer seem to be glued into a random selection of comic books and almanacs. But the rest of the charm is still intact, with empty paint buckets turned into stools, an eccentric collection of books in the corner, warming red banquettes and twinkling tea lights. In the summer, you can sit "outside" in the indoor Spitalfields market (and bemoan how commercialised the place has become, how much better it was in the good old days and how sad it is that Spitz had to close). But on a chilly, drizzly autumn days, inside offers the perfect cosy haven for lingering over drinks (1-litre bottles of larger are £6-ish)and mezze. The portion of chargrilled chorizo (£ 4.30) came on a bed of juicy green olives, but we could have easily devoured more than the four slivces offered. Garlic flat bread (£2.50) went well with the silky houmous (£2.20)and was generously covered with fresh parsley - though for my tastes it could have done with a much bigger garlic kick. Sesame chicken wings (£3.70) and Moroccan meatballs in a tomato sauce (£3.50) were pretty good, and I particularly liked the crispy patatas bravas (£3.20). There is also plenty in the pudding menu to tempt even those, like me, without much of a sweet tooth - from the lemon and ginger crunch to the bitter chocolate tart. Yet more proof that chains can do food, drink and atmosphere very well - it's just a shame that so few bother.

Leon, Spitalfields Market, 3 Crispin Place, E1 6DW; Tel: 020 7247 4369; Tube: Liverpool Street; www.leonrestaurants.co.uk

The Clerkenwell Kitchen - irritatingly nice

The most annoying thing about Clerkenwell Kitchen is that it is only open during the day, and then only on weekdays. Which means a return visit any time soon is pretty unlikely - a shame. It is a light airy space round the corner from Clerkenwell green, somewhere that local artisans should feel at home. There's even a garden at the back. The short daily-changing menu is chalked up on the board, while the printed drinks list features lots of yumminess from Grenwich Meantime wheat beer to fresh apple and rhubarb juice. We sampled chicken breast with salad and new potatoes and spicy Spanish sausages on char-grilled bread. It's what you might call "rustic" food - simple, flavoursome. A little expensive perhaps (around the £10 mark, with portions on the moderate side), but good. It's just a shame it is hopelessly too far from my work, so I can't pop in for a sandwich when I need a lunchtime treat. If only it were open at weekends it would also be the kind of place you want to linger over the Sunday papers with a coffee or a bloody Mary.

The Clerkenwell Kitchen, 31 Clerkenwell Close,EC1R 0AT; Tel. 0207 101 9959 (they are popular and you might do well to book); Tube: Farringdon; www.theclerkenwellkitchen.co.uk

The Bowler - bowled over

(It's been suggested that I start adding 'tag lines' to the headlines of my reviews, so you can look forward to lots more bad puns in the future!)

Perhaps it's the Bowler's location (hidden down a side road just off the buzzing Exmouth Market) that has caused it, by our rough estimate, to change owners four times in as many years. One particularly dodgy incarnation featured it painted bright pink on the outside with the atmosphere of a rough council estate pub on the inside. Now though it is a much more pleasant shade of dark green and the interior (and clientele) have changed beyond all recognition. The room is light, with wooden tables and brightly coloured flowery, swirly paintings on the walls -- with cleverly matched lamp shades attached to each one. The menu is short and simple -- about five light bites like chips and nachos, and about 10 mains. Trying to be healthy, I resisted the temptation of baked camembert with mushrooms, bread and gherkins (will have to come back and try it another time!), and opted for the lower-calorie-sounding duck breast in honey sauce with greens (£7.95). The duck was browner than I would have liked, but tasty enough, and the greens were lovely. But sadly it was all drowned in the yucky (a very technical restaurant reviewing term) sweet sauce and I could not finish it. My companion though struck gold with the steak sandwich -- a veritable bargain at £4.95. A baguette came piled with rate slices of beef, lovely sun-dried tomatoes and caramelised onions, accompanied by a large mountain of onions. And I was more than happy to fill up on the chips (billed as Belgian, £2.80), which were thin, clearly home-made and deliciously crispy. A bottle of viognier (£13.25) was a delicious accompaniment to the bargain-priced meal, and we left determined to return.

The pub offers 15% off the total bill to holders of the Wedge Card www.wedgecard.co.uk. I've never heard of it before, but a quick look at the website suggests that it's a much better bet than the www.tastelondon.co.uk bit of plastic. The Wedge is the brainchild of the guy who launched Big Issue, it costs £20 with half the cash going to a charity of your choice and it offers discounts at loads of (small, local, non-chain) shops as well as bars, clubs and restaurants.

The Bowler, 28-32 Bowling Green Lane, EC1R 0BJ; Tube. Angel or Farringdon

Cafe Creperie

This tiny room en-route from the South Ken tube station to the museums along Exhibition Road is always bustling, with hungry queues often stretching outside even in the colder months. We were lucky, getting there just before the lunchtime rush and grabbing the last free table. The menu features every kind of crepe feeling you could imagine -- sweet or savoury. There is even a cheese-free, vegetable filled version for dieters, although for me that would rather defeat the point of a crepe-fest. We sampled mushroom, garlic, cheese and extra egg (£6.35), cheese, garlic and spinach (£5.95) and tartiflette (£7.50) -- all gorgeous. The Kerisac Breton cider (£7.50 for 75cl bottle), served in small pottery cups, completed the French experience. The pancakes are made in an open kitchen, somehow squeezed into the corner of the tiny room. French ad posters add some casual decoration, and one wall is covered in beautiful tiles unearthed when the place was first opened. The place is perfect for lunch pre or post a dose of culture.

Cafe Creperie, 2 Exhibition Road, SW7 2HF; www.kensingtoncreperie.com, Tube: South Kensington

Norfolk Arms

Who would've thought that a lick of cream-coloured paint could make such a big difference? The Brunswick centre has morphed, almost overnight, from a dump, to a shiny, trendy, desirable hotspot. The area around the centre also seems to be basking in new energy, with lots of lovely looking pubs. The Norfolk Arms has tables on the street for the sun-lovers who are brave enough to withstand the spring chills. Inside there is a cosy, European feel. The tables, chairs, floor and wall are all roughly coloured in creams and whites. The wine comes in glass tumblers and there are yummy-looking sausages hung behind the bar. We started with 1/2 pints of juicy prawns served with delightfully yellow home-made mayonnaise for dunking. The main course (chosen from the £10 set menu as part of a token-collect offer in the Times) was lentil and squid stew - a hearty bowl of puy lentils, blackened further with squid ink and sprinkled with bits of squid. My one complaint was that it would have tasted even better with the addition of some juicy chorizo. Tapas plates carried past us to other tables looked pretty good too and we needed a big dose of will power to resist ordering more wine (a very quaffable rose for £14) and a plate of charcuterie "for dessert". This is the sort of place you could easily linger in on lost afternoons.

Norfolk Arms, 28 Leigh Street, WC1H 9EP; www.norfolkarms.co.uk; Tube: Russell Square

Waterside Cafe, Barbican

The Barbican is a magnificent, if somewhat incomprehensible structure where you can wonder for hours in growing confusion and frustration. But this giant labyrinth has some beautiful oasises (sp?) hidden within and the Waterside Cafe faces out on to a peaceful, beautiful pond with fountains and a beautiful old building across the water. Alas, it is still too cold to sit outside in the evening. Inside, the design is very functionally 70s, but not necessarily in a bad way. Canteen style, the cafe offers three choices of hot main courses -- this time juicy Lancashire sausages with mash, puff-pastry salmon pie, or jacket potatoes in mushroom and cream sauce. I had a large salad (£5.99) from the salad bar, picking new potatoes with salami, couscous with cream cheese, green beans with bacon, salady items, grated carrots and pickled red cabbage. The cabbage was a bit vinegary for my taste, but the rest was lovely, varied and filling. There are also sandwiches, wraps, pre-packed salads, meat and cheese plates and a sweets counter. The bottled drinks include a selection of alcoholic beverages. It's not an atmospheric place, but a very useful pit-stop pre-performance (they serve until 7.30) and the food quality is much better than I would expect from a canteen. I've yet to try the other two options at the Barbican - Searcys is said to be good, but is pricey and seems to only offer multiple course set menus (no good if you have 30 minutes to wolf down food and get to a show). The Balcony Bistro is less formal and currently offers 80s themed menu to celebrate Barbican's 25th birthday, which leaves me horrified and intrigued -- watch this space to see which sentiment wins.

The Waterside Cafe, Barbican Centre; Tube: Barbican www.barbican.org.uk

My Old Dutch Pancake House

May be my tastes have got more sophisticated with the years, or may be the pancakes have got worse, but my last trip to this one-time favourite didn't leave me with any great desire to return. The Holborn branch feels a bit like a canteen crossed with a wine bar, with its unfussy decor and wooden tables. The speciality is huge Dutch pancakes, covered in toppings, pizza-style, and served on huge Dutch plates with the traditional blue and white motifs (around£6-8). There are plenty of fillings to choose from as well as a pick your own section and the pancakes are very filling. But it's worth leaving a bit of pancake and trying the deep fried cheese balls for a starter. Wash it down with some Dutch (or Belgian) beers from a decent selection (£3-5). It's quite quick and friendly enough, and certainly eminently edible - and drinkable. But amid the hunderds and thousands of eateries in London it seems to lack that extra something that would draw you back. If you're hungry for pancakes, a more atmospheric bet would be the tiny and busy creperie near South Ken tube.

My Old Dutch Pancake House, 132 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6PS; Tube: Holborn. They have a branch on Kings Road too. http://www.myolddutch.com

Pho

This small, unpreposessing Vietnamese noodle cafe always seems busy, so we thought it worth a try. The menu focuses on traditional 'pho' - noodles in broth (around £6-7); stir-fried noodles served cold (this didn't sound too apetising on a winter's day) and Vietnamese pancakes. The latter were described as starter/side orders, but the £5 dish actually makes a filling main course. I thought it was the highlight of the meal - crispy deep fried pancake, full to birsting with tender bean sprouts, large prawns and pieces of chicken, served with chilli sauce. My traditional pho came with slices of fillet steak, which was well-stewed and hence in my opinion totally ruined, if probably very authentically Vietnamese. The pieces were quite well-hidden in a gigantic bowl of noodles in flavoursome beef broth and served with a side dish of herbs, chilli slices and lime wedges for you to add your own flavouring. It was nice enough, but the portion was far too big and I only managed about half. A prawn pho in chicken broth was deemed nicer by its orderer, though I though the broth tasted like chicken stock cubes. The daily special of curry was nicely spicy. They have a range of Vietnamese beers and some more unusual soft drinks too (though we were not convinced by the local take on home-made lemonade). There is also coffee which has been specially regurgitated by Vietnamese weasels - a bargain for a mere £5. We were not feeling very adventurous, so you'll have to go yourselves if you are curious.
The service was very friendly and the decor is simple, clean cafe style. It was an interesting meal, all told, but not really special enough to warrant a come-back. Especially given the limited selection of types of dishes on offer.

Pho, 86 St John Street, London, EC1M 4EH; Tel: 020 7253 7624; Tube: Farringdon