Banana Tree Canteen review (Islington) – a lump in the throat

Address: 418 St John Street,
London EC1V 4NJ
Tel: 020 7278 7565
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp (for a main and drink each)
Service charge: 10%
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: **We were waiting for JM who got held up when he missed an overland train to London Bridge. After making a reservation at Sasa Sushi, we had some time to spare and decided to head to The Banana Tree Canteen for a snack in the meantime.

We have been to The Banana Tree Canteen along St. John Street only once before and we weren’t very impressed by it. At least I wasn’t thrilled by the mee goreng that I ordered for it turned out like a huge plate of carbohydrate doused with maggi chilli sauce, nothing more. That probably explained why we seldom venture south of City Road since then (barring Farringdon and Exmouth Market of course).



But we did remember The Banana Tree for its banana fritters (goreng pisang). Banana fritters used to be a popular snack when I was a kid back home. An irony really considering that it’s pretty warm in Southeast Asia and the last thing you would like to munch on would be a piping hot deep fried battered banana. Anyway, each piece generally goes for less than a dollar (50p) and my favourite stall peddling it is at the Longhouse along Upper Thompson Road. It remains popular till today and the stall will just shut for the day once its supplies of banana runs out.



Anyway, banana fritters was the sole reason why we decided to pop into The Banana Tree for a snack on that day. Its banana fritters (£3.65) is served with a scoop of sweet corn ice-cream. One thing that we didn’t remember was the copious amount of golden syrup drizzled on the fritters. It was as if the fritters couldn’t be trusted to deliver. The thick syrup caused me to end up with an uncomfortable lump in my throat.



We were a bit peckish as it was drawing near to dinner time and asked for the Thai tamarind and garlic chicken wings (£4.75) as well. The roasted wings were glazed with, you guessed it, golden syrup. The syrup was so overdone that it overwhelmed any tamarind or garlic. Perhaps the dish should be more appropriately renamed as ‘golden wings’ or even ‘honey wings’.

It’s a pity really. I was just thinking the other day that if only there is a Southeast Asian eatery in Angel’s vicinity. Sedap over at Old Street is doing a thriving business while Puji Puji could do better if it’s not in the middle of Balls Pond Road. The Banana Tree, however, is exactly like how I remembered it before – a chain restaurant with thumping music, serving Tiger beer and anglicised version of Southeast Asian cuisine.

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Viet Garden review - Islington Vietnamese restaurant exuding old world charm

Address: 207 Liverpool Road,
London N1 1LX
Tel: 020 7700 6040
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: **
Service: **
Ambience: ***“For Korean, head to New Malden. For Vietnamese, head to Kingsland Road” dictates the conventional food wisdom. While I was a bit disappointed with Song Que despite all its hype, I am more than impressed with the variety of pho served. Other than pho, our foray into Vietnamese cuisine is limited to luan rang that we fell in love with at Cay Tre at Old Street, just round the corner from Kingsland Road.

In all honesty, we were on our way to The Barnsbury in our quest to search out the best baby friendly restaurants in Islington when we were waylaid by Viet Garden, which is just beside the pub along Liverpool Road. Nothing on its unassuming façade indicated that it was still open for business (some places do close for Sat lunch) other than the fact that the front door was opened.



“Mind going in to check whether there’s any parking space for the pram?” I asked Wife while eyeing the couple of steps at its entrance warily.

Wife popped in and gave the thumbs up two seconds later. I had to struggle a bit to lift the buggy into Viet Garden proper. I should be eating less and exercising more really. Viet Garden was almost empty saved for two tables. We were given the table closest to the door probably because that’s the only table with some space for the pram.

The old charmer

Viet Garden with its understated furnishings has got this old world charm. Even its simple bar counter with half filled liquor bottles haphazardly placed on a couple of shelves seemed to somewhat fit into the theme. There was even a box of Chinese tea bags perched on top of a beam for the occasional order. Soft elevator music playing in the background helped quite a bit. All it needs now is one of those ceiling fans with wide rotating blades.

The hard board fan shaped menu is perhaps the only thing that is out of sync with the homely feel. I expected a worn laminated plain paper menu instead. Alarm bells started ringing when I caught sight of the omnipresent “Singapore Fried Rice” and “Singapore Fried Noodles” on Viet Garden’s menu. Wife and I exchanged glances and I gave her a nonchalant shrug. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect too much from the meal after all.

Other than the two dubious choices, Viet Garden offers only two pho – the “pho” and the “special pho”, not exactly (name of Kingsland Rd restaurant), is it? We felt a bit adventurous so Wife ordered the “pho” while I went for the its “special” counterpart. While waiting for our pho, we asked for some salt and pepper chicken wings as well.



Instead of lightly deep fried, Viet Garden’s salt and pepper chicken wings (£5.95) turned out to be roasted. It was heavily marinated with turmeric with a tinge of lemon grass, which overwhelmed the salt and pepper. We thought that the onion slices and spring onions liberally sprinkled on the wings helped soothe the taste tremendously.


pho

Other than the obvious difference in size, it turned out that the main difference between pho (£4.90) and the special pho (£7.50), , is that while the former comes with only either chicken, beef or seafood (prawns), the latter include all three. Not only that there are some slices of slightly spiced fishcake in the special pho.


special pho

Maybe it’s me but I felt a bit odd having chicken breast and jumbo prawns in my pho. The beef slices came across as a bit tough and they were clearly not tenderloins. That said, the broth was flavourful.

Viet Garden is clearly not in the same league as its counterparts along Kingsland Road. However, in the quiet residential area where it is located where you can’t find another Vietnamese restaurant in the vicinity, it does have its niche.

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The Modern Pantry - Clerkenwell restaurant and deli, sambal and goreng pisang are to die for

Address: 47-48 St John’s Square,
London EC1V 4JJ
Tel: 020 7553 9210
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: **It’s often a dilemma when a restaurant is located near a major train station. On one hand, you would want to maintain a certain sense that it is actually a proper sit down restaurant and probably attract the right group of diners. But the allure of having a brisk takeaway business is always lingering.

The Modern Pantry, located at St. John’s Square – a short walk to Farringdon train station, is doing just this balancing act. The fact that it’s doing a takeaway is prominently advertised on a panel placed up front as well as on its menu. I would think that its deli beside its main restaurant would be doing a thriving business. A simple croissant to munch on your train ride sounds good. If only I could find the deli’s entrance.



We had some trouble getting the pram up its two steep steps at its entrance. The staff wasn’t exactly helpful in this as well. But this is hardly an issue if the food is good, isn’t it?

Upon presented with the menu, Wife immediately pointed out that The Modern Pantry’s coffee is brewed with coffee beans roasted at Caravan. We ordered a coffee each immediately after that. In fact, I could see an entire takeaway business thriving simply because of this. Also, all eggs served in the Modern Pantry are free range organic. Gawd, I feel better already.



We are certain that the chef has spent some time in the South East Asia as it was pretty evident in the dishes that we ordered. The grilled chorizo (£8.20) with slow roast vine ripened tomatoes and poached eggs came with caramelised plantain fritters (or what we know as goreng pisang back home). The fritters came with slightly crisp skin with a soft caramelised interior. That with the peppery rocket leaves was the highlight of the dish for me.



Wife was dismayed at the size of her sugar cured new caledonian prawn omelette (£8.70). Other than spring onions and coriander, the usual ingredients, the prawns were lightly tossed with smoked chilli sambal as well. Good sambal is highly prized in Southeast Asia.

The funny thing is that while many back home would kill for a good sambal, no one seems to know how exactly to make a decent one (we’re still trying by the way). The thing about this chilli paste is that it goes well even with plain rice for the dried shrimps that go into it provides all the flavour that you’ll need. In fact, I thought that The Modern Pantry’s sambal rivals Sedap’s.



The kink in the armour came in the form of the humble tea. Like most Londoners, we love our tea. While we don’t mind paying for teabags (as we so often do), we were understandably sore when teabags were served when it was stated explicitly on the menu that tea leaves would be. When we pointed this out, a member of the staff explained that “only teabags are available even though it says tea leaves on the menu”. What a bummer.

The Modern Pantry scores on innovative menu. However, don’t count on its breakfast meals to fill up your stomach, especially if you have a healthy appetite like mine. Having a square up front means that there’s ample space for outdoor seating – a perfect setting for an early breakfast if the weather holds up.

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Hotel Chocolat - Christmas came early this year

The weather has been fickle recently. Bursts of sunshine followed by days of grey gloomy skies and rain. My moods had been a reflection of the weather and it was a welcome lift to the spirits when the kind folks at Hotel Chocolat offered me the opportunity to be among the first to try and review their Christmas specials.



I have always been a big fan of Hotel Chocolat. Their stores have a sleek decor (truly reminiscent of a boutique hotel) their chocolates come packaged in lovely packaging which make them excellent for presents and of course the chocolates (those I have tried thus far) have been divine. What is there not to like?



I received the Christmas Wreath for review. As the name suggests the chocolate is shaped in the form of a Christmas wreath (with bows and all) and comes packaged in a festive gold box. My immediate thought when I saw it was wow, this would be perfect for the office Christmas presents and Hotel Chocolat has confirmed that yes this is indeed from their stocking fillers range. Priced attractively at just £6, I can see it flying off the shelves based on its looks and pricing alone. Oh, if you are looking for a bigger wreath, they've got that as well.



The chocolate is creamy (40 percent milk chocolate) and had a nice crunch to it as hand cut florentines, cocoa and shortbread cookies, caramel bits and white chocolate chunks have been added for the luxury factor. The cocoa and caramel bits balance each other out nicely so the end result is just right - not too sweet even for me who is usually more inclined towards dark chocolates.



So this year this will be the taste of Christmas for me (and my mates at the office). Hotel Chocolat has other Christmas goodies to tempt the tastebuds, can't wait to try them out! Not forgetting the little ones, there are even Advent Calendars filled with chocolate treats. Seems like this year round, it's going to be a chocolaty Christmas.



TT is a regular contributor to London Chow and Singaporean in London. She, like all of us, loves her food (and chocolates) to bits.

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Sweet review Exmouth Market cafe - a sideshow compared to the rest

Address: 64 Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4QP
Tel: 020 7713 6777
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £5 pp (cake and drink)
Service charge: N.A.
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: *We have been eying Sweet when we had brunch at Caravan a couple of weeks ago and made a mental note to have dessert there after the meal only to find it closed on the Bank holiday afternoon. Well, that gave us another reason to pop by after our brunch at The Ambassador. As we weren’t quite sure about Sweet’s operating hours, Wife kept an eye on the shop while poking at her less than satisfying pancakes at The Ambassador.

“I could do with a nice slice of cheesecake,” Wife pointed out, still spearing at her pancake in a desperate attempt to shake down its flour. We were out a couple of minutes later after asking for the bill.

Sweet’s façade looks a tad rundown with its name fading fast, quite unlike its trendier neighbours. Other than two tables laid outside, there are a couple of long tables and high benches within the narrow shop interior.



Large plates of macaroons and cakes of various varieties, The Sweet offer pastries, pasta, risotto and pizza slices as well. I thought that it could be a bit more focused on serving cakes and pastries instead for there are clearly more (and better) competitors for warm food along the entire stretch of Exmouth Market.



As expectedly, most customers opted for cakes, pastries and the occasional macaroon. It might be that having a fuller meal is rather uncomfortable while perching on a high bench. Then again, there’s the constraint of space.



We went for a baked cheesecake (£2.50) and a pistachio flavoured macaroon. While Sweet’s macaroon was light and chewy with little hint of essence, the same couldn’t be said of its baked cheesecake. The cheesecake (baked with vanilla cheese and raisins) felt powdery and too eggy. Wife commented that the concoction just didn’t gel and I concurred.

Sweet is a nice little café where you would probably pop in to escape the rain or if you arrive early for your reservation at a restaurant down the road. However, its current offerings somewhat relegates it to being a sideshow and you probably wouldn’t head to Exmouth Market just for Sweet.

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The Ambassador review - Exmouth Market chill out breakfast place

Address: 55 Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4QL
Tel: 020 7837 0009
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon
Make your reservation
Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: **It’s funny how things pan out sometimes. A couple of months ago, I could never understand the fascination about Exmouth Market. I mean, makeshift stalls put up on the street are not unlike those set up at Broadway Market or even Brunswick Square on weekends. The street itself isn’t that long even.

Necco was the first reason why we came to Exmouth Market in the first place. Come on, no one goes there specially for Strada. Then the Little One comes along and we had to look for infant friendly places. Caravan came right up in the search. But Caravan is a tad crowded these days and we decided to head for The Ambassador this time round instead.



First impression? The Ambassador reminds me of an old style coffee shop with its dark wooden furniture and pleasant ambient light in its interior. Upon seeing me struggle with our pram, a staff quickly started shifting chairs around to carve out a parking lot for it. Nice one, it’s such little gestures that counts, isn’t it?

When we did finally get a chance to look at the menu, I couldn’t help but notice that The Ambassador offers children menu as well although there’s no price indicated. However, I must say that its menu comprises of the usual suspects and definitely less innovative than Caravan.



Famished, I went for the most substantial item on the menu – the big breakfast (£9.50). Bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomatoes, mushroom and eggs, which I requested to be poached (instead of scrambled). The presentation reminded me of the fare that would come out from S&M, a mix-mesh. I thought that the bacon was a tad tough and was rather disappointed that the toast turned up cold. Not exactly the most satisfying ‘big’ breakfast that I have come across.



Wife’s pancakes (£5.50) came with a couple of streaky bacon stripes laid on it. Then again, there’s not a lot of ways you could arrange bacon and pancakes, can you? We could taste the flour in the pancakes and maple syrup didn’t help much. A pity really. Wife was looking forward to some good pancakes.

But it’s ain't all that bad

Would I return to The Ambassador again? Absolutely. Strange, you might think, for food clearly isn’t The Ambassador’s forte. But it has got its redeeming features. Its tea, for one, come with tea leaves, not one of those fraudulent places charging you for two quid for a teabag.



Not only that, there are newspapers lying around – Times, Independent, Guardian.. and The Sun too, I think. That makes it the perfect place to linger around if you are up early for the weekend. Finally, The Ambassador, unlike Caravan, accepts reservations for weekends. Now, I can do with more certainty these days, can’t I?
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Sri Nam review (Canary Wharf Thai, Viet and Malaysian restaurant) - disappointingly bland

Address: 1 North Colonnade,
London E14 4EY
Tel: 020 7715 9515
Nearest Tube station: Canary Wharf

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: **
Service: **
Ambience: ***One of the common complains about working in Canary Wharf is the lack of proper lunch places in the area. While there are a couple of cheap eats in Canary Wharf, places, which are not part of a restaurant chains are far and few. Well, there’s considerable excitement when Jamie’s Italian opened up in the area some time back but that was it. Since then, Nando’s opened up yet another branch with more Pizza Expresses and GBK Burgers following.

It turned out that there are still some places that I have not been to in the area. HP suggested Sri Nam for lunch the other day and I would have to google for its location if not for her offering to walk me there.



Anyway, Sri Nam’s façade is relatively plain and inconspicuous with only the words “thai dining room oriental bar” up front. The interior looks more impressive I must say. A short flight of stairs leads to its casual dining area – a somewhat oval seating area with bar seating, a couple of circular tables for fours and smaller square ones stacked up along the wall. Clearly, Sri Nam is meant for smaller parties and being right smacked in Canary Wharf, this is just as well.

“Pan Asian cuisine – Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian” were splashed across various restaurants directories’ description of Sri Nam. After my experience at Melati quite some time back, I am understandably sceptical. My fears were confirmed when I saw its menu. The mains (all going for £7.50) include laksa, phad thai and mee goreng among other items. Even prata featured under the sides section as well. I wonder how prata would taste like with phad thai. Must be like black pudding with fish and chips I suppose.

“Erm, its laksa is not the laksa that we know,” HP cautioned me. “Uh-huh,” my mind was already wondering off. “But I’m going for that anyway as I feel like having something soupy,” she continued. I went for phad thai, which I always go for at a Thai restaurant (or what seemed to me like one).

Five minutes later, both dishes were served. Now, that’s a record time for a phad thai. The staff got HP’s order wrong but even the correct order was served under a further five minutes later. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sri Nam’s kitchen had all its popular dishes precooked and lined up all ready to be served.



Not surprisingly, my phad thai tasted as if it was directly churned out from the assembly factory. Not only the flat noodles had set, its accompanying carrots and cucumber stripes, peanut bits and even prawns seemed to be merely stacked on top of it. It reminded me of the fare that I had at my barrack’s cookhouse. I could picture the noodles briefly tossed (if at all) then placed on a plate before the rest of the ingredients were arranged on the four corners of the plate. The lemon slice didn’t help a bit. I had to rely on chilli sauce to add some flavour to the bland concoction.

HP’s laksa appeared to be more like curry rice vermicelli. Really, Sri Nam should really rename the dish as it is. It reminded me of the laksa that Giraffe used to serve, which came in green curry.

While I’m sure Sri Nam has its redeeming qualities after reading the raving reviews online, they weren't apparent to me. HP did mention something about Sri Nam's main dining area on the first floor so that's probably it. Sri Nam is probably a conducive place for quiet conversations during lunches, and frankly there is a good reason for it to be so.


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Caravan review - a satisfying brunch at Exmouth Market

Address: 11-13 Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4QD
Tel: 020 7833 8115
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***A pal of ours gave us a Nespresso machine (see four things that Singaporeans buy when they visit London) and another got us a milk frother when they bunked in with us some time back. There was a £40 voucher that came with the machine and apparently it can only be used to buy Nespresso coffee capsules. With each capsule costing 30p, we ended up with exactly 133 capsules that are due to expire in a couple of months. Needless to say, I am now really alert every morning.

“Would you like to have some coffee?” Wife quipped on beautiful Bank holiday morning. Nodding grumpily, I shuffled towards the Nespresso.

“Not this, I’m talking about this,” she pointed to her laptop’s screen. “The Caravan – Restaurant, Bar, Roastery”, it reads. With two coffee cups on its website and nothing very much else, it’s quite clear what Caravan would want to be known for.



“Oh, we are extremely child friendly so no worries there. Unfortunately, we don’t take reservations during weekends and Bank holidays. But it’s currently half full here and I’m sure there’ll be space for you guys,” a lady cheerfully answered when I called to check the place out a couple of minutes later.

The Caravan, which occupies a strategic location at the mouth of Exmouth Market, was one of the few places that were opened on the Bank holiday. The others are Nero, Starbucks and probably Strada. Even Necco’s doors were shut. Probably because of that, the place was bustling and most of the outdoor seating area was occupied even though the temperature is closer to 19C that morning.

“What would you like to drink?” a waiter came right up the moment we sat down. Coffee of course, that was why we were there in the first place, wasn’t it? Oh, black please. No sugar, no milk. I like mine strong.



To be honest, prior to the Nespresso machine, I was never a coffee person. I prefer my Breakfast tea anytime to an espresso. I was telling a colleague of mine (to her disgust) that the office vending machine coffee taste the same as the one sold at Pret.

Well, I can tell you that Caravan’s coffee is good.

If I can tell the difference, it must really be good. Or at least that’s how I like to think. Caravan’s coffee has depth without the acidity, strength without the bitterness. According to Caravan, their coffee is made from 100% Arabica beans freshly roasted in its basement. Now, that’s not something Starbucks can claim, can they? It reminded me of the humble coffee shops back home that use to roast their coffee beans just behind the shop before grounding them. At least they used to do that when I was a kid.



It was past lunchtime but Caravan was serving an all day breakfast menu. I went for the grilled ham, which came with bubble & squeak, two poached eggs and hollandaise (£9). The single thick slab of still pinkish ham, half covered with a buttery poached egg, was a delight. The bubble & squeak lightly battered and buried under the other poached egg complemented the almost chewy ham and completed the meal. It does look a bit underwhelming but this one punches above its weight.



Wife’s Caravan fry up (£8.50) was interesting. It comes in the form of two large lightly toasted sourdough bread, topped with two poached eggs and bacon streaks. Soft roasted tomatoes added to the texture and taste.



We couldn’t resist ordering the ham and cheese muffin (£2). The ham bits embedded in the muffin was rather overpowering even when thickly laced with the accompanying butter. Wife thought that it would taste heavenly if heated up even for a bit. Definitely not for those on a diet and it’s only marginally less sinful compared to a slab of chocolate fudge cake.

With most pubs closed, The Caravan was perhaps the only place in the vicinity that served decent breakfast on that day. When it comes to hearty roast, trust the Kiwis.

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The House Pub and Dining Room review – Canonbury gastro pub sanctuary

Address: 63-69 Canonbury Road,
London N1 2DG
Tel: 020 7704 7410
Nearest Tube station: Highbury and Islington

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £20 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ***
Service: ****
Ambience: **We very nearly wanted to head back to Isarn for lunch last weekend. Perhaps the only thing that held us back was the uncomfortable familiarity that Isarn’s staff was starting to show with us. A knowing smile that we would almost certainly order a mango with black sticky rice as dessert made me uneasy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the staff would the lovely dessert ready the moment we asked for it the next time round. Darn it, it is tasty! I would probably spring a surprise on them by ordering one of those sorbet the next time round.



Wife was again surfing the net for child friendly eating places in the vicinity and come upon The House Pub and Dining Room, which was within walking distance. I called up the award winning (it says so on its website) gastro pub along Canonbury Road to check whether they are fine with a buggy (while conveniently made no mention about the screamer residing in it) and if they have a table for two.

“Oh, we’re perfectly fine with buggies. And it’s not that busy now so there’s really no need for you to reserve a table,” a guy answered on the other end of the line.

The House Pub and Dining Room (quite a mouthful really, I’m going to call it The House from now) is set on a triangular patch at a small y-junction. As it was a Bank holiday weekend and most Londoners were trapped along M25, the area was rather serene and I would prefer to go for outdoor seating if not for the chilly winds.



The staff understated earlier. The House wasn’t “not that busy” when we stepped in at around 2pm, it was almost empty save for two tables. That was probably why our food arrived a mere 10 minutes after we placed our orders. Warm bread was served and we were so taken with the walnut variety that we requested for seconds, which the staff promptly served with a smile.



I asked for my House burger (£12.50) to be served medium rare and it was just that – a bit pinkish on the inside with juice oozing out when I cut through it. A pity that its exterior was a tad charred and there wasn’t much taste in the patty itself. Instead, it relied on the caramelised onion spread thinly on one side for that.


Wife was raving about her beer battered fish and chips (£12.50). The fish, though thin, was really fresh with each slice tearing cleanly away from the next. It came with sea salt sprinkled on it and a half a slightly roasted lemon. The mushy peas could have been less granular though – I couldn’t decide whether it was just peas gone too mushy or simply undercooked mushy peas.

Towards the end of our meal, more customers streamed in as the rain got heavier, and began settling down on The House’s eclectic mix of furniture – a collection of recycled wooden tables and chairs, with mismatched leather sofas. A toddler was rambling around the dining area with a member of the staff running after him. A child friendly place? Absolutely.

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