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The name Café Emm is slightly misleading, for this cosy establishment in the heart of Soho is probably more restaurant than café.

We turned up quite late on a Friday night without booking and although there were five of us and it was busy, we had no problem getting a seat, for in addition to a warm, vibrant atmosphere, fortunately this eatery has plenty of seating.

Café Emm offers a nice, eclectic mix of dishes, which ensures there’s something for everyone on the menu (without the choice ever becoming too baffling). Main meals include steak & ale pie, bangers & mash, jerk chicken and moules mariniere, with prices ranging from £7.95 to £11.95 (for the ribeye steak).

I ordered the home-made burger which was pretty good and, with the accompanying chunky chips, a sizeable meal. In fact, everyone was full-up by the time we’d finished, although not too full up for dessert – we tried the apple crumble and the bread & butter pudding, which were ok, if not spectacular. We also shared a couple of bottles of the house red at £10.95 a piece, which I can recommend.

The staff were friendly, and although we were one of the last parties to leave, we didn’t ever feel hassled into finishing up.

With such an overwhelming choice of restaurants in Soho, not to mention the West End, for good portions at a reasonable price, Café Emm is worth remembering.

7/10

The idea of ‘Mongolian Barbecue’ is in theory a good one – a meal tailored to your liking; choose your meat, choose your vegetables, choose your sauce, wait for it to be cooked and brought over to you and then away you go.

However, the reality is not nearly as good. On walking into the vast, noisy restaurant on Maiden Lane, behind Covent Garden market, we were shown to our table and given a quick introduction by the waiter to the ‘create your own stir-fry’ concept. My friend and I chose the ‘all you can eat’ deal for around £15, while our female dining companions chose just a main dish, i.e. to go up once.

What the waiter failed to tell us was that the side dishes (spring rolls for example) were not classed as starters and were therefore not included in the ‘all you can eat’ offer. We therefore had to go straight for the soups and salad – which were really disappointing. Sitting in a far corner of the room in big pots, both soups tasted like they were straight out of a tin, or worse still a packet. I didn’t even bother trying the noodle salad – it looked revolting.

As for my main meals, I chose my meat, my vegetables and my sauce and well…there didn’t seem to be anything ‘Mongolian’ about it. In fact, it was nothing more than a bland stir-fry – the sort of stir-fry I might cook at home, except not as good. And just to top things off, it was a stir-fry I had to queue and then wait for for quite a while because the restaurant was so busy (mostly tourists I imagine).

Admittedly, I went up again but only to get my money’s worth.

All in all, most disappointing and not cheap. The white wine was also bad.

1.5/10

Located just off Piccadilly Circus, Ryo is a Japanese noodle bar that we stumbled across late at night, in search of something to eat more substantial than a burger.

You order and pay at the counter, as you walk in, and then take a seat and wait for your food to be brought over.

They do a typical range of Japanase dishes: sushi, ramen, noodles and rice dishes, all for about £6 or £7, and also, I was pleased to see, Japanese lager Asahi Super Dry.

We both ordered the katsu curry (deep fried pork fillet in breadcrumbs served with curry sauce and rice), which was tasty and filling - even without the complimentary bowl of miso soup. One criticism would be the curry sauce; I think it’s microwaved on the plate, so it had a sort of ’skin’ on the top, but don’t let that put you off - fortunately it tastes better than it looks!

Ryo is open late - til 3am. Always worth remembering when you’re on the hunt for a cheap eat after a night out in the West End. The place itself is a little gloomy, but then perhaps a lot of places are at that time of night.

5.5/10

Tutti’s is a small, bustling café situated half-way along Lamb’s Conduit Street. It serves a reasonable selection of salads and sandwiches and a limited choice of hot food, including jacket potatoes (done in the microwave sadly) and soup.

My personal recommendation is the meatball ciabatta - the best meatball sandwich I’ve had in the area (a pretty big deal when you realise the number of sandwich shops nearby!) and not bad for under £3 (eat in). The coffee is also good and reasonably priced.

Inside, it’s bright and friendly, with a limited number of tables and chairs and a comfy sofa (which seems to take up far too much room). If you do decide to ‘eat in’, try to get one of the few seats available upstairs; it’s definitely not so nice sitting in the basement.

7/10