Great Thai food Service efficient…read moreAmbiance is settling and very cool I'd recommend highly

We had to wait about an hour to be seated since the restaurant was packed, but it was definitely…read moreworth it. The service was good the staff were very friendly, approachable, and attentive to our needs. The ambience was nice and inviting. The food was also delicious, and we had no complaints at all. Overall, a great place to dine.

Located between Notting Hill and Bayswater, Banana Tree is the home of Pan-Asian Cuisine in the…read morehearth of London. This award-winning restaurant it's all about exceptional quality food. Come and thirst-quenching oriental cocktails in a relaxed atmosphere! Chef William Chow opened his first 36-seater 'Indo-Chinese' cafe in West London twenty-seven years ago. The cafe was born out of his great passion for the different dishes in this specific Southeast Asian region, including Singaporean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Thai cuisine. Banana Tree strives to bring us exotic flavours that are often not available outside of this Southeast Asian region. I wanted to start the meal trying the crispy vegetable dumplings with spicy, sweet and sour sauce. Believe it or not, that was the first time I had fried dumplings instead of steamed ones. I was surprised by the crunchiness of the batter in contrast with the warm and soft filling made of cooked vegetables. Their sauce was quite spicy, I have to say, but real Thai food is actually super spicy! My main was a Bun Bo Vietnamese salad with chicken satay skewers. It's called salad, but it's more like a Buddah bowl in my opinion. The dish looks like a large bowl of rice noodle garnished with fresh vegetables, crumbled nuts, crispy sautéed spring onions with a huge shrimp chip and mini spring rolls on top, all seasoned with delicious Nuoc Cham sauce. It can give you the impression it's a nonsense dish, but I give you my word that works! I started with crispy rolls because nobody likes cold-eaten spring rolls! I continued with the chicken skewers (they offer a seitan option as well). After that, I could easily mix all the remaining ingredients with the sweet and slightly spicy Nuoc Cham sauce to give them flavour. The dining experience was something new and fun to me, completely different from what my conception of food is! At the end of the meal, I decided to spoil myself with dessert. I ordered the "Frotiteroles" that apart from having a lame name was a complete disaster. They tried to make profiteroles out of bananas. A sort of battered and fried chunks of banana, moistened with sweet chocolate syrup; needless to say that both taste and consistency made me sick, they gave me the impression of eating a way too mature splattered banana. Fortunately, I had a scoop of mango sorbet that saved me from this infamous dessert!

The foods here are mediocre. When I looked at the menu and one of the dish is called Bun Bo, but…read morethe ingredients have zero "Bo", which mean beef, that must be a clue. The pad Thai lack palm sugar and tamarind flavor. The texture is good. The color is good. The presentation is good. The flavor is lacking. The beef Rendang is ok. Good tender meat. Could use a tad more flavor. But it's not bad.

Some changes have occurred at Royal Thai, most notably they've moved. Next door…read more This isn't as odd as it seems, now they have twice the amount of seating space and even additional seating in a downstairs area whereas before conditions could become a little... cosy. Little has changed with the menu, all as it was prior to the move just with some new additions. And alcohol! No longer a BYOB establishment but now a non-BYOB establishment (just like a normal restaurant really). I believe they also accept card payments now too. So, all modern and up to date then. I think a majority of the prices have also crept up but seeing as Royal Thai was quite cost effective anyway the current prices are still very reasonable. There is shiny new furniture, however, to occupy this new residence adding further polish and completing a new(ish) look but leaving a nice, familiar feeling. As far as I'm aware all of the staff are still the same and, most importantly, the food is still pretty darn amazing. TTFN, Ian

I use to was crazy about this place. However for one reason or another I haven't visited there for…read moreabout 2 years. Therefore I can't even express how disappointed I was to discover that the food wasn't nowhere as delicious as it use to be. Mixed starter plate was ok...fishcakes were really chevy though. The vegetarian curry was lacking in flavour and it seemed like the only vegetable that was added to the dish were potatoes and dried soya cubes :(

Thai Aubergine was located in front of the Travelodge in King's Cross. There were only one couple…read more(using a Tastecard) eating there at 18:35 yesterday. The owner (old female) and the female chef were sitting at one of the tables chatting. Two waitresses were busy chatting behind the counter; one was friendly and the other was surly. Tod Mun Pia (Pla?) was tasty, but the texture was very soft. The dip didn't contain any peanuts as was described in the menu. It only had three small pieces and wasn't a good value. Poh Pia Ped (Duck Spring Roll) was crispy and had a nice flavour, but again the portion was small for £5 and I was not keen on hoi sin sauce. Both dishes had tired shredded cabbage & carrots and tomato on limp lettuce with brown edges. It was clear they did not use fresh vegetables and they did not prepare with care. They brought us one Steamed Rice and one Sticky Rice well before the main course, so they got cold. We asked them not to put garlic in our mains, but both Gai Med Muang (£7.35) and Talay Graprow (£8.80) came with lots of them, and were way too salty. So we sent them back together with cold rice and asked them not to make them too salty. When we got the replacements, they tasted fine, but again they did not offer good value. The former (Chicken with Cashew Nuts) only had 6-7 small slices of chicken and 6-7 cashew nuts. The rest was lots of onions, peppers and carrots. The latter had one prawn, one mussel, three squid pieces and 5 small slices of fish cakes. The rest was composed from lots of peppers and lovely green beans. Steamed Rice was hard and was of the cheap variety - not the fragrant Jasmine Rice. Sticky Rice came in a nice container and was slightly on the hard side, but was fine. The décor was slightly tired; the wallpaper was peeling. It is definitely not suitable for a date; he/she will not forgive you. The owner (?) was very friendly and chatty. Chef was capable of producing tasty dishes, but it was a shame they used cheap ingredients and the prices were too high for the poor quality. As a result, they did not offer good value. I don't think I will go back.

I'd wanted to try this place for ages, after passing it so many times and admiring the quaint bench…read moreand tables outside below the blooming flowers and hanging vines. Peering through the window in to the small, squared restaurant decorated in a traditional yet refined Thai fashion. Even the smell was amazing - a sort of Lime and Basil smell. I started to believe I had found someplace wonderful. I was even gleeful when I saw they offer a delivery service. It's such a shame that from this point on the whole experience was a bit shit. Initially, the service was a bit frosty and it only became colder. After my vegetarian lady-friend had to send back her first vegetarian order as it was covered in oyster sauce we were then told that she could only have a noodle soup (and 2 of the three noodle soups on the menu had meat in them) as all of the other dishes either contained meat or were covered in a meat or fish sauce and could not be changed. The waitress seemed to take it personally that a vegetarian had walked in and asked for a vegetarian meal. I played it safe (so I thought) and opted for a Thai Green curry - which turned out to be the worst Thai Green I'd ever had. Oh, and the lady-friend didn't enjoy her noodle soup either. There were mixed feelings among fellow diners, the table next to ours were quite happy with their meals. They also had a Taste London card - I wish we had 50% off the food bill too, oh well. I find it remarkable, however, that a restaurant in business today cannot adequately cater for vegetarians. Thai Aubergine is nice to look at but you'll be best to leave it at that. To new experiences! Ian

Hands down one of the best meals in London. The food was incredible and the service was on point…read morefrom the minute we sat down. Huge compliments to this team for putting together a great dinner experience for our family. Had the pad Thai, black pepper chicken and the drunken noodles. Just a perfect meal - food and the service. Thank you!

We stopped for dinner because of the good reviews and I was very disappointed. We waited about 15…read moremins for a table for three. The staff were very nice but I can't say the same for the food. 3/5 Egg rolls - just average 3/5 Cooked shrimp salad - the sauce was a bit sweet and was just ok 2/5 Thai sausage - too sour for my liking. I didn't like the small nuggets of sausage. I prefer the whole sausage cut into pieces 1/5 Chicken laab - wayyyy too bland 3/5 Lard na - just ok I wouldn't recommend this place. Very disappointed.

After visiting a number of Chinatown restaurants for Cantonese Dim Sum, Lido is one of the best!…read moreLido is smack in the heart of Chinatown and restaurant competition is fierce. While Lido garners the historical note as the oldest Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (1969), it has kept up appearances. The restaurant is casual, not too fancy, and not old school Chinatown dumpy where you're afraid to sit on the dirty chairs. White table cloths are a nice touch. We've tried a LOT of the dim sum dishes, with a few that I've never eaten before. All the steamed dim sum came out piping hot fresh. Personal highlights included #2 Pork & Prawn Dumplings with Crabmeat, #5 Pork, Shrimp & Peanut Dumplings Chiu Chow Style, #6 Prawns & Coriander Dumplings, #10 Chicken Claws in Black Bean Sauce, and #15 Stuffed Bean Curd with Pork & Prawn. #11 Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce was way better than a restaurant down the street which gave the worst fatty end cuts of tasteless ribs. My favorite new dish was #43 Pan Fried Turnip Pork & Shrimp Paste with XO Sauce. It was delicious even with unanticipated chili heat. Another new one for me was #46 Deep Fried Dough Stick Cheung Fun which was so unusual for cheung fun! We also loved #51 Preserved Egg with Preserved Pork Congee. Well made "jook" just like Mom used to make. #63 Mixed Seafood Fried Noodles was tasty too. Service was typical Chinatown style, quick and no nonsense. Food came out fast, tea pot readily refilled, and empty dishes constantly removed. Lido is now our go-to for Chinatown Dim Sum. We'll try not to over-order again! For more Chinatown ideas, click the link below and Follow my Yelp Collection: London Soho & Chinatown Passport. https://www.yelp.com/collection/MxpW8LlXyDLsGWWpwuBssA/London-Soho-Chinatown-Passport

We ordered the roasted duck, vegetable spring rolls, wonton soup, and tea. Everything was pretty…read moregood and hit the spot. Nice place for a casual Chinese meal.

So we were a group of 7 +1 child that were starving and needed to eat on a Sunday night around…read more6:30. Wagamama was crowded and the wait was 'unknown' due to the policy of letting one in and one gets out (I don't blame them and actually appreciate that) So we decided to try Busaba. I'M GLAD WE DID. My cousin who lives in London and loves Wagamama said he thought the food quality and the food itself was better here than at Wagamama (he's a chef). My only two complaints (one of which is completely legit while the other may just be my perspective coming from the US) are: a. Took FOREVER for someone to come and even talk to us once we were seated (I'd say we waited at least 15 to 20 min and they were not busy) b. The portion sizes for the prices were a little off in my opinion. I think we should have gotten about 20% more food on the plate in terms of the prices we paid but again, I may be way off base on this one since I'm used to the huge pig size portions we get in the US. Great ambiance. Two things I absolutely LOVED: Matchstick chicken The shrimp chips

We decided to have dinner with my family and friends since we will return to the US tomorrow. The…read morefood was very delicious and well prepared. We had good service from the staff members, and the ambiance was lovely. I would return here to have dinner again and I look forward to return here the next time I visit the UK.

Navigating through Greek street around 09:00pm on a summery Saturday night is an experience in…read moreitself, but once you've walked through the vibrant street you find the little Gem Patara. On entering, we were formally greeted in Thai by the front house and shown to our table. Within a minute of sitting down we were greeted by a waiter and asked wether we'd like still or sparkling water. To which we also received the complimentary prawn crackers #hmmhmmhmmmm :) very hospitable service. The decor is Thai inspired, romantically dim and not too loud. Now onto the reason you are here, food... Every course was delicious! Delicious in smell, presentation and of course... Taste! The flavoursome dishes had us reminiscing the explosion of flavours and smells we met in Phuket. The chicken and prawn satay sticks were soft, juicy and not oily. The peanut dip made the commute through London worthy! The lamb was cooked well. The meat literally slipped off the bone, whilst the Prawn and pineapple curry was perfect! Not too sweet, nor too coconutty. The portions are very generous, if personally recommend two rice portions per person. Great value for money. All in all the experience was superb, we will return soon. Kop kun khurp!

Simply said terrible food and setvice not a Turist trap simply an awful experience. We wanted…read moresome good thai food and ended at this restaurant which needs to change the esthetic things. We sat down and ordered our food boring my wife had glutten allergies. After a king disjointed explanation on cross contamination we confirmed our choices The food came swiftly but it contained thd hot peppers we specifically told the waitress my wife did want. They took the plate away and in less than one minute she brought it back " new plate" bs was simply the previous order they took the chilies out. My steak which I requested well done wax rare instead. The food tasted bland and mediocre overall For 90 pounds we had a terrible meal Do not waste your time avoid this place