Stir-Fried Broccoli
Mien Tay

Mien Tay

45 Fulham High Street, London SW6 3JJ, London, SW63JJ, SW11 5TQ, United Kingdom

Soup • Meat • Seafood • Noodles


"When you dine out, it’s not just about the food but the experience as well. While we enjoyed the food (though perhaps a bit on the salty side) our experience at Mien Tay was quite poor. While the tables around us got their food within ten minutes, we were left waiting for more than 30 minutes for our meal to arrive. We ordered a couple of beers, a starter, and a main. However, from the moment the order was taken to its late arrival we were not once visited by our server – never to say that the food was going to take a bit of time nor that it was almost done. Just silence. The beers did arrive 10 minutes after we placed our order, but given they were just bottles even that seemed late. The water we asked for never arrived, which proved to be problematic given the over salty fish. We had specifically ordered a starter to allow the lengthier cooking time we assumed for the sea bream. This, apparently, was lost on the staff. We were actually just about to walk out in disgust when the food arrived. When I expressed our displeasure to our server, he simply said “I just work here, talk to the bar downstairs.” Hardly an acceptance of fault nor any attempt to make up for the extremely lengthy delay. We raised the point again at the till as we were leaving, but we were simply brushed aside: “the fish takes a long time to cook.” There are so many Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Think carefully about choosing this one if you care for a timely meal and for properly being waited on."

Banana Tree

Banana Tree

75-79 Battersea Rise, London, SW111HN, United Kingdom

Sushi • Asiatic • Seafood • Chicken


"I’ve had the Tastecard a little while now, but never got around to using it. The restaurants featured on the program are largely chain-based. Or not very good ones. So this is my first experience with that in hand. BananaTree is located in the heart of Soho making it an ideal spot to catch up with a friend from the office. The deal meant buy-one-get-one-free so we had a lot of food for not a lot. A good start. Our order consisted of the chicken wings, money bags along with our mains of the beef rendang curry and the pad thai. The fried wings are very good. Messy, sticky and lots of sauce. They offer a recipe for their tantalising wings on their website. It all looks well and good and I get excited up to a point. Then I realise, and decide it’s too many ingredients and too much work. It is one of the most popular appetisers at Banana Tree, and easy to understand why. The rendang was just above average, the meat tasted a bit dry and there wasn’t enough curry for my liking. The beef is quite chunky, and of good quality so its got that going for it. Banana Tree feels like yet another whitewashed Asian-inspired food restaurant in London. Others that come to mind: East Street and Dim T. Dishes across Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam all meld into one being rather than having each of its own elements celebrated. The first store opened a staggering twenty one years ago and now its eight stores it may have traded that authenticity with domination. The venue at Banana Tree has a nice, vibrant atmosphere and this is only completed by the size of the crowd. It’s plenty busy and a popular haunt for some of the other corporate dwellers from the looks of it. I didn’t find the find innovative but it was tasty."