Tiago’s Flame Grilled – Luton

Located next door to an Islamic centre on Bury Park Road in Luton, Tiago’s Flame Grilled is difficult to miss in the late evening given its brightly lit interior.

This spacious 31-cover eatery offers comfortable upholstered seating and a colourful decor that’s busy enough to make things interestingly inviting.

With a hygiene rating of 5, Tiago’s fully Halal menu is simple enough, with grilled chicken options, burgers, shakes and even pasta to again keep things interestingly inviting.

Kinder Bueno (large) £3.99; Mars (small) £2.99

While the milkshakes were all chocolate in flavour, there was plenty of fresh whipped cream, with the consistency of the shake being thick and flavoursome.

Ferrero Rocher; Oreo (large) – £3.99 each

These were some of the better shakes around, made even better by their price point (well, at least by London’s standards!).

Of the four, it was the Oreo that came out on top. Having said that though, one shake was thinner than the others, which was a shame.

The grilled items come in four flavours: lemon & herb, medium, hot and Tiago’s special.

Peri Peri Chicken Wings (x5) – double jointed wings. Comes with a choice of chips or rice & drink, £5.99

The wings were well marinated, and charred enough to ensure a smoky edge. And while medium turned out rather hot, and hot even more so, Tiago’s special was a herby hot sauce that stood somewhere in between.

Nevertheless, while these are a good choice for a starter, we found them a wee on the tiny side at £5.99.

Peri Peri Chicken Strips (x5) – Tender breast strips, comes with a choice of chips or rice & drink, £5.99

The boneless strips should have been the same, but they weren’t. The problem? Lack of sufficient charring.

And again, at £5.99, one would expect one’s chicken strips to be far more meatier than the scrawny specimens we were presented with.

Chicken Flat Bread

This chicken sandwich was simple enough, with a soft and tender breast marinated in a ‘medium’ sauce and wrapped in lettuce, a fresh, soft naan flat bread, and a good squirt of mayonnaise.

In the end, what this proved was that even simple things can taste great if done with care and precision.

Monster Burger Meal – 6oz, 100% meat patty with lettuce, gherkin, onion & tomato, melted cheese finished with relish, plain mayo & Tiago’s burger sauce, £4.99 Comes with a choice of chips or rice & a drink, all for £6.99

This didn’t quite look like the burger depicted on the menu. In fact, truth be told, not only was this far flatter in looks, but also in taste.

The poorly seasoned and dry patty was more a pygmy than a monster! Worse still, the burger hardly had any sauce to it. And since this is their only premium burger, we were expecting far more.

Big Belly Sub – Chicken strips with lettuce finished with sweet chilli & plain mayo, £3.49

The Big Belly Sub came in at £3.49 and was a 6 inch sub, that ultimately disappointed for the following single reason: poor panini bread, which turned out hard and dense, and lacking in taste.

Likewise, the fillings were similer to the flat bread. But, we just couldn’t get past the panini bread!

Chicken Sizzler Salad – Tender chicken strips with olives, mixed leaf salad, lettuce, cherry tomato’s cucumber, red onion & feta cheese, £4.29

For a healthy option, we had the Chicken Sizzler Salad, and glad we did too, because this was the best main for us.

And for one reason too: there was no skimping on the quantity of chicken and the quality of the salad, with the latter comprising of a mixed leaf variety that was fresh, crispy, and mixed with sweetcorn, salty feta cheese chunks, and olives.

When had with the warm, well marinated, grilled strips, you’ll come away feeling happy and fully satisfied.

Classic Fish Burger Meal – Battered cod square with lettuce, cheese & mayo all in a sesame seed bun. Comes with chips & drink, £2.99

Chips £1.19

The image on the menu appeared to be a stock image of something resembling Mcdonald’s Filet-O-Fish. And our suspicions were confirmed when the above came out looking entirely different!

Perhaps this might have hinted at something similar in taste had a tartar sauce of sorts been used.

Instead, the mayonnaise was insipid and didn’t work with the relatively large fillet of breaded fish, which itself was quite decently cooked.

What detracted from its flavour, however, was the addition of a thin slice of translucent cheese, a large slice of tomato, and so much crispy green lettuce that they all conspired to drown out the delicate taste of the cod. Just wrong in so many ways!

As for the fries, then at last these were done well enough, being nice and crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the in.

Chocolate Tart £2.99

This premium Chocolate Tart was a real let down! Not only was it over priced for its size, but because it was left uncovered, it came out, unsurprisingly, stale (and no, just leaving it behind a glass shutter won’t help)! Taste-wise, it was okay; but in terms of its texture, it was hard, and needed something more.

Cornflakes Tart £2.99

Yup; a Cornflakes Tart, which, like its cousin above, turned out to be even more stale given its nature.

The only saving grace here was the hot, well executed custard it was paired with.

Not only was this thick and non-lumpy, but more importantly helped us down a tart that would otherwise have been difficult to accomplish.

But, seriously, a Cornflakes Tart! Aren’t there any other tarts in the world to choose from?!

White Chocolate Cookie Dough with Vanilla Ice Cream £4.99

Drop your linen folks, for this White Chocolate Cookie Dough, with Vanilla Ice Cream, is the dessert to get for sure!

While it’s true that many cookie doughs often flatter to deceive, this semi-baked bowl came out hot, while being crispy and crunchy on top, and sweet and gooey on the in, with satisfying chunks of white chocolate scattered here, there and thither.

But if only the bowl of accompanying swirly vanilla ice cream wasn’t so icy, cheap and tasteless. Otherwise, we would have been on to a winner here; and a surprising one too given the precedence set by the aforementioned tarts.

2 scoops gelato ice cream £2.49

The premium ice cream was advertised as gelato and that’s precisely what we got. The Eton Mess had a creamy texture, with bits of hardness and a nice fruity strawberry flavour to it.

But undoubtedly the showstopper was their best seller: Bubblegum. One of the best around and totally worth it.