The Rhythm Kitchen Review
The Rhythm Kitchen
Reviewed by Danielle Wilkin
Like most shopping centres Westfield Stratford City has a food court. However, either because it’s new, the choice of outlets, the design and furniture of the dining area or the stylish drinking glasses it doesn't have the same fastfood feel as most others.
Depending on where you come in to the mall the Rhythm Kitchen is at the end of the food court but is well worth getting to. The staff were very friendly and helpful and actually seemed to enjoy making and serving the food which stood out to me as unusual!
Offering meats in sauces of varying 'hotness' and an assortment of side dishes I was reminded of Nandos but The Rhythm Kitchen's Caribbean menu has more variety and was MUCH tastier. To make things a bit easier in trying to decide what to order the Rhythm Kitchen offers various meal deal combinations from which we had the main with 2 side orders and a drink. My sister had a jerk chicken burger and jerk seasoned fries that she thoroughly enjoyed, particularly remarking on the mango salsa in the burger that contributed to making it that little bit different to something you might usually have. I prefer my food a bit saucier and feel like I eat enough chicken already so I went for the jerk pork in a medium spicy sauce but with a hotter one on the side (the staff seemed very flexible to offer you something to suit your taste). To accompany my pork I had rice and peas and coleslaw which I thought might be needed if the food was quite hot! Well what can I say, the pork fell away from the bone and melted in the mouth, it was absolutely delicious. Although I did have some of my additional spicier sauce on the side I'm glad I hadn't had it all over as I may not have been able to enjoy my meal as much but you may have more of a threshold than me!
Although for some reason I had a diet coke, a selection of Caribbean drinks was available. Outside of a meal deal cans of drink are almost £2 which I thought was extortionate but my sister, who had eaten at Westfield before said that that was about the going rate. In case you need to know, the vending machines around the lift areas sell plastic bottles of soft drinks for £1.
We had 2 buggies with us and although we arrived just before the lunch time rush I think the tables are still well spaced so that you would be able to get through even when it was busy. I also felt comfortable to discreetly breast feed my 5 month old baby at the table when I had finished my meal. Although we didn't use them ourselves the mall does have 3 parent/child rooms and kiddicars to hire for £5 a day for children over 12 months that can be used instead of a buggy that have a deep basket on the back if you are also indulging in a bit of shopping.
We were lucky to benefit from 2 hours of free parking and I was particularly impressed with the lights above the parking bays that showed where there were empty spaces so you didn't have to drive up and down aisles searching.
As for the Rhythm Kitchen, our food was absolutely delicious and I would definitely eat there again!