Year of Eating Differently (86): Tai Buffet, Old Compton Street

Well, it was quick. Also, it was cheap (3.50 for takeaway from the all-you-can-eat buffet). Possibly it was in defiance of some sort of trade description, insofar as I'm sure I could eat more if I'd popped back to the buffet a few times this afternoon. But, selection of foodstuffs was much better than Sa Thai; spring rolls were okay-ish, ginger tofu was a tiny bit bland, but all the sham meat (tofu masquerading as curried lamb, as chicken, etc) is always a treat for a vegetarian like me, life otherwise devoid of fun.
On the other hand, no real ambience, apart from somebody who kept yelling something sounding suspiciously like 'gwailo'; now come on, I know I'm pretty pasty-faced, but is there any need for that? Or is it just turn-of-the-century paranoia?

Year of Eating Differently (56): Abeno, Museum Street

Headed east in search of okonomi-yaki today. This may have been slightly ill-advised; last night I left the office at 6 and then ran to Vernon Square, before doing two hours of shorinji kempo - one of those tough sessions where by the end of it you go down to the floor and then can't bring yourself to get back up again. Possibly it was the ten minutes of battering pads continuously that did for me, but today my legs feel screwed and I just want to sleep.
It's not a good look to pass out at your desk, so at 12 I nipped down to our faithful newsagent and bought some Frazzles - unfortunately, if you've just had a packet of crisps, ordering miso soup and okonomi-yaki may not be the best decision.
Good stuff though - once you've ordered, the food comes back and gets fried on the hotplate in front of you (although this does mean that by the end of the meal you feel significantly overheated) - and the miso soup actually tasted like miso soup for a change, after the miserable examples from Abokado and Soba in recent weeks. Service was a teeny bit slow (5 minutes to attract attention and get the bill) and tofu isn't the most fun thing to eat (I was jealous of my companion's bacon, and think the Osaka-mix okonami-yaki might be a better bet for those carnivores amongst us) but at least it felt like a Japanese restaurant rather than some strange English approximation thereof.

Year of Eating Differently (27): Sa Thai, Greek Street

Another noodle bar. Went in and asked for a green curry to take away. Got given a foil tray and sent to fend for myself in the lunchtime buffet. No curry. Quite depressed. But by then I'd handed over the cash, and my earlier protestation that I wanted a curry seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, so I've filled up on noodles and came back to eat it. More curry later in the week, I think.
Noodles are revolting - far too much soy sauce. Tofu's not bad though, probably because it has too much soy sauce. Would be a draw, therefore, except the vegetables taste foul and have the texture of runner beans. So let's call that 2-1 down.

Year of Eating Differently (23): Wasabi, Oxford Street

Yakisoba. Ah, tofu yakisoba. It's cheap, it's quick, it seems to be staffed entirely by Japanese women who wear huge amounts of blusher. Good for a cold day. It must be said, there's not that much taste to a portion of noodles with tofu, but that's too bad - if you wanted flavour, you could either bash on a load of wasabi, or order something with meat in it.