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Review

The Rainforest Café

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The Rainforest Café is the Liberace of themed restaurants – over the top and proud of it. This is The Vegas Amazon, with cascading waterfalls, animatronic gorillas and giant mechanical pelicans, all under a thick canopy of plastic foliage. It’s as kitsch as you’re imagining - and then some. There are monkey cries, high stools the shape of zebra legs and best of all, a fake thunderstorm (minus shower) every half hour.



There is though the issue of the name. This is, after all, a restaurant celebrating one of the most vulnerable places on earth, while waving the flag of globalisation (there are nearly 100 branches worldwide.) At face value, the idea is a little disconcerting.



This said, the RC does support charities like the World Land Trust which purchases rainforest in Ecuador. Contributions are made when you order specific dishes (with 10p to 25p going to charity) and money is also collected from a wishing well near the entrance. More contributions could be made by selling Fair Trade merchandise in the shop but, on the whole, it does a darn site more for charity than most London businesses.

Food wise, the menu is predictably burger and steak orientated, with a few South American named dishes - Lamb La Bamba, Calypso Chicken Sandwich – for added exoticism. There is also the welcome inclusion of several fish dishes for those who find the idea of a 10oz steak a little too predatory given the abundance of furry – albeit animatronic – creatures. The swordfish (£12.95), served on a mound of delicious garlic mash (£12.95), was first rate but while my friend’s steak (£14.95) was tender and exceeded our expectations, the fries were disappointingly cold.

For dessert, we went for our waitress Kelly’s recommendation the Tempting ToffeeAnna (£3.95), a toffee mousse with banana and ice-cream, which was a little too sweet for my liking. Sorry Kelly.

Service is with a smile, which is commendable given the number of children about. That’s not to say the place won’t appeal to grown-ups with a taste for novelty. Claustrophobics should stay clear though since the restaurant has no windows: luckily plastic plants don’t photosynthesise.

All in all, the Rainforest Café is definitely the best family diversion in Piccadilly, though not the cheapest. You could do worse than go for a rumble in the jungle.