I’m very late discovering Panda Panda… but what a great café!

I was in Deptford, London SE8 and tweeted for suggestions of places to eat. @Sarahluv81 suggested Panda Panda, and she’s spot-on.

It’s a small café on the busy main road of Deptford Broadway – the main A2 out of London to Kent, close to Deptford Bridge DLR station. They’re famous for their Vietnamese baguettes, but we both had noodles. My pork noodles were delicious and hugely filling – £4.95 a bowl. My companion had Mushroom and Tofu noodles which were almost as nice. We were the only customers when we arrived for an early lunch but it soon started filling up, and our food arrived almost before we’d ordered it. You can have optional nuts and chillis on your noodles – we had both. Chillis were pretty hot, but on a cold day that’s no bad thing.

The thing that really has me hooked is the bubble tea, though – amazingly-textured concoctions served with a big fat straw through which you suck velvety balls made of tapioca. I love South Korean Aloe Vera drink, so this was very much up my street, but they have plenty of other healthy fresh juices without tapioca if you don’t fancy silky balls slipping down your throat…

A very filling lunch for 2 including fresh drinks came to £15.10.

Rather frustratingly it’s only open from 10.30 am to 6pm, so the free local delivery isn’t that useful, and it’s closed Sunday. I hear they visit Brockley Market in Lewisham too.

I don’t really do ratings, but I’d give it 9/10. They probably deserve an extra point for restraint – I almost certainly would have called the place ‘Panda! Panda!’ and would have been much more in-your-face with the panda motif all round.

I will be back – with my Oriental-food-crazy kids.

Website: http://panda-panda.co.uk/

The Guildford Arms is a gastropub in Greenwich, SE London. It currently looks a wee bit blank and uninviting from the outside – indeed I had walked past it ages ago and found its starkness a bit intimidating. It might not exactly be a cozy boozer, but it turns out to be a great place to eat as well as drink, with local Meantime beer on tap as well as Madonna’s favourite pint, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.

For my starter I had cauliflower soup with truffle oil – this was creamy, perfectly seasoned and the cauliflower flavour was spot-on, not too over-powering. My companion had Roquefort, Roasted Walnut, Beetroot & Chicory salad which was nice.

M’companion had beer-battered fish and chips – fish was excellent. I tried the chips – not quite crispy enough on the outside for my liking; possibly they’d not been cooked twice (or thrice) on a high-enough heat at the end. My main course was sublime though: slow-cooked ox-cheeks with anise, smoked garlic mash, sprout leaves and carrots. The meat was delicious and melted in the mouth. The smoked garlic was hardly detectable in the mash, but it was perfectly smooth and warm and filling, and perfect for a sunny winter’s day. The greens hiding underneath were perfect.

For pudding my companion had warm chocolate and hazlenut brownie with ice cream, and I had pecan tart with whisky ice cream. The former was very nice, the latter was perfect. The pecan tart was sweet and moist and the ice cream had a big hit of whisky flavour. One for the road!

The Guildford Arms has a formal dining room on the first floor and a second floor function room, plus a decent-sized garden and decked area. It’s run by Guy Awford, who also runs the nearby Inside restaurant which we had a lovely after-movie dinner in recently.

Three course lunch for two, including a pint of tasty Meantime pale ale and a half of cider came to £33.85. We’ll be back.

http://www.theguildfordarms.co.uk/