Planet Organic cafe

Planet Organic Cafe
22 Torrington Place
London
WC1E 7HJ
http://www.planetorganic.com/
Date of visit: Monday Friday 18^th June 2010
Attendees: Myself
Price of meal: £4.99 for a medium box

Planet Organic is a chain of health living organic grocery stores. I have only ever been to the store in Torrington Place so do not know if the other stores have cafes but I think they do. I’ve been here several times before especially when I was studying at UCL and I really do like the place. The principle is simple – it’s like a canteen with the food displayed in front of you, you pick a small, medium or large take away box and pick what you want in it. There is always hot foods and salads to choose from and it’s all vegetarian and organic. All the food is packed into recyclable cardboard cartons but there is a seating area inside the store.

Having come here for several years now I have noticed that they have not really changed their hot menu but it’s all good stuff – rice, tofu stir fry, veggie shepherd’s pie, veggie lasagne, dhal, curries, broccoli etc. At the end of the canteen food there are cakes and other sweets as well as the drinks bar which serves hot drinks and juices. Wooden cutlery and napkins are available at the seating area as are dressings for salads.

Myself: rice, tofu stir fry, broad bean curry, broccoli and carrot and tahini salad

L-R: broccoli, tofu stir fry, broad bean curry under rice, carrot salad

The tofu stir fry was a little too salty but the rice and broccoli, which were both plain, balanced it out. The carrot salad was really nice and the broad bean curry didn’t seem to have much taste, perhaps the tofu was so strong I couldn’t taste the broad bean curry. One problems with shoving everything into one box is when you mix stir fry with salad and they tend to give you quite a bit of sauce so the carrot salad gets a bit drenched in oily soy sauce, which isn’t nice – but that’s the way it is…

I always come here very hungry and get a medium box thinking I’ll get a nice looking cake afterwards but I never have because I the food is actually very filling. If I worked round the corner from Planet Organic I know I would be a regular here at lunch time. The food taste good, it’s supposed to be organic and so we think it’ll be better for us than regular vegetarian food, the range is quite wide for a cafe attached to a grocery shop and it’s reasonably priced for its location.

I will also take this opportunity to point out that Planet Organic also sell a wide range of food to eat from their fridge, all vegetarian and some quite different from your usual cafes – sandwiches obviously, salads, rice rolls, quarts of Spanish omelette to name a few I remember a huge range of drinks and sweets for immediate eats as well as groceries to take home to enjoy later.

Thai Pot

Thai Pot
1 Bedfordbury
Covent Garden
London
WC2N 4BP
www.thaipot.biz
Date visited: Saturday 22^nd May 2010
Attendees: Myself and The Baby
Price of meal: £10 for me about £13 for The Baby

After meeting the Baby for some Amine at the BFI we decided to go for some food – the requirements were that it had to be cheap and close by as we were both hungry. After a bit of a wander to the first few cheap restaurants and deciding not to join these huge queues along the Southbank (you’d think they were giving away £5 notes with those queues!) we suddenly found ourselves over the bridge and so wandered to Thai Pot like a pair of hungry zombies (we couldn’t chat until we got some food).

The restaurant was busy but not as mad as the other places because it is a little hidden so we got a table straight away. I pondered over noodles or rice. I was hungry but determined to keep it under a tenner as I am rather poor so no starters for me but the main course had to be decent – filling enough until I got home at least. Service was fairly swift, brownie points for this as we were hungry. So we ordered and I popped to the toilet which are down some hidden stairs that maybe hard to find if you are not familiar with the layout.

Starter:
The Baby: Poh Pia Tod (vegetable spring rolls)

Poh Pia Tod - vegetable spring rolls

These came fairly swiftly with a sort of sweet chilli dipping sauce. The Baby shovelled them down so quickly I thought I would loose a hand by taking a photo. Yes they smelt nice and damn the Baby enjoyed them! We both had tap water to drink and I appreciated the fact that they come round with a jug regularly and refill your glass for you – more brownie points.

Main Course:
Myself: Gang Ped (Red chicken curry) with steamed jasmine rice
The Baby: Gai Ta Kai (stir fried chicken with lemongrass, ginger, garlic and lemon) with steamed jasmine rice

Gang Ped - Red chicken curry with steamed rice

Gai Ta Kai - chicken and lemongrass with steamed rice

Not long after the spring rolls were taken away the mains came. As we both ordered the same rice it came in one big bowl so we split it 50/50 and devoured. On a side note I have to voice my opinion of shared portions…I can see it is more social and I like that but sometimes you are too polite and don’t want to take too much and then some is left at the end and wasted when actually someone wants it or when you are so hungry and well over familiar with the other diner your share never seems equal. I don’t vote either way for shared or individual portions, I am simply making an observation …anyway back to the food. It was really tasty – the curry wasn’t too spicy and I could taste the various flavours. The rice was well cooked – fluffy and sticky but not too much just as it should be. The Baby really enjoyed her stir-fry too telling me it was yummy. Just by looking at the virtually licked cleaned plates you could tell we enjoyed it. Having been here a few times I know it wasn’t just because we were hungry that the food tasted so good but because it really is delicious. I do think that the portions here are a little small compared to other Thai restaurants I have been to (and I have eaten at quite a few). I think this, not just because I was hungry, but having been here a few times before I think this each time I leave and so have concluded it must be true about small portions!

I am becoming a bit of a regular here now after my first visit in about 2006 after stumbling upon this lovely little restaurant hidden just round a corner. I have left very pleased each time because it’s good value for money, they have a decent waiter/ waitress count so service is swift as is the arrival of food – I didn’t notice anyone in this busy place having to wait long for anything or a problem getting a waiter’s attention.