Chicken Skewers
Toro Gordo

Toro Gordo

121 King Street London, W6 9JD, United Kingdom

Beer • Wine • Tapas • Spanish


"influenced by japan, but with a strong Spanish feeling, toro gordo is an interesting little place. it is hard to compare toro gordo with one of the tapas restaurants I visited during my tour as it is so different. Spanish aromen fill the menu and Latin and Asian cocktails invite them to a happy condition. the walls in the baths are plastered with manga comic book strips, while the main restaurant room has red tinted lighting, real plants and old wood, which was a great function of sites like drakes tobanco and barrica. in the heart of hammersmith, toro gordo stands out a little. the small restaurant with music and chatter, while the quiet street outside seems gray in comparison. as soon as they enter the building, there is a feeling to be transported to another place with the rich beaded of chorizo and roasted meat in the air. the cocktail bar sits around 10 people despite its small size and is mainly rammed with bottles from all over the world. the main restaurant has tables around the edges with a single round table in the middle as well as a token plant that separates the bar area from the restaurant. based on our current tapas tour, we were thrilled to see the menu. the toro gordo menu is more of the tapas styles I have eaten in Spanish with many meat and oil dishes. starting with each cocktail we ordered: croquettes, gambas pil, huevos rotos,pulto al toro, alcachofas and chorizo plus a malaga breeze, mojito, a glass otoñal tinto (the house red) and a glass venta morales. our courts arrived in succession; as one ended another magical one, which, as they were usually drilled through, gives the chef a guard. the cocktails were refreshing, but lethal, as the taste of alcohol was very light. my málaga breeze was very sweet and came to bribe with a fresh strawberry, while alex’s mojito with sake was a fresher take on the classic drink. croquettes filled with spinach and nuts, so this court was for alex. they were freshly boiled and fucked with a saline from the cheese hot. the spinat gave a earthy note and the code a further hit of saltiness. served with a stinging garlic mayo. gambas pil pil the dish is very warm with four large juicy garnels in a rich sauce. the sauce is a basic of garlic, thymian and white wine boiled in a thick glaze, then dusted with paparika for heat. the prawns are weakened and really freshly tasted. huevos rotos con foie although I liked more leber on the teller, it felt a little like a Spanish egg and chips that made fun. I would also have preferred the sun-dried tomatoes that are cut and it is quite difficult to cut. pulpo al toro this court of otopus with guacamole was actually cold, which was surprising. the textur of the ocotopus was great, but the court was incredibly salty, which was a scandal. alcachofas I love artichokes and this dish was a true celebration of this unique sweet. the sauce was beautiful and fresh with a light green finish. the court didn't need any tomato so I didn't eat them. chorizon this dish was exceptionally oily, but deep and rich in taste. I used these sausage pieces to bake the bread, and the oily residue was great to show up! overall my experience of toro gordo was fantastic. we received a great service throughout the scientific and international team. there are strong Spanish notes of paparika, garlic and olive oil, while the meal gave a beautiful roundness. we have fed our meal with an espresso martini with cream de catalunya, I seriously recombinant it!"

Floripa

Floripa

91 93 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HZ, Hackney, United Kingdom

Fish • Steak • Fusion • European


"This is the worst place I have ever been in 9 years living in London. I went there with a big group of friends and we got in for free, I initially thought that the staff was kind to let us in, but eventually it turned to be a real scam. First of all, as soon as inside you are presented with a cheap place with old and ruined furnitures, not to mention the quality of their cocktails and the crazy expensiveness. Cocktails in average are 13£, but they are literally watery fruit juices. As a group we spent a lot, probably 400£ given that we were 15 people. After some time inside, we managed to find a big table for us. We were there enjoying the birthday of one of our friend when the security guy came and basically obligated us to either put our jackets in the clock room or leave the place. We spent a lot and we did not deserve such a treatment. The guy was untreatable, we could not even orgie or ask questions as he would ignore us. He was very rude to all of us, therefore we decided to leave the place. As soon as we came out the place, some of our friends, all young ladies, urgently needed to go beck to quickly use the toilette. The same security guy, as well as the manager, an east European lady, did not let the girls in, just as a revenge because we left the place without paying extra money for a non-sense clock room. The manager literally started screaming at us in an authoritative way saying that they had to find another place to go to the toilette. They were very rude and unprofessional. If you want to enjoy good music in a nice environment with professionally made cocktails, go around the corner and there is an amazing place with cocktails between 9-12£, but please do not go to this club because it’s the worst place you can go."

The Blossom

The Blossom

Voco Hotel46 Torphicen Street, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Full • Cafe • Wine • Italian


"Whilst the food was nice and reasonably priced, the service left a lot to desired. We had a table booked for 8pm all as we’d expect by this point. We ordered a pint of Stella and a glass of lemonade plus a jug of water for the table, so nothing too exotic or taxing to prepare. 15 minutes later our drinks arrived, minus the jug of water and our food order was taken. So it’s now just a few minutes after 8pm and we order, again nothing to difficult, just 2 sirloin steaks; one medium and one rare. Fast forward a while to 9:20 and our food still hasn’t arrived, neither has the jug of water we ordered 1 1/2 hours ago. Now I don’t expect to be eating within 5 minutes of sitting down but neither do I expect to be waiting 1 1/2 hours for my first course. I called a waiter over to ask if he could find out how long our food was likely to be and it must’ve been some kind of divine intervention because within about 10 seconds our food was on the table. I decided to risk it and ask for another pint of Stella, big mistake. We ate our main course and our dessert was brought out about 5 minutes later. Luckily we had the foresight to order dessert at the same time as our mains. We finished our desserts at no great pace, just relaxing and chatting while we ate and still waiting for the beer I’d ordered which never materialised. Paid the bill and left around about 10:20. Whilst the venue was pleasant as was was the food, the service left little to be desired. Will I go back? Perhaps, perhaps not. We left satisfied with the food but very disappointed with the service."