Is it crazy to call this place the best soup place in the world.... maybe but it was definitely the…read morebest we ever had. I could have sworn I left a review of this place when we were here a year a go... but it is not here. We are going to be back in London in Feb and there are about 5 must do things when we get back... and this is one of them. A year ago we were wandering around this part of London... sort of lost. We know we wanted to have soup so we were stopping at every restaurant and reading the menus. It was a cold misty day so the day screamed SOUP. We were starting to think Londoners don't eat soup! We were about to give up because we had gone past most of the restaurants area when this place appeared. It was small and unassuming. There was a young happy (Portuguese ?) guy serving soup from about 8 or so big kettles of soup with fresh... and really good, bread. We had wandered in tired and wet and that soup was amazing. We had two different kinds (I forget which) and both were just great. It made the evening into something magical, and not dreary, cold, and wet. So we will always return to this place when we have the opportunity to come back to London.

We enjoyed our dishes very much!, the soups we tried were out of this world, we are from the US and…read moreback home you will find such quality only in 5 star and expensive places. This place is down to earth and the taste from another planet :)

Word has it that this restaurant is owned by the same people who own the nearby Lemongrass. It has…read morea crisp modern design that's cosy for groups, and plenty of staff so you don't wait too long. The Thai pop music isn't too loud to chat with friends and is a nice touch. I ordered the vegetable spring rolls and they were nicely fried - crisp and light. The inside was a little too much cabbage for me - I'd love to see more mushroom and other flavors! The pad see ew, however was the best I have ever had in my 30 years of eating Thai food ! It was sauced just right, and had a nice variety of ingredients including fresh peas, carrots, a leafy green that may have been bok choi leaves, and green beans. I could have eaten another plate of it if my stomach were bigger! My only suggestion is that mild doesn't include slices of chili- I'm a wimp and one section of the dish was just on the edge of too hot for me! The dessert menu includes some complex and unusual Thai treats and the more standard ice cream combos - it's worth a look. The area is easily and quickly reached from the hotels south of Gatwick via local Metro buses 100 and 10, and dinner here is definitely better than the hotels'! And probably less expensive.

Lovely soup with smallest starting just under £6. Free choice of fruit (apple, banana) if you don't…read morehave bread. Rice can also be added to the soup. Fewl free to sample all of the soups before buying (they don't quibble...although folk queuing behind you might, lol). Peak hours can bring long queues, but service is quick so you'd rarely have to wait more than 7 mins. Have to drop a star because at the end of the day it is soup I'm being sold for £6! It pains me every time when I think about it, but it never fails to be a tasty warm fix on a cool day.

The food was nice but the soup was very.... hairy I found…read moremultiple long bits of hair in my soup and it was just not cool, so in the end I just gave up I probably found seven small to large bits of hair in there Anyways everything else is lovely, although the employees seem a bit.. bored, and they sound a little sarky at some points So overall, nice main, bad soup, didn't stick around for dessert

Delicious! I had the Butternut with cumin soup and a…read morespinach cornbread muffin. Perfect for this chilly day. Great deal. Love it. See the pic.

This place smells happy. The moment you walk in you are greeted by the comforting aromas of…read morebubbling soup. Also, any place with such a punny name get's my vote. When I first moved to London (all those years ago) this was my closest station and I walked past Nin Com Soup every time I went to Old Street. Now, years later it's 3pm, I've been running around all day and I need some comfort food. I'm a comfort eater. It makes me happy to be full. That also means I'm always fighting fat. But here, you can indulge in a slighter liquid lunch. These guys have a huge array of soups on offer, along with breakfasts, home made corn bread, freshly squeezed juices and more. It's totally worth it for a winter warming bowl of soup. If you're anything like me it'll make you feel a lot better.

After wandering in the forest the whole day, we needed some hot coffee before sitting down to…read moredinner. Standard problem, post 6:30pm in a Saturday, none of the coffee shops in the area were open. So we started walking, while looking for an Italian restaurant (they do serve coffee after dinner, right?) We just happened to find Cafe Maya at the Polish cultural Center before we found an Italian restaurant on this street and headed in. They have a ton of Polish dishes on their menu and there is a more upscale Polish restaurant upstairs. Cafe Maya operates as a self service cafe, but it has beautifully cosy interiors. Hot meals meals from the kitchen are delivered to your table, but you order and pay first and pick up your drinks and cakes before you sit down. We tried lattes and flat whites and were very very happy. We also tasted a chocolate and cheese cake for the first time in our life and never realised how well the flavours go together. Almost like a cream cheese frosting taste, but baked along with the cake. Not sure I'm explaining this well, but you have to try it! We didn't try any of the food as we had reservations elsewhere with friends, but I'd love to go back to taste their food too.

Amazing little café with the BEST home baked desserts. Very friendly staff and delicious polish…read morefood. Definitely worth a visit, great value for home made food too!

This new soup bar on Holborn Viaduct recently opened and throughout July has been giving away…read morecoffee and pastries on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Never to miss out on a freebie we popped by before work for breakfast. Although we were the only ones there the service was very very slow so I wouldn't dash in on the way to work - I would have to factor in time! The coffee is also only mediocre however they serve Tea Pigs tea which I am reliably informed is very good - definitely better than the tea bags we have in the office anyway! The pastries on offer were actually mini muffins which were quite nice but not very breakfasty. They serve these muffins all day long however the pastries, which are just served in the morning, look brilliant (the croissant I saw was massive and so flakey!). The soup menu looks good with some different combos available however is a tad pricey at £4 a pot. It is also waaaay too hot for soup this summer so won't be checking it out until winter!

Here on Bell Street in Reigate, you'll find La Barbe, a 'truly French restaurant' as stated proudly…read moreon their website The Gallic flair extends from chef Romain Havard's food leaving the kitchen through to the friendly and knowledgeable service from the front of house team through to my lovely waitress Caroline conversing avec moi en francais I had received enthusiastic comments of approval from local friends when I mentioned that I was dining at La Barbe. Certainly, a lot of their business seems to be repeat customers, always a good sign and the staff all work hard to make everyone seem special. From the bits of conversation I heard around me, the staff had fantastic memory about when guests were last in the restaurant, who they were with, what they ate and what they said, which is nice to see that they have a genuine rapport with their customers They were very kind to seat me at a prime table near the window. I had a good view of the entrance and no arriving guests had to wait more than 30 seconds before a member of staff would come over to welcome them and show them to their table. It's these little touches that make your dining experiences memorable La Barbe's menu is in a set menu format. You pay a set amount for 2 or 3 courses and there is a choice of 8 regular items in each of the starter, main course and dessert sections. There is also a daily special in each section and you can add extra vegetables to your main course Chef Havard's is classically French, reflecting his upbringing and training in Normandy and Brittany. Although there are old classics like snails in garlic butter on the menu, I think it would be doing the food a dis-service to call it bistro cooking. There is a modernity to the menu and some inventive twists to pique the foodie's interest though you can definitely recognise the French background and technique underpinning the menu I started with foie gras creme brulee with pear chutney and brioche toast. It's the sort of dish that makes sense the moment you see the words on the menu and you wonder why no one else has thought of it. The foie gras was of the lightest and smoothest parfait consistency and yet had that satisfying depth of foie flavour. The richness needs a sweet foil to offset it and the brulee topping is a partner made in heaven. Top thinking by Chef Havard. The pear chutney also lent a lovely sweet and sour element to complement the foie. The best thing about dining in this little corner of France in Reigate was that it wasn't bad table manners to use my bread to mop up every last smear of foie gras from my ramekin! Talking of bread, I've heard on a TV food program that the main difference between bread in the UK and on the continent lies in the crust. The bread here had the prefect crunchy crust, leaving the fluffy inside for foie gras mopping up! My main course was the pan fried fillet of venison served with Madeira sauce and sweet potato mash. Nice to hear the staff asking diners how they would like their meat cooked and my venison came out medium rare as requested. The dish may sound simple but its simplicity is what makes it difficult to execute perfectly - with only 3 elements on the plate, every single one has to be perfect and I really enjoyed my main course I found myself with space for dessert and after a short period of indecision, I opted for chocolate soup, moëlleux chocolate cake and marshmallow. The cake was moist, gooey and chocolatey, slightly little less dense than a brownie. The chocolate soup was a dipping sauce made with good quality dark chocolate and there were 2 homemade marshmallows and some fruit to dip. A chocoholic's idea of heaven on a plate Allied to the fantastic food, the service also sets La Barbe apart. Nothing seemed to be too much trouble for guests. Caroline, my waitress was happy to explain the dishes in more details. The maitre d' Gorvan really indulged the foodie in me once he found out that I was a food enthusiast - amongst other subjects, we discussed our favourite restaurants, his mum's secret twist on Coquilles St Jacques which I hope to see on the menu one day and his experience with entering MasterChef This is a special restaurant and I look forward to a return visit. My next mission is to find out why it's called La Barbe (the beard in French)

Been many times and it's always good…read more I've known the staff to be rude on occasion but well worth a visit, as it's not easy to find French food this good as a rule.