The Boombar is a South African restaurant up the hill in Crouch End. It has the loudest frontage I've ever seen (heard?), made of Mosiac like the end product of a children's community Art Project. This groovy hippy feel is continued inside where there is a cosy unpretentious feeling; the staff are friendly and laid back. The pictures on the wall are a strange mix of macho white South African rugby players and black African Art, which kind of works actually. We ordered our food and a couple of Hoegarden beers and waited and waited and….the laid back feel had unfortunately infected the kitchen staff and half an hour after ordering we still hadn't received our food.

My companion A said she had a spooky feeling there was no kitchen when she pointed out that there was no food on any of the occupied tables. However there seemed a conspiracy of silence on the subject by the punters - and we joined in too. Enquiring after our order would have broken the spell, everyone was happy, the waiters were smiley and more Hoegarden was on its way; who were we to spoil the moment. Our hopes for food were rallied when two lovely fresh looking salads appeared on the table next to us - this was followed quickly by every order on each table in quick succession. I'm not sure what had happened, but all of a sudden someone in the kitchen had got their act together. We had ordered two pretty simple main courses - mine, a spicy stir fry had fresh ingredients properly crisp and perfectly spiced, A's Jambalaya, was huge and equally well spiced and laden with all manner of mouth-watering things. We were too full to attempt their delicious looking desserts. The food was good and the atmosphere very jolly - assuming that the kitchen is not usually so laid back - we give this a spy approved stamp. Havoc