Another chain
Walking around Southbank I realised, with great appall, that the entire area had been conquered by chains of restaurants and cafes – Wagamama, Cafe Nero, Las Iguanas. Nothing that would inspire a unique, non-mainstream experience. With this in mind I decided to enter the one chain I had not come across before.
The place was rather empty and had that “you have entered a chain restaurant/cafe please look at our uninspired menu” feel. The staff was incredibly friendly, and morning did dictate a tea would be in order (so many of the other places seemed particularly inappropriate).
Boiled water with a hint of tea was not a surprising outcome – I find that in such places it’s always the tea that suffers most (think of Nero, Starbucks etc). The porridge (around 4.5 in price) was pleasant, certainly better than what Pret offers. The bananas definitely gave it some much needed flavour – yet it made me think that it’s not enough for a restaurant to just make a decent dish, they also need to be inspired enough to combine it with other ingredients that blend well with it.
Didn’t quite get that here.