A while ago I had the opportunity to review a restaurant, but with it being in Walton on Thames and me not, I immediately thought of my friend Mark, who lives in Walton.

Herewith find his rather nice review of the place. Of course, I now have to go don’t I because it sounds so nice and I have had a look at the menu…it made me hungry.

My first Guest Review!

Apple Fizz
Spicy Orange
Thai Calamari
Chicken Satay
Ginger Lamb Chops
Manuka Steak
Ice Cream Money Bags
Mango Colada
Kyushu Pear


Glo-ing for the evening.

I like eating. Sometimes I like writing, too. So, when Lisa asked me to review my local branch of Glo on her behalf, I jumped at the idea!
I like Glo. I’ve eaten there a few times with different friends, and it’s always felt fresh and new. The menu helps in this regard – there is such a wide choice available (in the case of the curry platters and noodles, you could go around dozens of times and still never have the same thing twice!). The venue also helps. It has a dim, restrained decor, but with unexpected touches like the light fittings that arch over the larger tables from the edges to almost meet in the middle. Unfortunately, the dim lighting coupled with the dark colour scheme meant that I didn’t attempt to take pictures with my phone’s camera – I’d have ended up with a series of blurs!


Anyway, I booked a table for Friday evening and took a friend who’d never eaten there before. When we arrived and I mentioned the booking, the waitress looked at me with mild consternation and requested that we take a seat in the bar area for a moment. I’d barely had time to sit down before another member of staff appeared, confirmed my name again and showed us to our table. He presented us with the menus, and left us to peruse them. Some time passed, and then a third waiter appeared and offered to take our drinks order. Given that we hadn’t eaten yet, we both elected to try the non-alcoholic cocktails – I went for the Apple Fizz, Timothy requested a Spicy Orange. While we were waiting for the drinks, a fourth waiter appeared and asked if we were okay. The attentiveness was starting to wear a little, but then our drinks arrived and we placed our food orders.


The drinks were nicely refreshing. Mine was sharp with ginger, while Timothy’s had a wonderful warming effect from the cinnamon. They also arrived in decent-sized glasses, even allowing for the ice.


Shortly thereafter, our starters arrived. Having recently discovered a taste for properly-cooked calamari, I tried the Thai Calamari. A pleasantly-sized portion of tentacle rings and, slightly unnervingly, entire baby squid arrived, coated in Asian spices and deep fried. The spices were not overpowering, but gently lifted the flavour of squid, and the sweet chilli dipping sauce was just hot enough. The squid itself was cooked perfectly, without any rubberiness, and I could have eaten a larger portion as a main course. Timothy ordered the Chicken Satay, and received three skewers of pieces of chicken breast marinated in delightful satay spices with a dipping sauce. I tried a piece, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavour. Too many satay sauces are based on peanut butter, with an overly sweet taste to them. This one was entirely savoury, and I could imagine it working with any number of other meats. We made short work of the first course!


While we were waiting for the mains, the second staff member reappeared. He apologised for the delay with the mains, and presented us with a basket of spicy prawn crackers and sweet chilli dipping sauce to keep us going. However, we’d barely started on them before the mains then arrived!


I ordered the Ginger Lamb Chops – three chops, marinated in a ginger and spice sauce and lightly grilled. The fat was gently crispy on the outside and melting within, while the meat was almost seared on the outside and wonderfully pink in the centre. Bliss! It was served with gloriously fat chips with a hint of chilli spices, and a raita dipping sauce. The only problem that I had with it was that since I broke my incisors in a cycling accident, I’ve had difficulty gnawing things! I gave the chops my best efforts despite this. Timothy had the Manuka Rump Steak, cooked medium. This is a rump steak marinated in manuka honey, coated in sesame seeds and grilled. I didn’t try any, but it looked fantastic and Timothy was delighted with the level to which it had been cooked. There wasn’t a lot of conversation during the main course, either…


We ordered alcoholic cocktails after the mains. I had a Mango Colada, which put in mind of a Solero ice lolly. It was gloriously thick and rich. Timothy had the Kyushu Pear, which was fruity and refreshing. We them both ordered the Ice Cream Money Bags for dessert – two round scoops of vanilla ice cream, wrapped in thin pastry and briefly deep-fried, before being sprinkled with icing sugar and drizzled with honey. They were delightful, but a word of caution. I tackled my second one somewhat incautiously, and (there’s no other word for it) it spurted at me. A high-velocity jet of melted ice cream shot towards me, going over my hand and down my shirt. Timothy thought that this was hilarious! So – always treat them with care before opening them, and if possible, point them at your dining companion!


We sat still for a while after this, and then left, to the effusive thanks and farewells of the staff. To be honest, that was the only negative point to the evening. The staff were painfully aware of why we were there, and being asked how the food is all the time gets a little irritating. However, we both thoroughly enjoyed the meal, and will most likely be going back there.

http://www.glohq.com/html/location.html