Banoffee
Portobello Garden

Portobello Garden

269B Portobello Road, London, W111LR, W11 1LL, United Kingdom

Cafés • Pasta • Pizza • Italian


"Out and about on a lunchtime constitutional along Portobello Road last week something interesting caught my eye. Set back from the road, hiding behind vintage clothes in the arcade, was an alluringly attractive Italian restaurant. On my own, without reading material and in a hurry to get back to work, I had no intention of sitting down to eat but I was compelled to go in and investigate. I glanced at the menu and clientele, was charmed by the decor of hanging dried meat and flowers, and decided I would return imminently.<br/ <br/ Thankfully an opportunity arose this week. I had taken it upon myself to arrange a lunch for myself and nine colleagues, and presented them with an option of four restaurants (secretly hoping that democracy would work in my favour). At first, take-up was slow as the more adventurous-sounding alternatives were far more popular, but risk aversion gradually set in and the simple Italian became the winner; a culinary hare and tortoise situation, if you will.<br/ <br/ “What if they don’t cater for big groups? What if it’s awful and I’m forever ridiculed for my restaurant choice?” Such questions were running through my mind, distracting me from my morning tasks.<br/ <br/ An amiable Italian gentleman saw the first sub-group and exclaimed “group of ten, this way please!” so we followed orders and went inside to our long table, immediately looking above us at the conservatory style ceiling and feeling as though we had walked into a Tuscan summer.<br/ <br/ Our charismatic waitress brought over an alternative to a complementary bread basket; a plate of amuse-bouche sized pieces of courgette frittata served on a forest of rocket. I was very impressed by this. They have foreseen that I’m going to be ravenous, having not eaten since my 11:00 AM apple; that I may not wish to bloat up on bread; that I enjoy being surprised, which I most certainly was. I had only been there ten short minutes and these people already knew how to please me more than some people who have known me for decades. If that isn’t customer service, I really don’t know what is. <br/ <br/ The menu is slightly unusual in that there isn’t the usual long list of pizzas and pastas to choose from, instead there were a couple of al forno dishes (baked in the oven), several paninis (with pizza bread), and a list of specials, a few of which were mains. I took from this that a decision had been made to offer a limited number of dishes, but to do them well.<br/ <br/ I had top-notch, considerably portioned gnocchi with bolognese sauce for £11.50, served whilst the tomato sauce was still bubbling from the oven, with fresh basil scattered on top.<br/ <br/ To make the experience even more superior, they should consider investing in a second credit card machine to take two payments simultaneously since this was a bit slow.<br/ <br/ I was really fond of this restaurant and highly recommend it. Now I just need to think up another reason to go back next week.."

Wright Brothers - Spitalfields

Wright Brothers - Spitalfields

8a Lamb Street London, E1 6EA, United Kingdom

Fish • Cakes • Seafood • British


"for a culinary tasty spitalfields has always represented for me. androuet, blixen and la pietra are a few who have touched my taste buds. close to living and working, it is unavoidable that I will have a walk through the market and my request for food will be fulfilled by a snack here. the wright brothers were on my list. I follow their Instagram feed and love the tantalizing food recordings and bag of personality have their posts. in the did, I think that more and more, instagram influences my decision where to dine. it is not always easy or cost-effective to book a photographer to improve their website gallery, so that instagram helps to cut corners in a visual, up to the current and effective way. last year, she left on her food gallery in comparison to a fast snap on her smartphone of the special of the day on her Instagram feed. I urge the gastwirte to truly embrace this kind of marketing. as always, back to review. wright brothers in spitalfields is filled with an older, intelligent serious amount. it is only important that they know if they are a bart, thin jeans and are a little more shoreditch than city. that said it doesn't make any difference, because it's in the middle of it. we tried to lunch and although we had not made a reservation, we were squeezed in. one thing I have to note that it was busy, but the waitress while she serves one table and recognizes another who practically snapped her finger on attention, nodded us the way to tell us that she would be in a second with us. this type of rolling to cheer, reminds me of the old school service, when the front of the home team saw this industry really as a career route, in contrast to gap fillers / travelling jobs. it brings them to lightness and flea mouse, they know they are in good hands. After we sat with menus, we asked for a few straightening and she continued to blow our thoughts further by knowing exactly what was in the board, as it was suggested and presented. we were sold. it was literally a breath of fresh air. I rarely talk about the service in restaurants, unless it is particularly bad, since most of the time it is easy to fit and not worth mentioning. that was the bar for all future places I'm going to surpass. I don't hold my breath. we went for the express punch menu, which is worth money with 2 curses for £21.00 or 3 courses for £25.00 the portion sizes are not rational, they are actually left at the top. for beginners I had places achovies, with shaved winter bites and cut-off. sam (not me or who lives in essex) had graceburn feta, pomelo and cashew nuts salat. the specificity here is seafood, but I just wanted to add that they do steak so that meat lovers are not let out. for the main course it was a ugly garnel filled burger with chips and chipotle mayo for sam and a multil mushroom rich wild garlic mushroom tagliatelle. Yeah, it was rocking. we were good with our decision to come here, because that was excellent. during the meal, the service continues attentive and on point. real smile and intention to help. I highly recommend visiting this one or other place. they have definitiw dinge I'm sorry, right!"