RASTRO CAFÉ - (Near Tower Hamlets, london)

REG I came to Le Querce with my mother who has coeliac disease meaning she cannot eat gluten without it causing her significant discomfort and pain. This usually means that finding reliable, good quality italian food comes with great difficulty and she rarely gets to eat it at restaurants. Le Querce accomodate well for gluten-free options, allowing all pasta dishes to be ordered as gluten free should you choose. The food we had was extremely high quality, fresh, and well prepared. I had the Buratta starter, my mother the aubergine parmigiana, and we both had the beef ragu main, each accompanied by a glass of red wine. The wine was dry, tasty, and well priced The atmosphere and service at Le Querce was top class, attentive staff ensured your needs were met and the room was adorned with colourful decorations.

Big Begum We started eating here regularly from when my 15 year old and his best mate were in nursery school round the corner, and Id take them for brown toast and chips every Monday. Never looked back. Everywhere else we eat we wait to see if The Premises Standard has been met! Good food, good price, nice atmosphere and exemplary staff. Long live the Premises.

Alice Gee Its a low key neighnbourhood Italian in Bethnal Green that probably mostly supplies locals with pizzas, but is a surprisingly terrific restaurant. Not living in the area, we were last here maybe eight years ago, but I still remember the pasta alla vongole I had on that occasion. Weve been to a lot of more expensive, and more famous Italians in London, but this place really reminds me of eating at trattorias on vacation in Italy. Simple menu, terrific ingredients cooked in a way you can taste the individual components, and everything homemade. They do serve dried pasta, which I actually prefer because its texture is more chewy. My companion had the bruschetta to start followed by the burrata served on a bed of grilled vegatables. Both of his starters came with a fantastic focaccia which had big airy bubbles toasted to a crisp. There was a tiny drizzle of pesto on the burrata that looked bright green and tasted homemade. I didnt taste the bruschetta, but my companion praised the sparing use of red onion in the tomato mix, making it perfectly balanced. I had the scialatelli alla vongole, of course, with a side of the grilled vegetable salad with goat cheese. I asked them to just bring both dishes as ready because I didnt want to eat them in sequence. Thats exactly how I got them, with the grilled veg first, and the pasta maybe 5 minutes later to eat along side. My partner got his two starters in non overlapping sequence, exactly as requested as well. The vongole was great. There were maybe 8 clams in shells decorating the dish but plenty more shelled clams stirred through the pasta. The clams were perfectly cooked and still tender and juicy. I liked the restrained use of fresh cherry tomato sauteed in olive oil, which didnt dominate. I could taste the good quality olive oil. The thick scialatelli was delightfully chewy. It wasnt quite as spectacular as the version I ate on my last visit eight years ago, which included an unorthodox quantity of garlic. Maybe next time I will ask if the current chef is willing to put in a little garlic for me. The grilled vegetable salad with a thin slice of toasted goat cheese was excellent. On top of the mixed green salad there were slices of grilled courgette, grilled eggplant and very sweet strips of peeled red pepper. I was happy to note that the roasted pepper was homemade, having no hint of the acidic preservatives that peeled roast peppers from a jar has. The cheapest bottles of wine are £29 and £30, and dinner including a bottle of red came to £78. Music and noise levels are low. There was an 80s pop soundtrack playing during our visit. We will definitely be back and wont wait eight years before our next visit.

Ella Booked here for my birthday for 20 people and the service was great, fast and attentive, and the food was yummy, and love that’s there’s loads of veggie/vegan options!! Great drinks too!

James Green We went to Arepa & Co and had such an amazing experience, it was our first time trying Venezuelan cuisine, and we loved it so much we went back two days in a row! We started with the Palm Salad, which was fresh and flavorful with grilled palm hearts, cherry tomatoes, shallots, capers, and lettuce. For our main dishes, we tried the Arepa Pabellón, filled with shredded beef, black beans, ripe plantains, and cheddar cheese, and the Pabellón Reina, a rice bowl with chicken, mayo and avocado mix, black beans, fried plantains, and cheese. The flavors in both dishes were incredible, especially the fried plantains, they were absolutely amazing! The restaurant also had tons of gluten-free options, which was perfect for my mum. Overall, it was a wonderful introduction to Venezuelan cuisine, and we can’t recommend it enough.

Aaron Williams First time I’ve used this takeaway and I was not disappointed. I had a special request for my curry, a korma with vindaloo heat & they nailed it.