Vegetarian platter at the Toyshop in Putney

All of the food!

So many deep fry!

On Tuesday Quentin and I went to see Captain Phillips at the Odeon in Putney and I thought rather than go home and then come back we should go out to eat somewhere in Putney. There are tonnes of restaurants just near the movie theatre but the Toyshop had been recommended to us and the menu sounded good so we thought we would give it a go.

They had a bunch of interesting sounding starters and mains, and the menu was about 50/50 vegetarian and non-vegetarian so we had heaps of choice as well which was cool. We decided to get the "Earth Star" platter which was about 28 pounds so not super cheap but could have fed more than two people for sure!

When the platter came out it looked amazing! It was on a sort of wooden board which was raised off the table and could spin around so you could get to all the things, I had never seen anything like it. There were so many foods to try as well which I love. Variety is totally the best.

The things we got were a couscous salad which had some fruits and brazil nuts, Quentin really liked this one but I thought it could have had more flavour, maybe some lemon juice or something would have been a good addition. The next thing you can see is a sort of take on a potato salad, it had a creamy dressing but no potato, instead it had cheese, peas and some red pepper. I found the dressing too creamy but it was nice when you just had a little bit mixed with something else. Quentin agreed that the dressing was too creamy but he liked it more than I did.

We also got a bowl of sautéed green beans which were cooked perfectly, still a bit crispy, and they were one of my favourite things, although they could maybe have done with a little salt, maybe some soy sauce or something. We also got some focaccia bread which was great for the goats cheese lollipops which were coated in pistachio and some spicy paprika. The goats cheese lollipops were probably my favourite thing out of everything, they were so delicious and went well with everything.

Another thing which you cant see too well in the pictures was a barley risotto with broad beans and spring onion. I really liked the risotto although I thought it could have had a little more flavour, maybe some parmesan or something to give it a bit more richness.

Now for the deep fried things... There were aubergine chips which were covered in a buttermilk batter which was amazing! The actual aubergine I am still not sold on but the batter was so good I was just eating that by itself when I usually don't even like batter. There was also sweet potato chips which were my second favourite thing, they were super delicious and just needed a little extra salt. They went nicely with the goats cheese because they were sweet and warm where the goats cheese was cold and more sharp and sour.

There was also falafel which we both agreed was not the best, it seemed like maybe they had blended their ingredients for too long so it was sort of pasty rather than being chunky. They also didn't have a whole lot of flavour. Oh and the final thing which was also my favourite were the risotto balls. They were made from sundried tomato so had tonnes of flavour and then had a nice crispy coating. I could have eaten about 20 of them I think!

As well as all of these things there were also three dips. One was a tasty beetroot chutney style dip which was my favourite, then there was a mint sauce which we both found a little weird since it tasted really like a mojito and was super strongly flavoured. The third dip was something which reminded me of curried egg, I don't know what it actually was, possibly some sort of curried mayonnaise, Quentin really liked this one anyway although I found it a little too creamy.

Overall it was a really fun meal, it was cool to be able to mix all different things together and try so many foods at one meal. Not all of the different foods were as good as I thought they could be, some were a bit lacking in flavour or could have been a little more tasty but overall most of it was delicious.

The service was good and the food came out pretty quickly. We didn't get any drinks but they had a fun cocktail list which I would like to go back and try at some point. I will give them a 4 because some of the things could have been more delicious but it was a fun meal and most of it was really good. I would go back there for drinks with friends and get this again.