Our second night in London, we met a friend of Will's who is a
vegetarian and she suggested GIRAFFE (11 Frith Street in Soho,
www.griaffenet.com) which has a huge menu and some pretty good grub.
It is modern and open to the street and it was a beautiful night so
this was okay, but again the music and noise levels were extremely
high. We had to almost yell at times.
Samuel settled in with his PENNE TOMATO Sauce and giant heart shaped
garlic bread baguette and was quite happy. We ordered up some MELON
MARGARITAs which were way too sweet.
The starters included a tasty EDAMAME dish smothered in soy, mirin and
chillis and they were a bit oversalted, but ever so good (maybe to get
you to drink more). We also had the LIME & CORIANDER TIGER PRAWN
Skewers which numbered three large ones, but at a reasonable
5.50pounds(less than $9). Our friend liked the Roast PUMPKIN &
BEETROOT Salad with Feta, but some of the beets were not cooked well
enough. She went on to the SWEET POTATO FELAFEL Burger with Grilled
Peppers, Humus, Beetroot, Rocket (Arugula), Halloumi Cheese, Tzatziki
and Harissa...quite a bundle of things in a huge bruger bun; almost
enough for two.
Will chose the GIRAFFE BURGER a tasty simpler beef burger with dry
cured bacon and mature cheddar, while I went for the Hot "THAI" DUCK
STIR FRY which was BBQ duck with bok choy, Thai basil, mushrooms,
peppers, noodles (more akin to spaghetti), bean sprouts, chilli jam,
crispy shallots, leeks, carrots and red peppers. It was delish and
went well with the ALAMOS MENDOZA Pinot Noir 2009 we had chosen upon
the recommendation of our helpful server Dai (it's a Welsh name).
Will wanted a dessert and could not finish the huge TOFFEE APPLE
CRUMBLE with Vanilla Ice Cream which was good, but just the thought of
more food made me ill. Samuel devoured a BROWNIE CAKE with Ice Cream
and it seems he wanted a second, but none of us wanted to be up all
night.
