Raspberry Cheesecake Raspberry Cheesecake

A rich cheesecake topped with a sweet raspberry glaze and fresh raspberries.

The Willow

The Willow

16 The Triangle, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

Steak • European • Vegetarian • Contemporary


"We booked a table at The Willow for a birthday celebration and it didn 't disappoint. We were initially intrigued by the restaurant 's website and the range of food it offered and we were curious to see if it lived up to its promise. On arrival we were greeted and taken to our table all the tables were beautifully set out and the lighting was soft and ambient. Each table had a lily in a little vase and coupled with the shining glass and silverware and the unobtrusive music in the background, the impression was very positive and welcoming. Excellent first impressions! I ordered brill in a black squid ink batter, pea shoots and sweet potato fries and my wife, a vegan, ordered a Rainbow Salad and Falafel burger with sourdough bun and sweet potato fries. Both meals were of a very high quality: the fish was expertly cooked, fresh and delicious and the batter was remarkable and delectable. It was a revelation to us both to try sweet potato fries a first. They were delicious and very moreish and we will definitely be having them again. My wife was very taken with the Rainbow Salad and asked to see the ingredients for future reference. The Manager willingly showed us the restaurant book where we were able to see colour photos of all the dishes and their ingredients and any allergens and dietary information. For dessert my wife had a B Raw raspberry cheesecake (made with coconut) and on finding out that it was her birthday, the chef wrote 'Happy Birthday ' in dark chocolate sauce across the plate a really lovely touch! I had Almond and Chocolate Dome with raspberry ice cream: delicious too. All in all we had a wonderful, relaxed and enjoyable meal at The Willow. We will definitely be returning to sample more of the dishes on their extensive menu. There is something for everybody at The Willow: meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans are amply catered for and their philosophy of food is encouraging and to be recommended. Thank you very much!"

Mullins Brasserie

Mullins Brasserie

6 Market Place, CT9 1EN, Thanet, United Kingdom

Steak • Vegan • Jamaican • Caribbean


"Having been raised at the knees of Caribbean and African women, sometimes I’m just in need of some soul food. I’ve often gone past Mullins and seen that it is busy, and looks bright, clean, warm and friendly. And it is. The decor works really well. Low-key, warm and welcoming. Music is a soothing stream of lilting Caribbean classics. The waiting staff are lovely. So friendly. And the menu looks great. There isn’t too much of it, and it is quite hard to choose because it all sounds amazing. Price points are really good. But. The food is genuinely terrible. I went for a Creole fish stew. I don’t know how you can make a stew without flavour. When you are cooking things slowly and together, flavour infuses flavour. But not here. This was a good sized portion of piping hot well presented food. But my God it tasted awful. Basically chopped potato surrounded by small lumps of bland unidentifiable white fish, half a dozen mussels, some of which were still closed, and therefore inedible, and three flavourless prawns in shells. There was a pinch of Samphire on the top, and this was the sum total of the vegetables I could find. It came in what I can only describe as a thick red sauce. If there was tomato in it, there was no flavour to it. It was highly salty, and this was the dominant flavour throughout. The fish had no flavour of fish, and it was intensely spiced in a lip plumping way. Essentially, it was all heat and salt. With a slight tang of gents toilets. I suspect this was from the mussels. I did raise the blandness twice with the waiter, and the strange unpleasant toilet flavour. He said he would tell chef. And that was that. No feedback on the dreadful flavour other than that it was all fresh. I ate the entirety of the meal because I had travelled a long way and had not eaten. I saw it simply as fuel. It was not enjoyable. I paid and left. Mullins is so close to getting everything right, but a restaurant is its food. I’m not going back."

Manhattan Grill

Manhattan Grill

22 Hertsmere Road, London E14 4ED, United Kingdom, Tower Hamlets

Steak • Grill • American • Steakhouse


"5 Stars??? Yes I do feel generous sometimes, unlike the teachers in high school who never wanted to shell out that extra half a mark for a spelling mistake. Let 's get back to Manhattan Grill and analyse (food reviewing is very serious business I tell ya! how and why they deserve full marks. I am more of a West London girl and I like the Victorian and Georgian buildings but the walk to Manhattan Grill, especially the pretty bridge you have to cross from Canary Wharf to reach your destination (Manhattan Grill is extremely romantic (that is the best word I could use, I promise . The external ambience of any restaurant does add to its charm. Oh did I mention that this steak house is a part of Mariott, these guys are ace when it comes to such things! I made a reservation before going and I was extremely delighted to see that the manager remembered my name without having to look at one of those black diaries. The service was a bit slow initially (it took them a while to get us water which we requested for but the overall service made up for that little jolt. I was generous to take a friend of mine along with me (nothing is worse than eating alone, I promise to try this place (did I mention that I won a voucher from this lovely site? Woohoo Zomato! and we decided to go for cocktails instead of wine, think we both had enough of wine over the weekend. While I was trying to carefully pick a cocktail from the menu and looking rather confused, the manager suggested that we had to the bar where an extremely experienced bar genius will talk us through all of them. We made our way to a very old fashioned (in a nice way looking bar called the G&T bar and as the name suggests they specialise in Gin. The bar genius, Sam made us try some lovely Gin from around the world Saffron infused Gin, Spice route Gin and a very London Gin. All of them had their own distinctive tastes I am not a neat spirit kind of girl but even I loved all of them especially the silk route or spice route gin (yeah yeah make those lame curry jokes, go on because I could taste the cinnamon, cardamom and other gorgeous spices. He made me a cocktail with that gin and added some more exciting things to it which included rosemary, chocolate and orange liquor BLISS. Before entering the restaurant I was starving but all this Gin excitement made me forget my hunger but by the time my cocktail was ready the waiter came and said : 'Madam your Steak is ready ' Perfect Timing! I went for the rib eye steak with creamy mash and red wine sauce keep it simple! My steak was perfectly cooked medium well (just the way I like and it was MASSIVE! A person with my appetite can never finish one of those, and needless to say I didn 't either! After being rather satisfied with my steak and cocktail, we ordered for a Manhattan Raspberry Cheesecake It was again simple but delicious. Perfect sweetness, I don 't like my cheesecakes to be extremely sugary and a generous crust nom nom nom. And... I am running out of stars! Verdict : Stunning location, Great service, Knowledgeable bar genius with a great moustache, Beautiful,well done meat and yummy desserts That m 'dear is a perfect dinner! I shall rest my case here. You can read more details on my blog."