Citrus Restaurant, London, England

Citrus Restaurant is in a good quality location in central London. Only a few minutes walk from Green Park Underground Station (with connections on Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines) and very close to the financial district of Mayfair, this could easily be a regular haunt for some people. Citrus is also part of the Park Lane Hotel, meaning that anybody who stays here may want to try their facilities.

The restaurant has an alfresco dining area out the front. This is good during the summer, especially as the air conditioning inside is very powerful. There is an amount of traffic going up and down the road, especially one as popular as Piccadilly, so it's not a quiet dining experience. However, the restaurant is set back from the traffic so once you've settled in to your drinks and your conversation you'll hardly notice it.

In terms of food Citrus goes for a modern Italian style. We tried the pizza and lasagne, pretty staple Italian foods. Alas, the presentation of them wasn't the best and while the lasagne was palatable, the pizza base left a lot to be desired. For between £10 and £15 you could certainly get better quality, modern Italian food elsewhere at the same price, if not cheaper. 

The drinks were also similarly expensive. A bottle of beer was £5, which is certainly not great value when you could easily get a full pint for less than that. 

Overall this restaurant is conveniently placed but not a place you will return to for great quality or value. If you do go here make sure you get your money's worth by visiting the toilets within the hotel and experiencing the old class of their decor.

Links:
Citrus Restaurant website
Citrus Restaurant menu

Opening hours:
Mon.- Sun. 11:00 - 22.30

Address:
The Park Lane Hotel, 112 Piccadilly, London, Greater London W1J 7BX


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Café Loki, Reykjavik, Iceland

Café Loki (Lokastígur 101 Reykjavik) is situated right next to the popular Hallgrímskirkja church. It's location is ideal as it gathers in many of the windswept tourists from outside into a nice comfortable cafe and protects them from the elements.

The range of options in this cafe is a little sparse unfortunately. There are a few Icelandic delicacies, centered mostly around fish, and a few rye bread based snacks. Other than that there are pastrys, pancakes and cakes. We settled just on the hot chocolate to warm us up from the breezy conditions outside. The prices were ok, probably more tourist oriented than other places, with coffees for about Kr500.

Overall this cafe is in a great location for anybody looking for a pitstop and a light snack rather than a bigger meal. If you're visiting the Hallgrímskirkja church you may well find yourself tempted into here.

Website
Menu

Opening hours:
Mon.- Sat. 09:00 - 21:00 Sun. 11:00 - 21:00.

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Kryddlegin Hjörtu, Reykjavik, Iceland

Kryddlegin Hjörtu (Skúlagata 17, 101 Reykjavík) means 'spicy hearts', but don't let that mislead you. The food here, whilst limited in range, is very good and not spicy in nature. Worthy of note is that online maps tend to get the location of this restaurant wrong, so make sure you make a note of it before you set out to save you wandering around for it.

The restaurant has two main dishes - a vegetable lasagne and homemade spelt bread, or soups and salad and the bread. We tried both. The lasagne was a good size and filling, especially with the bread and the dips that it comes with, which were delicious. There were a number of soups to choose from and a decent salad bar, which provided an enjoyable combination of tastes.You're not limited in how much soup, salad or bread you eat, which is a nice bonus.

The main criticism of this place was that if you wanted to have salad with your lasagne (a perfectly reasonable request), you couldn't have just that, you had to pay to have the soup option too. When you consider both dishes were around Kr2000, that seemed too extravagant just to get a little salad, and you wouldn't feel like eating absolutely everything that they had.

Overall, definitely worth sampling, especially for vegetarians, just be prepared in advance to have limited options and be fine with what's on the menu. Oh, and make sure you know where you're heading to before you set out, otherwise it's easy to miss it.

Website
Menu

Opening hours:

Mon.- Fri. 11:30 - 21:00 Sat. 17:00 - 21:00. Sun. Closed.

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Graenn Kostur, Reykjavik, Iceland

Grænn Kostur (Skolavordusting 8b, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland, +354 552 2028) is a popular vegetarian restaurant in a central location. A little difficult to find (you have to follow the green feet on the floor signed 'vegetarian') it is a great discovery to make.

Every day they have a special dish and alongside that they have a couple of other other favourites. I had a tofu and peanut sauce dish one time and a curry type dish another. The portions are a good healthy size, the food tastes clean and healthy, and more importantly it is appetising. 

The service was fast because of the limited range of meals. The prices are reasonable too, less than Kr2000 for the mains. There are other options like soup that they do too.

Overall, if you're vegetarian and struggling finding to appetise, consider heading here sooner rather than later. It's a place that once you've been to you'll want to return to.

Website

Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday: 11:30 to 21:00 , Sunday: 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.


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Cafe Babalau, Reykjavík, Iceland

Cafe Babalau (22a Skólavörðustígur, Reykjavik) is approached from the downtown area on the walk up to the stunning Hallgrímskirkja, the famous church landmark.You have to go up to a flight of stairs to reach the cafe from the street and when you do you're in for a surprise. The upstairs area, whilst modest in size and occupied with a number of tables and chairs, is an Aladdin's cave of toys. Where I sat was awash with memorabilia from the Flintstones. It makes for an engaging and enjoyable experience as you feel that you're in somebody's home. There is even a good-sized rooftop deck that will make this a popular hangout place on sunny days.

There is a small but good range of food options available, from paninis to crepes, lasagne and cake, many for under KR1000. The price makes it competitive place in a convenient location, which is a great offering and made me want to return here when I was unsure of where else to eat.

I had a cappucino and a panini, which was filling but also healthy on the wallet. The guy running the place seemed to be American and that may be why there are cheesecakes on the menu and a fondness for the memorabilia around the cafe.

Overall I enjoyed eating here and would happily have gone back. The food range for a vegetarian was a little limited compared to other places and the quality of the food not outstanding, but it still gave a charming, good value welcome to Reykjavik.

Website
Menu

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Pisa Ristorante, Reykjavík, Iceland

Pisa Ristorante (Lækjargata, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland, +354 578 7200) is a popular Italian restaurant situated near the downtown area of Reykjavík. Situated within close distance of the water feature known as 'the pond' and the main city centre, it is easily accessible.There is even a leather sofa to sit on while you look over the menu.When I went it was busy in the main section, however, there is also a rear extension that hosts a number of more tables. This has a lot more light to it and you can admire the furnishings that are a little more creative.

The menu covers many of the things you would expect in an Italian restaurant. The pizza and pasta options are a little more limited than some places, although they are reasonable value. The pizzas here worked out at between Kr2000-3000, which is pretty decent overall in Reykjavík. My pizza came served a good supply of delicious bread as well (enough to make eating all the pizza a bit of a stretch). There are other options available here, however, if you went a little more extravagant and went with the day's special you'd like be set back about Kr5000.

Overall it set the benchmark for the holiday in terms of price and quality of pizza. It was not often beaten for either. The staff service was also attentive and friendly.

Website
Menu


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