Josephine's Filipino - London

Seeing all the reviews here, I thought it might be interesting to share the opinion by one of the culinary elites; Gordon Ramsay’s Protégé: Jason Atherton; about Josephine’s Restaurant:“My favourite cuisine is Filipino, and you get the best Filipino food in the country at Josephine’s on Charlotte Street. My wife is loves it and she’s from the Philippines, so it must be pretty authentic. Filipino dishes are an interesting mix between Spanish and Asian flavours. They use a lot of tamarind, fish sauce and sour mango, but their international dish is Paella, because of the influx of Spanish in the Century. I go to Josephine’s for my regular fix of pork lechon, which is pork rubbed in herbs, roasted and served with garlic fried rice. Josephine’s is reasonably priced and traditionally designed with pictures of the Philippines. The owners make you feel really welcomed, so my advice is to get down there and try it.”Jason Atherton, Executive Chef for Gordon Ramsay‘s“Maze”“Maze” Restaurant was winner of Restaurant Magazine’s “Best UK Restaurant Award” and “Best English Restaurant Award” The BMW SERIES GOOD FOOD RIDE. GREAT BRITISH FOOD ADVENTURESBased on that article, I was persuaded to go with some friends to Josephine’s and we all had a wonderful time, staff were welcoming and friendly, and the food was full of flavour, varied and excellent. We had quite a lot of pork though and were quite stuffed, we waited about half an hour sipping port before going after the desserts!

I was keen to revisit my days lazing on the golden sand of some of the most beautiful islands on the planet. So Filipino food it was and Josephine's seemed like a great spot to indulge in a bit of culinary wistfulness (Charlotte Street on a summer's evening is a must).Sounds like a win-win situation right? Not quite. I'll be honest (but fair). Firstly, we had a lovely time. The service was attentive and the place itself is a reasonable mix of faded-cheeriness. The food? Well, this is where it all went a tad awry. The stuffed squid was tasty (if something of a seafood mess but the beef peanut casserole was thick with, um, tastelessness. It all seemed to lack authenticity. It wasn't a poor meal, but it wasn't a good one either. A real shame they haven't taken advantage of what's essentially a first class location...

Ten years ago I thought the food here was great, two years ago I thought it was quite good, last night I thought it was little more than edible. In fact, my partners soup wasn’t edible and I can’t remember the last time she didn’t eat something in a restaurant.Main course was ok but lacked depth of flavour and we were pretty sure the rice had been reheated in a microwave. We had a beef in peanut sauce dish which was uninspireing and a pork dish which was extremely forgettable. As the other reviewers have already said, the décor is barmy but I like it.It also seemed pretty expensive; two soups, two mains with rice and four bottles of beer came in at over which seems a lot for a place that has paper table cloths and microwaved rice.On a Saturday night there was only three tables taken, a sure sign that something’s wrong. If the owners read this, please, please up your game and check out your competition. Charlotte Street in crowded with busy restaurants but Josephine’s was empty. Try eating at your closest rivals Rasa across the street or Siam Central a few doors down and you’ll see why.I really want to love this place but I don’t think I can anymore. It’s a real shame as the owners are lovely people, the staff are polite and attentive and the cooking used to be great.

I hadn't really had Phillipine food before so I went with an open mind. The menu had hints of influences from Thai and Chinese food and there were few dishes that were obviously of Phillipine origin.I ended up with a lamb and peanut sauce dish that I had with rice. The meat was surprisingly enjoyable, it had been braised for just the right amount of time...achingly tender without just falling apart. The sauce was nothing special though and a bit of a let-down as the meat was so nice and deserved much better. It was a tad rich, fairly thick but the flavour was fine.If I remember correctly, my friend had pork chops with a mixture of vegetables in a kind of tamarind sauce with rice. It had an albeit, interesting flavour but I'm not sure it was my kind of thing. I'd imagine it would make me feel sick if I had it all to myself.As it was mentioned in the previous review, the decor is a bit crazy. I can't remember exactly but the walls were either bright pink or bright red and there were plants all over the place. A bit in your face and not really suitable for a restaurant environment. It was easy to see that the owners were trying to maximise their space, the tables were really close together and it felt quite cramped even for me (I'm I felt sorry for my friend who is The next day, I told my Phillipine chef friend that I'd been to a Phillipine restaurant and he immediately knew where I meant! Anyway, he said it wasn't that authentic and didn't really showcase what Phillipine food had to offer so I guess it's unlikely I'll be returning there.

This restaurant anyone walking past may not go in, the decor is like something out of an movie set in a tacky hotel in Hawai! However, the food rocks, I've had lots of Filipino food in the past and I really do recomend popping in here. If you aren't bothered about dining in luxury and what's most important to you is great food you would struggle to get elsewhere in London, then go here!BUT! Don't go in large groups as they can't cope, expect the food to come out in dribs and drabs.