Cucumber Salad Cucumber Salad
Basement Galley

Basement Galley

Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum 10 South Access Road, Waltham Forest, United Kingdom

Fish • Meat • Cafés • Coffee


"Hopefully, this review will be balanced and fair.....I was so excited about this evening, a meal on a tube for an underground enthusiast on her birthday. I think you need a mix of great food, service, ambiance and value..... I know my daughter had emailed...ahead and asked for specific seats... when we arrived, we were not even on tube seats, but rickety, incredibly uncomfortable wooden chairs and a table at such an angle, we kept having to rescue the food. We asked (we were pretty much the first people on), if we could sit on a table that was actually a tube seat and the woman was really rude to us. The service was mediocre... the food was slow (i do understand this isn't a commercial kitchen), and the only warm course was cold. We were not asked throughout the meal how it was (I suspect due to our initial request to change seats). The guy in charge was friendly though The food did taste good, but I would expect that for the price. The menu was interesting and we cleared our plates each course A lot of the time, the serving staff looked bored and redundant when they could have been more proactive...(they never once tried to offer additional drinks which would be a lucrative opportunity) When we were offered bread to start, she barked just take one' which was quite amusing.... We had too leave as soon as the food had finished as the chairs were so uncomfortable our backs were hurting and legs gone numb (first world problems i know). The music was so loud too. They did make an effort at the end with a candle which was a nice touch I think this is a sound concept, and. with some finesse of the timings, service and comfort, could score a 5...... I wouldn't go back, The thing that makes me sad is that my 19 year old daughter had spent the £100 on this meal for us and was gutted as she felt she had let me down... which wasn't the case at all"

My Old Place

My Old Place

Middlesex Street, London I-, United Kingdom, E1 7EZ

Fish • Asian • Chinese • Szechuan


"Good hole in the wall Szechuan. I used to live in Shoreditch and frequent Gourmet San in Bethnal Green. My Old Place near Aldgate have the same owners and I was happy to have this replacement near the new flat. If you live local, it is better for takeaway that eating in at the restaurant. Though the atmosphere is convivial, the decor is basic with fluorescent tubes on the ceiling. There are a lot of hard surfaces, so acoustics are poor when the restaurant is crowded. It was crowded on a Saturday night. It's always a good sign when a Chinese restaurant is packed with Chinese people. One of my go-to Szechuan dishes is braised potato, green pepper and aubergine. As usual this dish was delicious, pungent and garlicky. It's a little hotter than usual here. Some of the green peppers were sweet paprikas but there were also smaller, thinner fleshed, hot peppers in the mix. If you can't handle heat, be careful to pick over the peppers. Yu-Shiang Beef was very good. Beef was extremely tender. I liked the fact that the julienned bamboo had been soaked in water which removed that distinctive woody taste I dislike. However, they did add a lovely crunch. Made with a nice black vinegar (the Chinese equivalent of balsamic) and ever so slightly sweet and a subtle hint of dried chilli. I'd order this again. Smashed cucumber was flavorful with lots of garlic and fresh coriander. One order is a lot of cucumber salad for two people. In the future I will order this when we are a larger table. We had a single serving of plain rice which was actully enough for two people. A copious takeout order with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch was £27. That said, the portions although generous, were not out control huge like I remember at Gourmet San."