The Bare Necessities….

388-392 High Road,
Leyton, E10 6QE
Tel: 0208 988 6362

GymsKitchen is extremely practical in its approach to dining. It excludes the thrills of dining and instead, focuses on expediency, providing brilliant service and ensuring that only the most nutritious dishes are served. Perfect for the health conscious, a trip to Gyms Kitchen allows you to ‘eat clean’ at a somewhat reasonable price.

The décor had a canteen/café feel; quite industrial and very dissimilar from the previous places we’ve dined. This aside, the aesthetic first impressions were overpowered by the refreshing, inviting attitude of the staff who greeted and seated us immediately.

Drinks
For drinks, we ordered smoothies. Based on smoothies we are familiar with from other ‘fit food’ places, these smoothies weren’t as sweet and therefore were a slight disappointment; as you can see, we not quite ready to take the full plunge into completely nutritional dining. By no means was this a reflection on the restaurant; the waitress happily explained that they use crushed ice for their smoothies as opposed to frozen yogurt. Nonetheless, the smoothies were a brilliant choice, much lighter and less filling as those we have made reference to.

Grilled Halloumi

Starters

Smoked Salmon on wholemeal bread

For starters Candace ordered Halloumi and Jamelia ordered Smoked Salmon on wholemeal bread (from the breakfast menu - don’t ask!). The waitress kindly gave us complimentary Humus, Carrots and Celery, as a welcome nibble. The starters themselves were very satisfying and the presentation, outstanding. A guilt-free beginning to a meal.

Grilled Salmon
with Sweet Potato and Spinach

Mains

Mango and Chilli Prawns
with Sweet Potato Mash

For Mains Candace ordered Salmon, Sweet Potato Mash and Spinach while Jamelia ordered Mango and Chilli Prawns with Sweet Potato Mash. Both dishes were presented beautifully and the servings were very generous. Pleased with our options, although not as flavoursome as dishes we are becoming accustomed to, we were still able to appreciate how clean these dishes tasted.

Dessert

Now time for dessert! We already had eyes on the pancakes from the beginning so could not wait to dig in. We both went for the Apple Crunch Protein Pancake and what an unfortunate mistake that was! The consistency of the pancakes were sand like, not very soft and quite difficult to swallow. Fortunately we added frozen yogurt to them; the closest attempt at getting a cheeky sugar rush. Gyms Kitchen strongly appeals to the fitness focused customer, someone who is more concerned with the nutritional value than the actual taste of the meal.

Apple Crunch Protein Pancake

Although it offers what appears to be cheeky treats, Gyms Kitchen is not to be confused with a tasty stop off diner. Gym fanatics can rest assured that the chefs have carefully calculated the calories in every dish, and pride themselves on this, including ‘desserts’ such as 'protein pancakes'. Not for the faint hearted, or the sensitive stomach-ed. Gyms Kitchen is perfectly positioned and offers great service and magnificently presented meals ideal for a post or pre gym workout for those serious about their eating habits.

Price? £23pp
Tastecard? Denied.

WOM Spits and Chews

Spits:

• Consistency of pancakes
• Lack of sweetness in smoothies
• Decor

Chews:

• Generous portion sizes
• Nutritional value
• Friendly staff

Overall WOM Rating : 2 kisses out of 5

(until we are prepared to go 100% with healthy eating)

VERDICT : SPITS :(