O perfil de vincro

Having drunk the coffee here every day for the better part of 2 months, I can attest that it is good. Not only that, the staff are exceedingly friendly.

I have tried so many of the joints around Shoreditch and Clerkenwell, and probably only a couple of others come close to Allpress, but none beats them on service and friendly-ness, and when you frequent a joint regularly, that counts for a lot.

Allpress comes with a 5-star rating from me!

After 2 nights in this supposedly 5-star hotel I am ready to move out. The hotel itself is formed around 2 old properties that include internal atriums. The serious problems arise when they decide to blaze music throughout the venue at all hours of the day and night.

If you have the serious misfortune of ending up with a room that faces onto one of these “gaping holes” then expect to listen to all manner of dread music, conversation, and staff banging furniture and whatever else around.

The staff, are friendly enough, and at least in reception speak English, but beyond that they do not.

The food in the restaurant is hit and miss. I enjoyed a nice Ajiaca, but the lasagna was like eating Wrigley’s chewing gum, for which I had to give a miss to half of the plate.

Anyhow, if you are a light sleep anticipate being woken up form 6am with staff “shouting” as it resounds around the atrium, and kept away till midnight from equally awful music.

Also, the spa looks nice, but don’t expect the beautician/masseuse to be around even a 3rd of the day.

Scraping the barrel to think of anything positive about this place, but with that, the benefit is probably only the location, if you are happy to suffer the rest.

Spex in the City rocks! Gillian the owner is warm and welcoming and exceedingly friendly. You couldn't wish for anyone more customer-focused and passionate about her craft. Having ventured in a few times, I finally took the plunge, booked an eye test and picked up a new pair of frames, designed by Gillian herself in fact.

Gillian is interested in making sure you buy the right frames, not just flogging you something that she knows she can make a big margin on, and that counts for a lot, because you are going to be wearing those specs an awful lot.

As we speak, I await the arrival of my new glasses, but I have every confidence in her ability to deliver the product to the highest standard.

If you are looking for a unique place to go shopping for great spectacles, then Spex in the City is definitely THE place to check out in London!

Pollen Nation organised the flowers for my brother's wedding and the arrangements they created were spectacular. I was more than blown a way.

Given that I am a sucker for flowers, especially in relation to the one's I love -cue sound of women rushing to grab my hand in marriage - it takes more than just a little effort to pique my interest and make me gush with comments.

From what I understand, Alison and the team did a great job and made it a super easy process, giving him and his wife-to-be one less thing to worry about on their BIG day!

Having called out of the blue in the morning, roughly 10am SF time, I spoke to a very nice lady called Carly. She basically ran me through the details on the phone from London, highlighting that the minimum order was 50 USD and that a 12 USD delivery charge may apply.

All that agreed, I gave her a carte blanche and a 100 USD guide price to come up with a bouquet based on an initial choice of lilies. After that I ask for her to have the flowers delivered between 4-5pm.

The next thing I know is a very excited lady thanking me profusely for the most amazing flowers. My friend obviously received them and was blown away by the stunning arrangement.

Upon seeing the bouquet, based on a quick phone snap, I could see why. Carly had produced something amazing, and I was glad to have given her the freedom to do as she wished. She is the designer after all, and with a base of white I knew the bouquet would sit nicely in place in the recipient's apartment.

All the being said, Not Just Flowers comes highly recommended and I will no doubt be using their service again.

Thanks so much to Carly and team!

To the Hungry Gibbon, I must say they did in excellent job of mocking up an entire building from the 1700s in 1995 ... That's quite some effort for a decent pint, but oh how much better it makes the pint go down.

Part of the experience of washing your throat with a hefty glass of real, stonking and beautifully tasting ale is the environs in which you imbibe and in going that extra hog they really have got the edge on many other places.

When the market is ram-packed full of rubbish, it's good to set yourself apart and these guys do just that in many ways and I love them for it. Definitely my new favourite watering hole in the not so close vicinity of work.

For a convenient, decent coffee, 5 minutes walk from your house, Climpsons is fine, but anything more than that and i think you are going out of your way.

I hear all the time about how GREAT the coffee is at this place, but in all the times I have popped by after a jaunt round Broadway Market, I have been decidedly underwhelmed.

Perhaps in recommending the coffee shop so highly, my friends have only set it up for a fall, but ultimately how hard can it be to make a decent coffee? It's all in the bean right?

This place is worse than a bad Hollywood B-Movie. In fact Edward D Wood Jr would be turning in his black and white grave at the appalling state of affairs in this so-called restaurant.

Planet Hollywood makes the Hard Rock cafe seem like fine dining with it's dreadful offerings that might be fine for a one off at a cool 9 year old girl's birthday party with her troop of budettes, but not for much more.

They managed to serve up the worst £5 shake I have ever had in my life. I will try to remember that when I balk at paying £4.50 for a malt or a shake at the Good Life Diner. And just when I thought the Rivington was serving up the most expensive burger in town with their "Luxury" burger of ground Aberdeen Angus Steak, along comes the "Expendables" burger which was nothing more than the cheese burger with a £2 surcharge for the name. In fact the actual cheese burger looked a whole lot better with bacon on it to boot!

The old Planet Hollywood up the road might have been cool, but this new place looks like it's a cinema lobby with a few bits of Hollywood memorabilia, from a T-Birds leather jacket to Ursula Andres' underwear, scattered across the walls in no apparent organised fashion, and by no means oozes the same kind of "rock star" status that the hard rock does, or sticky fingers for that matter.

Planet Hollywood scores a BIG FAT ZERO in my book and I would never ever recommend it to anyone, unless of course I want to send them to hell.