The original branch of this small chain had massive queues outside when it first opened, but this seems to have died off with the expansion of the chain. I went to the Goodge St/Newman St branch on a Friday night and had absolutely no trouble getting a table for two. That's not to say it was dead, but it was not as busy as I had expected.

The décor is very modern oriental in the busaba eathai mold, all dark wood and clean lines. Still, it feels quite stylish and has a decent atmosphere for what is essentially a chain of dim-sum canteens, and the bang for buck is quite high in that regard. However, whatever pretensions it has to be a style bar as well as restaurant are just that, pretensions. There is a small list of fairly interesting sounding cocktails, but the one I tried was over fruity and had very little alcohol.

Moving on to the food, the ordering system is by means of a list of all the dim sum they offer, with a box to tick next to each item. Not at all unusual, but with the benefit of being in English rather than mandarin. Having filled in the form our waiter politely indicated that we had over-ordered in our keenness to try out the place. I would have ploughed on, but was persuaded to order less, he assuring me it would be easy to order more. Rather irritatingly I could have eaten a little more, I wasn't left starving but certainly wouldn't have minded more food. I should note at this point that service was polite and attentive throughout, except thaere was a misunderstanding over whether we wanted to order more, and as time went by I decided it wasn't really necessary.

The first dim sum to arrive were steamed “scallop and shitake in translucent pastry”. The steamed wrapper was not as cloying as it can be from lesser places, and the content was very good. There was a decent amount of scallop with a nice crunchiness of texture provided by bean sprouts. The shitake mushrooms didn't seem to add very much flavour but offered an interesting contrast of texture.

Next up came steamed char siu buns. I've often found these to be a little cardboardy, and was a bit perturbed to read very recently that several factories mass-producing them in china had been closed as they had actually been using cardboard to make them. Its a reminder that people who automatically think “all Chinese food in china is better than any Chinese food here” are misguided but it also made me wonder if its a common practice here as well.

The examples in Ping Pong weren't too cardboardy, certainly not enough to suggest there were a few breakfast cereal packs in their ingredients, but they did have that drying feel on the edge of the tongue that often make steamed buns a bit of a chore. I persevere as have had great ones from time to time, but these were not highlights. Still, the actual filling was decent, gloopy tasty barbecued pork which made up a lot for the wrapper.

At the same time some “sticky rice with chicken pork and king prawns” arrived. These were huge parcels of sticky rice, that went some way to justifying the waiters advice on how much to order. These certainly were filling, and not at all unpleasant but would have been a little bland if it were not for an ok dipping sauce to liven things up.

Our final dim sum were “jasmine smoked chicken and asparagus fried in pastry”. The jasmine smoke imparted a gentle flavour, and this went well with the asparagus. The pastry was fried to the point of being a little over crisp, but at least these avoided greasiness. Another good tasty dish.

This is certainly not the best dim sum in town, but now the queues are gone it was a relaxing and quite a stylish experience, certainly more so than some of the more traditional purveyors. The price is extremely reasonable, and I would happily return again.

Despite this tiny restaurant in Soho being one of the most hyped in recent times, I was surprised to be able to book for three on a Wednesday for that same evening. We could have had a table a little later but in order to eat at 7.30 we plumped for a place at the bar. When we turned up it was clear that booking had been worthwhile, as by doing so we had been given the corner of the bar, perfect for a party of three. Even so to eat at the bar we could have got away with just turning up if we were happy to all eat in a straight line, and couples did just rock-up and eat at the bar throughout the evening.

One of the most lauded aspects of Arbutus is that most of their wines are available by 250ml carafe, essentially a large glass but still a great idea. This was particularly useful on this occasion, as of my two companions one doesn't drink at all, and the other doesn't drink more than a glass or so. Whilst we studied the short menu I had a carafe of a decent albarino. The mark-ups are equitable and the policy means it is possible to eat here, try several wines and still have a perfectly reasonable bill.

As we were sat at the bar we were able to chat with the friendly but slightly sardonic barman. The service here was pretty good, perhaps not as good as you would expect of a michelin starred place, but then neither are the prices. The barman was a consummate professional, knowing when to leave us alone and when to engage with us. The other waiting staff were a little busy, but not overly so and were all friendly and professional.

Having decided what we wanted, I ordered a carafe of Au Bon Climat to go with the main course, a great price to try an iconic wine, though it didn't quite live up to expectations. We had eschewed a first course and moved straight on to mains. As I'm sure you know, the cooking here is what has recently and irritatingly become known as “French accented”. I'm not sure how accurate a description that is, but as the staff were all “French accented”, perhaps it will do.

I had ordered saddle of Rabbit, with a cottage pie made from the shoulder and green flat beans. The saddle was surprisingly gamey for rabbit we were assured was farmed, but not overly so and at least it wasn't bland . The dish had a delicate texture which suggested great skill in the kitchen. The 'cottage pie' was served on the side in a little cast-iron dish, which I thought was a nice touch. This would seem an appropriate time to comment on presentation, which is unfussy but attractive, and not without effort as touches like that show. The mash on top of the pie was so tasty, I'd have liked more of it, and the content was in a rich gravy, the shoulder was less gamey than the saddle but somehow richer and meatier at the same time. It offered a pleasing contrast, and along with the beans it came with, this was a very good dish.

My friend had ordered the daily special, which was sirloin of welsh rare beef, which came with oysters. I'm afraid I didn't have any, but the beef looked pink and delicious and he was very happy with it.

I finished with a plum clafoutis, a simple dish that seemed to suit the place. It was sadly very slightly overcooked, very nice but not special. My friends had cheese from a small but well kept selection, and I slightly regretted not having done the same. At this point our food had come to about £23 each, clearly a huge bargain for two courses of this quality in central London. My wine had come to 23.50, again great value for being able to drink two good wines in a good restaurant.

However, the downside of the carafe system was I was unable to resist trying a tokaji from a very good producer which rather stopped the evening being great value, setting me back £27.50. Superb it was too I might add, and I don't think they can really be blamed for my weak will. If you can resist such temptations it is possible to have a two course meal here, complete with a couple of carafes of wine from the bottom of the list for £35, and that really is amazing.

The food didn't quite live up to the hype, but then it would be difficult for it too. This was very good food, and at these prices I will be back again and again. The barman left us with tips on where to go for cheap cocktails in Soho, useful for the future and we thanked him, but with my companions not drinking and me a bottle to the good we sloped of home having had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

I had been hear several times, (though not for a while) and recalled enjoying a meal that seemed to contain a lot of tripe, but nonetheless I remember as being pretty good, an achievement considering I am not a fan of Cow's stomach, and another occasion where I had a great pho. When a vegetarian friend wanted to go to dinner, she suggested that Vietnamese food is usually good for vegetarians and so I suggested going back here. There are many other Vietnamese restaurants in this area which I will get around to trying, but for various reasons I wanted somewhere I knew to be reliable and headed for Song Que.

There was a short delay for a table, but the place has a fairly quick turnaround and a decent amount of covers so it wasn't too bad. The language barrier can be a bit of a problem, but the waiters are generally well meaning. There was a long delay before we could get our drinks order in, and another delay for the bill at the end, but in between service was fine if impersonal. I only mention it at all as I'm aware service has been slated here. This is a family-run place, and the service is a little overstretched. I have always found it to be fine for the money, but, perhaps in keeping with the family run theme, I was surprised that a girl behind the bar where I paid at the end of the meal appeared to be about 13!

I started with Prawn Mince on Sugar Cane with dipping sauce. This was very much a “does what it says on the tin” dish. The prawn mince, regrettably, clearly only had a passing acquaintance with prawns, and had a distinct artificial taste to it. I'll have to admit to not having had the faintest idea what to do with the sugar cane. I vaguely remember reading leftist novels in which the young downtrodden native protagonist sucks on sugar cane so I did that. There was a hint of sweetness but very little was to be had from it. It looked far too fibrous to actually chew, but keen as ever to make an effort, having checked that no one was looking, I tried that. It was too fibrous too chew. Not a great dish.

My companion had vegetarian Vietnamese style spring rolls, and I nabbed one to try. She noted they weren't really what she had expected. I think she was expecting the thin, tranlucent rice paper wrapped rolls you get in some Vietnamese places. Wikipedia tells me these are actually “Summer Roll”. So now we know. To me the specimens at Song Que looked like most other Vietnamese spring rolls I've had, being slightly breadcrumbed then deep fried. They had more than a hint of the deep freeze to them, but were OK, the vegetable filling quite unmemorable in one direction or the other. They came with the same dipping sauce as the Prawn Mince, which was nicely sweet with a hint of chilli and a good whack of vinegar. It could have been spicier, but there was an array of condiments on the table for people to choose their own fieriness.

For me at least, things took a considerable turn for the better with the arrival of my main course. Having had good pho here before, and knowing it has something of a reputation for the dish I decided to play safe and ordered a pho with rare sirloin and beef tendon. This dish was absolutely delicious, the key being the contrast of the two types of beef meat. The sirloin was indeed rare, but the thin slices and the effects of the inevitable poaching in the broth meant it didn't have the chewiness that you can often have with this cut when served rare, whilst retaining all the flavour.

I don't have the faintest idea where on a cow I would find tendon, and I possibly don't want to. If I was guessing I would expect it to be the tough fibrous tissue that connects muscle and bone. The stuff you normally spend an age seeking out and cutting out of joints of meat when you want to cook a particularly special meal. I assume its down to the translation because this certainly was not that. It had a melt in the mouth texture, even going so far as to allow me to use the wannabe food writer's favourite word- 'unctuous'. There, got that out of my system. It wasn't just about texture, it had a surprisingly delicate taste, contrasted well with the Sirloin and made for a great dish.

So the meat in the Pho was tasty, there was plenty of it and the noodles were perfectly fine. The broth also had a great flavour when being slurped down with the noodles, my only criticism would be that it was a little too salty to eat on its own after the main constituents had been consumed. A small criticism giving these prices in central London.

I'm afraid the vegetarian had faired considerably less well. She had ordered chilli tofu. I think it was tofu, I didn't try it. Apparently it was not very good, and, oddly, she seemed surprised at this. I'm afraid I had limited sympathy, I struggle to conceive of any sane person who could look at a menu, see chilli tofu and think that its a wise choice. I'm not at all sure that Vietnamese is a good choice for vegetarians, but I suppose she ought to know better than I. In any event, Song Que would appear not to be. Go here for good Pho, and strange but tasty dishes involving parts of the animal you'd rather not think about it. If you have to take a Vegetarian I'd recommend they have a stir fry.