57 Greenwich High Rd, London SE10 8LP

http://www.kitcho.co.uk/ 

I had read some negative reviews about this place as well as good ones, so I thought the only way to find out for myself was to go there and try it.

One of the negative comments was the service, but we found the service to be fast and attentive and very good. Another was a high 15% service charge rather than the industry standard 12.5% This seems to have been taken on board as we were only charged 12.5%.

One thing we did notice though was that there were a number of Japanese couples and diners, all seated around the bar on the ground floor, while everyone else not of Japanese descent was either seated downstairs on the dancefloor area or upstairs. I’m not suggesting there is some sort of racial segregation going on here, and it is always reassuring to see the native people of the cuisine that you are actually eating in the restaurant, but some someone needs to look at the seating allocations in a more culturally inclusive way.

When we arrived it was fairly quiet but very soon it was very busy, but the service still remained fast and professional. The hustle and bustle of this place indicates it’s popularity as we detected a number of regular customers who seemed to know the staff on a familiarity basis. To sum this place up. Great food, dining, and drinks at a reasonable price, with fantastic service. I would highly recommend Kitcho on the basis of our personal experience here, and hope to try this place again soon.

129-131 Trafalgar Rd, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 9TX

 Sefa Restaurant Greenwich | Sefa Restaurant (sefa-restaurant.co.uk)

Ever since this Turkish, Mediterranean restaurant opened it has enjoyed a lot of custom and after you visit you can see why they have regular and returning custom.

You can see all the food being cooked behind a glass window, so you know how the cooks treat your order in an hygienic way.

The staff service is usually fast and efficient and with a good level of customer service even with a large number of customers that on weekends can leave people waiting outside for a table to become available, so it is best to book before arriving, but even then, you may have to wait.

Be warned they tend to give you free bread sauces and sundries before your main ordered meal arrives, but they are so generous with it that you often feel full before you even get your meal.

I’m not sure that makes good business sense but it does keep the customers coming back.

Give this place a try, you won’t be disappointed, but go easy on the free bread and sundries, if you want to experience how good all the food is.

1 Woolwich Rd, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 0RA

Home – Thai Tiger (thai-tiger.com)

I am normally driven to despair and enraged  when I hear of a local pub that has gentrified itself, turns itself into a gastro pub and gets rid of the local clientele. Until it happened to this place

It has gone by a few names over the last decade or two. The Frog and Radiator, Ship and Billet, The Duchess then the Duchess of Greenwich. It was until 2018 known to decent people in the area as a place to avoid unless you were a drug addled chav or just looking for a fight as there was at least one each week in this place.

The place got so bad that in the end, one day the landlord just threw the keys at the customers and said it is all yours and left and the locals and low life actually started to run the pub as a free for all, unknowns to the pub owners or the local authorities. The authorities shut the place down in 2017.

In 2018 the place was reopened to the delight of the decent people of the area as a Thai restaurant and bar called the Thai Tiger.

I have visited it a few times on my own and also along with the wife, and have been pleasantly surprised by the food and the efficiency of the amiable Thai staff.

On each visit it is clear that they have their local clientele that frequent the establishment on a regular basis and are on first name terms with the staff, and you can tell that the new clientele are not the local scumbags that ruined this place years ago.

I recommend this place for its service efficient staff and lovely food. I’ll be back there as soon as I can.

79 Woolwich New Rd, Woolwich, London SE18 6ED

kailashmomo: home

(3) Kailash MOMO Restaurant | Facebook

We were introduced to this place by our Tibetan friend Metok, who uses this place quite a lot as according to her it is one of only a few Tibetan restaurants in South East London. We have checked and she is right.

From the outside, this place looks just like any other Woolwich café and the menu may seem like a Chinese, Nepalese fusion restaurant, and the place seems to be customed by quite a large number of the local Chinese community.

If you look at the Momo and Thukpa section of the menu you get to the Tibetan foods. Try the Momo’s you will not be disappointed. They are awesome and the Hot Tibetan soups are tasty, filling and nutritious.

Apart from the great food it has the added advantage of being cheap and it has a bar, so alcohol can be consumed on the premises.

We have been there a few times in the past both on our own and with the guidance of our Tibetan friend who is friends with the owners and would recommend it to anyone that wanted to try Tibetan cuisine in one of only a few London locations available at a very reasonable price.

3, Anchor Iron Wharf, Ballast Quay, London SE10 9GL

Midpoint Restaurant | Turkish Restaurant | London 

If you fancy an evening of Mediterranean or Turkish cuisine with great views of passing boats you could spend hundreds of pounds and fly out to the Mediterranean coastline or you could just pop down to the Midpoint restaurant at Greenwich. It’s much cheaper.

Midpoint is a Turkish restaurant overlooking the river Thames, so it has fantastic views as well as fantastic dining. The food is great, and we were most impressed with the wine selection, we quite liked the Turkish wines.

This is very much a family orientated restaurant and so is a very child-friendly establishment, as most Turkish restaurants seem to be.

Service is usually prompt and efficient and friendly, and the atmosphere is relaxed. This place can be popular especially in the summer months, so it is always best to book before turning up.

I highly recommend, trying this place out.

45 River Gardens Walk, London SE10 0UB

Riverside Kawa Pan Asian and Japanese Restaurant | Sushi Restaurant | Greenwich

Riverside Pan Asian Restaurant (formerly the Kawagishi Japanese Restaurant)

The Kawagishi Restaurant and Bar is a fairly new establishment located along the riverside walk under the new residential luxury riverside developments.

It’s a bit hard to find as there is no sign outside indicating that it is actually along the inside of the establishment called Rox Burgers.

To access the Japanese restaurant you can either enter via Rox Burgers or via the sliding door at the end.

The selection of food both hot and cold is very good but after struggling with what to choose we went for one of the selection packages, in fact we went for the most expensive one at £50 along with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc at £39 some Matcha tea, some strawberry and Mango Mochi and some sesame seed and matcha ice cream.

It was quite an expensive evening but then sushi is rarely cheap.

The selection arrived on a model of a wooden junk and consisted of selection of sashimi tuna, salmon etc and various uramaki sushi.

The service was first class and fast, and the food and wine were excellent, and I can honestly say that we will probably be going back there again although I would probably select our portions individually and stick to a glass of wine and a large beer to lower the cost significantly.

The only criticism that I could say about the place was the large sliding door. On the evening that we visited it was cold and windy, so every time the door was opened the cold wind rushed in and the temperature dropped for a few minutes, one of the waitresses was even waiting in a padded jacket to keep warm.

 180 Trafalgar Rd, London SE10 9TZ

http://kathithaikitchen.co.uk/

The Kathi Thai The Kathi Thai Kitchen located on Trafalgar Road, SE10 is a restaurant that we have frequented a number of times over the last few years.

This restaurant is a fairly small establishment so it may be a good idea to book in advance but we have usually been able to be slotted in when we have gone there without a booking.

When we first started going there it was a cash only restaurant but they now accept card payment.

The food is excellent, and the service is great which should not be a surprise when you notice the high waiter staff to patron ratio for a restaurant of this size.

Occasionally when the customer frequenting the establishment is low the staff tend to go into a group tea break mode and you are wondering if they have gone on strike, but a quick look at the group gathering over one table will bring the group gathering to life, and one of them at least will come running to your table to serve you.

One thing that I forgot to check was the price. Although it was good value for money I did notice the prices on the restaurant website menu (not the takeaway prices) was different from the prices on the menu in the restaurant. I am not sure this is legal to advertise two different prices for the same food if the prices are both for an eat in menu.

Will I carry on using this restaurant. Yes, as the food is great and so is the service even if a bit lack lustre sometimes, but I will be checking out the in restaurant menu prices with the online prices next time.

Watch this space.

192 Woolwich Rd, London SE7 7RA

https://kesarpunjabirestaurant.uk/

Kesar Punjabi Restaurant

We first tried this restaurant when it first opened in Woolwich Road. We had heard good things about it from its previous location in the London Borough of Lewisham.

When we first tried it there was not many customers and I did not think it would last very long. How wrong I was.

These days the restaurant is now usually full so I would recommend booking a table. When we walk in now it become very clear that we are the odd ones out. I am white British and my wife is of Chinese descent, but everyone else in the restaurant is Indian, probably from the Punjab.

It’s very obvious that this a favourite with the local Indian community around the Charlton and East Greenwich area. A genuine seal of authenticity if ever I saw it.

Our usual favourite Indian restaurant is The Raj in Blackheath, but now my wife says this is her new favourite Indian restaurant due to the value for money and the portion sizes which are very generous indeed.

I was a bit worried about the service as they seemed to forget three dishes including a main dish, but they redeemed themselves with a speedy rectification of the mistake without any fuss. It can get fairly busy especially over the weekend so it is inevitable some mistakes will occur, but it’s the way the mistakes are dealt with that determines good or bad service.

Would I recommend this place. If you are Indian I probably do not have to, but for everyone else then the answer is yes. The food is great, the service good and the portions very generous.

63 Greenwich High Rd, London SE10 8JL

https://sultansofrasi.co.uk/greenwich/

Walking through the doors of the Sultan Sofrasi and you think you have walked into a bog-standard Kebab takeaway, but look left and you realise that you are in a very large restaurant and bar indeed.

As soon as we walked through the door were given a level of service and attentiveness that I haven’t seen for a long time outside of a very expensive and prestige west end restaurant.

We had booked in advance but since we were there early in the evening it wasn’t really necessary, but the place did start to get quite busy as the time passed.

Whether you order from the takeaway counter or by the waiter, the food is all prepared in the same kitchen by the same cooks, but what ever you order the food was excellent.

Like the Sefa’s Restaurant in Trafalgar Road, they bring complimentary Turkish bread and a variety of condiments and just like Sefa’s you will feel full before you have finished eating what you have ordered, so your eat in meal will eventually become a takeaway at the end of the evening.

What we ordered was generously portioned and tasty and reasonably priced. I highly recommend this place, even though similar Turkish or Mediterranean restaurants are springing up all over the area at the moment. I don’t think they will have to worry about the competition just yet.

South and North Chinese restaurant.

241 Greenwich High Rd, London SE10 8NB

Tel: 02070187690

Along the Greenwich High Road there is a parking alcove surrounded by a few shops like Aldi and Sainsbury’s and among these shops is what looks like an unassuming little noodle bar, where the old Plumtree café used to be. Don’t be fooled by its looks as this is no ordinary noodle bar in fact it is a full-fledged Chinese restaurant with one of the largest menu selections I have seen in a long time.

The interior furniture is basic and functional but the food is top notch.

The cuisine is mainly Sichuan but with a bit of Cantonese and even a dash of Thai thrown in.

From what we witnessed when we visited the establishment they seem to have a lot of local clientele frequenting as although they do not have a table reservation policy they made exceptions for their local regulars, and there were a lot of them.

The place is very popular and we were only able to get a table when a kind gentleman who was eating alone said we could share his table until we could get a table of our own.

The staff were friendly and helpful and the food came quite quickly. The food was excellent and at very reasonable prices. Sort of quality restaurant food at noodle bar prices.

I had read the reviews before visiting the restaurant and was happy to see it had mainly glowing reviews and was pleased to see the reviews were highly justified.

The wife had said that although the cuisine is mainly Sichuan, and she is of Hong Kong Cantonese descent this will probably be our new default Chinese takeaway choice from now on.

One word of warning, if you are going to eat here, DO NOT park in the car park outside the restaurant, use the one across the road as it has a very, very bad reputation for fining people who have legitimately paid for a ticket, If you do park there make sure you keep your ticket for a few weeks or use the app but keep a copy on line. I am not sure who the cowboys that run this car park are but their reputation stinks by all accounts of the reviews on Google, they manage to score just 1 point only because they cannot be marked lower.

When I heard that the Korean Deli the London Naru had expanded and opened a restaurant in Stockwell Street in the old Spread-Eagle restaurant, later known as the Al Pacino cocktail Bar I was impressed. The small deli in Lovibond Street had a few tables but it was not a restaurant as such.

I booked a table expecting that I knew where I was going but a surprise was awaiting me. When we got to the Old Spread Eagle restaurant premises we were greeted by a closed and disused establishment.

I walked around the corner and there was the restaurant next door and not in the much bigger premises of the former French restaurant.

Prior to being the London Naru, it was a very small sushi bar and before that, a small local newsagent.

Initially, I thought they had moved to even smaller premises, but we went in anyway expecting to see a few small tables but instead found no tables at all, just a kitchen cooking area and a small casual dining bench.

I thought perhaps the restaurant area was at the back like some kebab café and restaurants are laid out, so I asked one of the cooks where the restaurant part was, as we had a reservation there.

He took us along a narrow corridor and up a steep set of steps to a room that opens up into a restaurant dining area.

There is a small dining area and a separate small room with a Japanese Tatami low-floor dining suite that seats 6 people.

We were sat down by the very friendly staff who we found to be very efficient and helpful.

We ordered our food and drinks. We tried the Korean beer which was quite good.

The food came quickly and was delicious authentic and very impressive. We thought that as they also create a selection of Japanese foods, we would leave those and instead ordered a selection of only genuine Korean foods. I love Japanese food but if you are coming to review a Korean restaurant it is only fair to judge them on their Korean cuisine.

We especially enjoyed the potato pancake. We also had a selection of Kimchi and a selection of vegetable fish dishes.

So, to sum it up this restaurant gives fantastic service and great food, and this place is well worth a visit, especially if you want to sample authentic Korean cuisine.

Sounds too good to be true, you may think. Well yes, it does have some faults, the main one being accessibility. As I previously said, we were guided along a narrow corridor and up a narrow and steep set of stairs that lead into the main dining area, so If you struggle physically with steps this may be a problem. Wheelchair users have no chance.

The other problem is that this establishment does not seem to have any sort of dumb waiter system to transfer the food from downstairs to upstairs, so the food is constantly carried up and down the stairs by the staff, which is also being used by the patrons entering, leaving of going to the toilets. It’s like using a busy two-way, single-lane road with just enough room for one car.

I’m sure the staff must be annoyed with this setup.

I do not know if this layout was something that they inherited from the Sushi bar that previously leased the property, but it needs a rethink in my opinion.

I know that I will probably be going back to this place again as the food and service were fantastic, it’s just a pity I can never take my wheelchair-bound sister along to enjoy it as well.

They also prefer that you pay your bill with cash to avoid the card charge fees, although they can also accept card payment if you want to pay by card. We paid by card as at the time we did not know about this preference and usually do not carry cash these days.

Totti

183-185 Eltham High St, London SE9 1TS

Totti Restaurant

Tel: 02031548800

The Totti, an Italian restaurant on Eltham High Street, is situated where the Prezzo used to be. Prezzo is a pizza and pasta restaurant, just as the Totti is now, which gives me the impression that this is probably more of a cosmetic rebranding rather than a brand-new restaurant.

It is named after the legendary Italian football player Francesco Totti, who, throughout his career, played only for Roma and the Italian national team.

Just in case you were wondering what type of restaurant you had walked into, they have placed a small Fiat 500 striped in the colours of the Italian flag.

When we entered we were met by a very polite and nice waitress who showed us to our table gave us our menus,  took our drinks order and our choice of food in a timely and efficient and friendly manner.

With dimmed purple and pink lighting and the tables pre-laid with cutlery and wine glasses, it stands out as a restaurant that is looking for a better class of clientele.

For starters I chose the crab and lobster tortelloni then we both had a pizza each which were very large.

We couldn’t handle any desserts after that, we were just too stuffed.

Both the starter and the pizza main meal were in my view delicious.

A young couple at the next table asked for the bill half way through their meal and asked the waitress to remove the discretionary service charge,  but they did not say why. Something must have upset them,  but unless you let the restaurant know,  how can they be expected to improve? Our food was excellent, and we were more than happy with the service.

I would have liked to have tried some of their wine, but my friend who was reviewing with me, only drinks Guinness and would not know the difference between a Chardonnay and a glass of white wine vinegar, so we both stuck with soft drinks.

The blue padded bucket seats were also very comfortable and along with the modern,  clean and impressive decor made this a pleasant restaurant all around.

One thing that I did notice is that the place was fairly noisy with people talking, but being very popular it’s only to be expected. Most of the clientele looked young to early middle-aged and many also looked quite affluent. Different from your average  Prezzo customers.

Most of the Prezzo chains were losing market share of the pizza pasta restaurant genre and a lot have closed, including the Eltham High Street branch, which once occupied these premises. It just goes to show how a complete change of decor and a new name can bring the customers flooding back, even if the food is basically the same.

I would definitely go back to this place again sometime soon, even though it feels like a is a polished-up Prezzo’s.