Marie's cafe, Waterloo (Thai)

Total bill £21.80 (including £2 corkage)

2eat4under20 rating: 2.5 out of 3 stars
Mr. Frenchy's rating: 2 out of 3 stars

What we ate:
Starters Steamed dim sum dumplings with sweet soy dressing (x2)
Mains Chicken with cashew nuts, Chili basil chicken with rice noodles, Steamed rice

What we drank:
Jacobs creek Semillon Chardonnay Vintage 2012 (BYO)

Only a short walk away from the Waterloo road exit of Waterloo train station, this little café caught my attention with some great reviews and cheap prices. So I met up with my lovely Mr. Frenchy at the station after work and decided to head over.

We arrived at Marie's around 8:15pm and the place was buzzing with people. We were lucky to spot two spare seats next to a couple of young students with a bag full of their BYO beer. This made us both rather thirsty for our own bottle of wine bought from the Sainsbury's local down the road, so we quickly sat down and asked for some glasses and menus.

The menu was quite extensive; good selection of starters, all around £4, and mains with chicken, beef, prawns or veggies for c.£5 including stir-fries, curries and noodles. We decided to go against our usual rule of 'no same dishes ordered' and ordered two portions of steamed dim sum dumplings for starters and poured ourselves a well-deserved tumbler of wine each, after our long day at work.

The starters arrived and were 'steaming' hot, which was perfect. Nothing worse than luke-warm dim sum dumplings that go cold before you finish the plate. They were nicely presented with soy dressing and salad, and tasted very delicious too. Mr. Frenchy enjoyed his too, but pointed out that the soy dressing may have been slightly over sweetened. Mr. Frenchy is fast becoming a connoisseur of asian condiments whilst dining with me :)

Our mains arrived just as we were finishing our last dumplings, and again they were piping hot and served straight from the wok. We both dived straight in, and were delighted to find both dishes fresh, tasty and with the right amount of kick (I love my spices but Mr. Frenchy is still learning to get used to them!). The portions weren't too small or too big, and we finished both our plates clean, feeling full and pretty happy.

Overall, the service was pretty efficient and within our expectations. We got our table, menus, food and the bill, all as soon as we asked for them. But if you are looking for a waiter that will spend 5 mins at your table, making recommendations on the house specials, then you won't get that here.

Good: for quick bite near Waterloo station, tasty and cheap thai dishes, BYO wine and beer

Bad: if you want to eat your dinner in privacy and don't want to share a table with your neighbour (we didn't mind as it added to the authentic thai feel)

Things to remember: you can take your own wine and beer, and they only accept cash

Marie's Cafe

90 Lower Marsh, City of London, London, Greater London SE1 7AB

020 7928 1050