Paddington Lunch Box

Paddington Lunch Box

  • My Favourite Sandwich

    My Favourite Sandwich

    Is My Favourite Sandwich going to be my favourite sandwich in Paddington?

    Signs were promising. More promising than the office – where I didn’t get my favourite seat, and barely got a seat due to being 25 minutes late.

    Yes, train delayed, tube delayed (or just didn’t exist), rain…all the usual delights of a commute. But hey I get to try somewhere new for lunch.

    Bright pastel colours and cute fonts aplenty inside, with seating for about 4 people. One of whom was me with a £13 sandwich.

    £13.

    This thing needed to be good.

    So the ingredient quality was good, the tomatoes and salami came through in particular, along with the slight tang of the ndjua (not much) and peppery nature of the rocket.

    But £13.

    £13.

    And it really would have been better toasted – the schiacciata bread really needed toasting to make the most of the sandwich potential. As the bread was quite unforgiving and overwhelming.

    This place is not my favourite sandwich, alas – at those kind of prices it really needs to wow in all aspects.

    Rating of 6/10.

  • Simply Falafel

    Simply Falafel

    Out of my comfort zone and back in the office.

    Out of my comfort zone and eating…falafel. At Simply Falafel.

    What even is falafel?

    Deep fried balls of ground chickpeas with herbs. Very vegan, and sounds as fun as being a vegan (with kind regards to my zero vegan readers).

    If I was going to try the famous (with my vegan colleague) falafel then it had to be the traditional falafel wrap – none of this modern halloumi nonsense.

    Plus only £8.00 which is quite a bargain.

    It’s not the most attractive thing to photograph – the wrap itself was pleasingly crispy, the whole thing was well-structured with a generous amount of filling.

    Overall the falafel was a bit dry, I assume falafel is dry – dried chickpeas doesn’t scream “juicy” to me, so this isn’t aimed at Simply Falafel, just the concept.

    I enjoyed the herby nature, the salad (especially the tomatoes) added some freshness, there wasn’t enough sriracha chilli to give it much of a kick – the tahini sauce probably added to the dryness, and personally I would opt out of the tahini if there was a next time.

    And add halloumi. Or something.

    But I quite enjoyed it. This was never going to get an especially high rating, being so far out of my comfort zone – it’s like asking me to rate my commute. 6.9 out of 10 feels ok though. Do go if you are into falafel.

  • Queen Of Sheba

    Queen Of Sheba

    Oh don’t you love heatwaves. And don’t you love how the tube train timetable just melts in a heatwave.

    Delays on the train on the way to work.

    Delays on the tube on the way to work.

    Severe delays on the tube on the way back from work.

    Delays on the train on the way back from work.

    Alas I’m closer to being fired than FIRE.

    Queen of Sheba is a Yemeni restaurant near Paddington station. I wasn’t actually going to go here, but the place I intended to visit was closed (heatwave?) so Queen of Sheba it was.

    They have 106 things on their menu.

    Why?

    And then they bring you lentil soup which I didn’t want on a lunch break, especially not on a lunch break in a heatwave.

    It was very thin for a soup, felt like plenty of turmeric and pepper.

    I ended up ordering the Fish Makhabaza, priced at £20.00.

    It came on a bed of un-eaten salad, as I’d also ordered a side salad.

    In places it was eye-poppingly spicy, though mostly it was fine. It took a while to work out how best to debone, and I was forever picking out bones from what I was about to eat. Otherwise it was pleasant enough.

    The salad was zingy; cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes mostly – some crunchy green pepper too. I think a liberal sprinkling of sumac on top – the tomato was too cold and had come out of a fridge, also were pretty basic tomatoes.

    Lots of food but kind of underwhelming – I neither finished my soup or salad, and there was probably some fish wasted.

    Score of 6 out of 10.

  • Bondi Green

    Bondi Green

    Everything went smooth – trains on time, tubes on time, seats on both, the weather was sunny, my favourite seat in the office was free – the office chair even worked.

    Maybe lunch could go wrong?

    I went to Bondi Green because of sunshine, and sat in one of their chairs outside.

    Firstly, £6.47 (including service charge) for a fucking apple juice.

    Extortion. I might as well have had a glass of wine.

    I went for the grilled chicken paillard, mostly because it sounded a bit different. My meal turned up quicker than humanly possible to prepare it.

    It was very pretty, and was a mixture of smashed avocado (it is an Aussie place), somewhat pickled red onion, a few leaves and some barbarries – the latter I hadn’t had before, but they were kind of like a more subtle version of cranberries, and smaller too.

    That all might sound good, but of course no office day is smooth – and the chicken was dry and burnt to the bottom, and just quite yuck.

    The harissa yoghurt also wasn’t that punchy – I’d expect more kick but the flavour of it was good.

    I’ve eaten at places within this brand before, and normally it’s good.

    Not this time. My score for Bondi Green is a 5 out of 10.

    Of course, both my tubes and train on the way home were delayed.

  • Souvlaki Greek Eatery @ Market Halls

    Souvlaki Greek Eatery @ Market Halls

    Well I was back from my holiday and expecting to hate every minute of my day, yet the commute was smooth and the day was alright.

    Except for burnt fish.

    We went to Market Halls for lunch, it’s kind of safe for a group, and there weren’t that many traders that I haven’t tried yet.

    Souvlaki Greek Eatery was one of the few – offering souvlaki, trays, skewers and other fairly random dishes like spicy chicken pasta.

    I’d ordered the fish tray at £16.75 – which had a scattering of vegetables on it such as red onion, tomatoes and a small piece of jarred pepper. They all tasted as they should do, without any excitement.

    The fries were pretty basic and kind of crappy, probably from Brakes or somewhere – a bit of a dry yack to them. But the spice on them did cheer them up somewhat.

    Then the piece de resistance – I certainly resisted eating it. Burnt fish. Supposedly a whole seabass fillet – perhaps I should just have eaten the fish and left the skin, but the skin was fairly cremated and it just tasted of burnt.

    This all came on a rather dry and flaky flatbread.

    The mustard yoghurt was quite nice, but I wouldn’t let it skew your decision towards ordering from here I’m afraid.

    Rating of 4.00 out of 10. One of the worst things I’ve had on my lunch.

    Also curious about the guy on the desk near me that spent 10 minutes thoroughly cleaning his desk, then left the wipes, etc on another desk.

    Oh and the train home was painfully delayed, you’ll be relieved to know.

  • Three Falcons Hotel

    Three Falcons Hotel

    It’s been a while, maybe you thought that I’d finally escaped the weekly commute?

    Alas, no.

    And I had a particularly crap office chair today from the delights of hot-desking in an unusually busy office.

    Busy.

    AND LOUD.

    Guess AI doesn’t need silence to concentrate.

    The Three Falcons Hotel was a miracle – an Indian restaurant with less than 500 things to choose from on the menu. There were starters too, but maybe I’ll be back for a few of those another week.

    Part of me was tempted to order fried chicken just to be ironic when dining with Indian colleagues and with the IPL on the TV screens, though there’s a danger that might be really good also.

    Can I come back to Three Falcons Hotel already?

    Oh I haven’t talked about the food yet.

    I’d never had Laal Maans before (and possibly never goat either) – I was kind of expecting something hotter and spicier given the description on the menu, so either Indians exaggerate when talking about how spicy their cuisine is or they’ve watered it down for us English folks. Damn.

    However there was a gorgeous depth of flavour to the curry, coriander vibes, the meat earthy yet tender – and plentiful.

    Roti was decent too, quite pillowy. Alas I ran out before being able to finish the sauce.

    One of my favourite places (as are most Indian restaurants somehow) in the area – a must try if you haven’t yet.

    Rating of 8.20.

  • Gopal’s Corner @ Market Halls

    Gopal’s Corner @ Market Halls

    Everything was so back to normal this week, an exceptionally slow train, a 5 minute queue for the ticket barriers, waiting ages for a tube.

    Sooooo much unproductivity.

    So I’ve actually been to Gopal’s Corner three times, though twice I was drunk or drinking and never wrote down my feelings, though I damn well enjoyed it.

    Various things on the menu that I’ve never heard of before – apparently this is autherntic Malaysian street food, but I’ve never been to Malaysia so don’t ask me to clarity this as a fact.

    The menu has roti canai, banana leaf meals, thosai and noodles – and it was the chicken roti canai that I went for. And also the two times I was drunk. Actually possibly one time I had the mutton.

    The roti itself was bang on – proper fresh and flaky with a nice crisp, and I loved how it worked with the sauce.

    The chicken is only one thigh, perhaps on the tight side for £11.25. But also thigh is the best part of the chicken…

    Yet you are really here for the sauce – it was fairly spicy, had a kind of earthy vibe to it, quite fragrant with the cardamon coming through.

    I could eat this more often. I no doubt will be back to Gopal’s Corner.

    Rating of 7.90 out of 10.

  • The Monkey Puzzle

    The Monkey Puzzle

    It’s sunny, it’s warm, I love commuting and I love sitting by myself in the office all day.

    And even more, I love flat roof pubs with a garden such as The Monkey Puzzle.

    OK, I’m way too snobbish normally to go in a flat roof pub, but I’d clocked the garden, I was craving sunshine, and I decided that I was going to reward myself with a lunchtime beer in the sun.

    Quality be damned.

    It was a West Coast IPA, not bad, if a bit too hearty compared to my NEIPA/Pale Ale usual.

    Despite the prettiness of the garden, I cannot say I expected too much from The Monkey Puzzle. As I mentioned, I was here for the sunshine, not the cuisine. But I did need food.

    It being lunchtime I had no desire for steaks, pies or burgers…and I wasn’t sure if I could trust a flat roof pub with a salad.

    But actually the salad was quite nice (normally it comes with peas…yuck) – all fresh ingredients, cherry tomatoes, some leaves, cucumber and a little red onion (possibly marinated, not sure) – with some balsamic.

    Fries were quite salty and had a crunch to them. Nothing amazing, but pleasant enough.

    Also the fish was pretty good – cod (I’m more of a haddock guy), the batter perhaps more browned than ideal, and too crispy near the tail, but again I enjoyed the crunch of the batter, and the silky nature of the cod.

    Ketchup was a bit naff, but I’ve had worse – though also I then had ketchup on my crotch for the afternoon after having to slice my way through the sachet. But I don’t speak to anyone in the office, and I highly doubt anyone looks at my crotch either.

    Price was £23.80 – my rating is a 6.90 out of 10. I would eat here again…and I will almost definitely have a beer in the sunshine here again.

    Also I love the trains being delayed on the way home.

    And I loved how packed they were too because of said delays.

    Ahhhhhh London in the sunshine. Can I work from home next time though please?

  • Bonne Bouche

    Bonne Bouche

    Back from a holiday and I got to the office, and realised that I’d forgotten my pass.

    URGH.

    How are they going to track me now?

    Then I waited forever for a lift. I never waited that long for a beer on holiday.

    Then it was fucking noisy and the guy next to me span around in his chair constantly. Oh why do we have to do this utter nonsense?

    Sandwiches. Mostly baguettes.

    I’d walked past Bonne Bouche who knows how many times since being forced back to the office post-pandemic to be less productive than I can be at home.

    Finally I went. Baguettes – lots of them. Cakes – too many of them. Too many baguettes also.

    In the end I went for the chicken pesto baguette, though it was in more of a crusty elongated roll type of bread – granary style.

    The lady behind the counter recommended toasting the sandwich, which I duly agreed to, and definitely added some extra context.

    Filling was generous – priced at £6.40 including eating in tax, which seems a bargain in 2026.

    Plentiful chicken, all tender, some spinach and a tiny bit of sundried tomato which gave it a little salty edge at times.

    A baguette is hardly recreating the universe and is never really going to wow me, but this was really nicely done, and exceptional value for money.

    Rating of 7.8 out of 10. I’ll definitely be back to Bonne Bouche.

  • Katsu King

    Katsu King

    I was wondering why I got to work so smoothly the week before…it was half-term, of course.

    Not so this week, of course, with delays every step of the way.

    But it was the first sunny day of spring (well, winter) so who cares. Everyone happy. Everything good. Even office. Maybe.

    Given the sunshine, I decided to eat outdoors at Katsu King – one of the food trucks on the Paddington Basin canal.

    For my tastes, it was a choice between katsu salad or katsu fries, so I went for the slightly healthier option.

    The salad was a mixture of salad leaves and grated cabbage – it added crunch but nothing else.

    The crispy chicken wasn’t so crispy with the katsu sauce on – the sauce kind of reminded me of the taste of gravy, though neither of these should be considered a criticism.

    Indeed, the chicken was really nicely fried, where there was no sauce, the crumb was crunchy, and satisfying.

    Some sriracha sauce on top – not especially hot or spicy, and some coriander gave it some fragrance.

    Priced at £9.50. Pretty decent, I’d say. Katsu King is worth a whirl.

    My score of 7.20.

    And then a bird shat on me. Bring back the rain and indoor dining.