The London Restaurant Review

Indo-Jin@Cosmo Bar

Indo-Jin serves the finest Pan-Asian dishes in the heart of Clerkenwell.

The menu ranges from Indo-Japanese Soupy Curries to a more traditional selection of Maki Rolls and a large selection of Chefs play dishes inspired by a combination of Japanese and Indian flavours. The food is simple, fresh, and good value for money.

Indo-jin has a simple Asian Canteen layout with large handmade tables and wooden benches. The restaurant is located on the top level at Cosmo Bar. There’s seating for up to 50 people with large tables that could be joined together for parties of 20 or more people.

Indo-Jin offers an extremely affordable Express lunch package which consists of a Soup (Japanese Miso) and a Savoury Rice Bowl (Donburi) with various mouth watering toppings. Indo-Jin also provides freshly made Sushi rolls with an innovative Asian canapés menu which is perfect for corporate events.

The restaurant is non-smoking, however, smoking is permitted at the bar. Disabled toilets are available on the restaurant level. Cosmo Bar has a nightclub venue below that is open on Friday and Saturday nights which is available for hire any day of the week.

There is a reader review of Indo-Jin here.

50-54 CLERKENWELL RD

LONDON

EC1 M5PS

0207336 8884

Restaurant Review Websites - Faked?

There was an interesting article in The Sunday Times yesterday about hotel and restaurant review websites carrying a large number of fake reviews.  Apparently hotel and restaurant owners submit their own reviews in order to offset bad real customer reviews or ramp up the overall score.

Ha!  Having been running The London Restaurant Review for 10 years now, I have had my fair share of dodgy reviews being submitted.  But a long time ago, I decided to check every review submitted before it went live to try to weed out the dodgy ones. It's not a perfect system, but it is surprisingly easy to spot fake reviews.  Often the owner will be stupid enough to put their name@therestaurantaddress which is an obvious giveaway.  But over the years I have also spotted the more subtle ones and if in doubt, my policy is not to publish.

So I hope that the reviews on my site are about as authentic as you can get.  There is a good bank of my own reviews, which are as authentic as they come, since I don't accept payment, free meals or other bribes for writing the reviews.

And generally my readers let it all out when they are submitting a review.

You can read The Sunday Times article here.

Good Service Goes a Long Way

I went to Amici at the weekend, a very local Italian restaurant situated at the Trinity Rd end of Bellevue Rd on Wandsworth Common.  It must have a tough job competing with the other restaurants on Bellevue Rd (including the famous Chez Bruce), since it is right at the end and this is probably why it has taken us so long to get round to eating there.

My lasting impression of the place will be the service. Service goes a very long way to making the dining experience in my book.  Maybe I have high expectations, but I expect my coat to be taken, a menu to be presented to me within a couple of minutes and ideally, to be offered an aperatif or water.  The staff at Amici did all this and were a delight throughout the course of our lunch.

You can read the full review on my website here.

We both left with smiles on our faces for having enjoyed not only good food but excellent service.  Many London restaurants could pick up a tip or two from Amici.  Most closely to home, just a few doors away from Amici, the recently opened The Brasserie still needs to learn a thing or two about service.  Still, I will be making a repeat visit there soon to see if there service problems were just new opening teething problems or are here to stay.....

As always, you can read all the latest reader reviews (and my own) on The London Restaurant Review.

Christmas at The Wallace

This year enjoy a truly elegant and enchanting Christmas at the recently opened Wallace Restaurant, set in one of London’s most opulent galleries, the breathtaking Wallace Collection in Marylebone.

A magical and intimate haven, situated in the museum’s stunning sculpture garden, the restaurant is enclosed by a dramatic glass roof to reveal the winter wonderland outside. 

Revellers will enjoy a special four-course Christmas menu, courtesy of head chef Thierry Laborde, which showcases the finest French cuisine from just £35 per head

Sophisticated dishes include roast gem squash with Pied de mouton and peppered ventrènche; ballotine of foie gras with a wild mushroom mousse; and Boudin blanc with a fondue of leek pistachio to start. To follow, guests can feast on options including traditional goose or capon with all the trimmings; slow cooked suckling pig with apple compote and sage; or tranche of halibut with rosemary and anchovy dressing. A classic chocolate or coffee Christmas log; nougat glacé with Grand Marnier marinated clementines; or St. Emilion poached pear with bitter chocolate mousse will provide a decadent end to the celebrations.

Add to this an exclusive French wine list with everything from country table wines to the Grand Cru of Burgundy and vintage champagnes and The Wallace Restaurant guarantees all who visit a joyeux Noël!

T: 020 7563 9595

www.thewallacerestaurant.co.uk

Saltyard Restaurant

My wife and I went to Saltyard Restaurant on Goodge St the other night.  It is a mix of Italian and Spanish cuisine, served up in a tapas style way.  All dishes on the menu were very interesting and the wine list was pretty good too.

This was the first restaurant in London that I had come across that crossed Spanish and Italian cuisine and it worked wonders.  I was definitely not impressed with the loos though.

You can read the full review here.

Fagus Coto De Hayas 2004

I tried a bottle of Spanish Fagus Coto De Hayas 2004 the other day and it was quite unlike any other Spanish wine I have tasted.

100% Garnacha, it is incredibly smooth with soft tannins and an overwhelming vanilla taste.  This disguises the 13.5% alcohol nicely.

I haven't yet found a UK stockist, but The Salt Yard currently has it on its menu.

8/10 high recommended.

Free music on The LRR

We've just added an advertising free, streaming radio station to the website.

Click on any restaurant review and on the right hand side you will see a little radio module.  Click the play button to enjoy a very relaxing music channel - it is currently set to a French influenced, chilled out music station.  And you can detach the Player so you can keep listening and browsing.

Check out an example of the player here.

The free music module can also be added to any website where you have FTP access.  It is powered by RealNetworks and can you can create your own module here.

New Restaurant - Alisan

AROMA GROUP OPENS ALISAN  FLAGSHIP RESTAURANT OPPOSITE WEMBLEY STADIUM

The Aroma Group of restaurants has announced the addition of 'Alisan', a

flagship establishment.  Offering Dim Sum and fine Chinese cuisine, adjacent

to Wembley Stadium, Alisan launches with a grand opening* on Saturday 11th

November complete with fire crackers and traditional Lion dance, which

according to legend, will chase away evil spirits and bring good luck

The name Alisan is taken from of a mountain in Taiwan made famous in an old

Mandarin folksong.  The song is about the aboriginal women living on Alisan

mountain being very beautiful.  The word "san" means mountain or hill in

Chinese. The letters "LIS" in the ALISAN logo form the Chinese character for

mountain.

The Dim Sum Head Chef, CC Wong, was the Dim Sum Head Chef at Yauatcha

Michelin-starred Soho restaurant.   Dim sum is served from noon until 5pm.

The restaurant Head Chef, GW Dai, was previously at the Mandarin Oriental, a

five star hotel, in Singapore.

The split-level establishment seats up to 200 on the ground floor.  The

first floor features a cocktail lounge, with sofa seating, serving drinks

and snacks.

A function room is available for private hire, complete with karaoke

facilities.

The décor of Alisan creates a modern yet Oriental setting. The restaurant

successfully combines an Eastern feel with modern European features.  .

Commenting on the new opening, which is directly opposite of the new Wembley

stadium, Aroma Director Colin Wong said, "The area deserves a first rate

modern Chinese restaurant offing fine dining and good dim sum".