Results tagged “Restaurant” from Cordinc Blog

This week saw a visit to The Harwood Arms - a gastro pub in Fulham, recently awarded a Michelin star. It is round a few corners from Fulham Road, on a quiet suburban street. From the outside the place looks like a pub, but inside it is set up like a restaurant. Apart from the bar and a small sofa area, the entire floorspace is occupied with tables. So I can't imagine your meal would ever be interrupted by casual drinkers, although there is a quiz night every Tuesday.

The menu focusses on British produce with a special emphasis on game, most of which is apparently hunted or caught by the owners. For a starter I had a wild mushroom soup with mussel fritters. There was a surprisingly large amount, although it was so nice it certainly was not a problem to get through it all. The main dish was shoulder of deer for two with celeriac mash, vegetables and a little salad. It all came on a large platter so that you could carve the shoulder yourself. However, this wasn't at all arduous as the meat was so beautifully tender it just fell off the bone. Again, a large amount of delightful food. After that I was too full for dessert, but I'm assured the sticky toffee and date ice cream with lemon curd was delicious.

The Harwood Arms had a pleasant atmosphere, not quite a pub but still welcoming. Service was prompt and courteous. The cost was reasonable for a top restaurant (by London standards!), dinner for two (starters, main and one dessert) with wine was under £100. Excellent food and well worth a visit.

My mobile phone company recently gave me a two-for-one dinner voucher. Most of the qualifying venues were high-end fast food chains, but looking through the list I spotted a little gem - Café Spice Namaste. I had heard a few things about this Indian restaurant near Tower Bridge, so was keen to give it a try. We went along on a Wednesday night and there were quite a few people there, suggesting a booking would definitely be necessary on more popular nights. The polite head waiter spent some time checking the voucher as we were apparently the first people to use such a voucher there. Once that was sorted out we ordered.

The menu was a little different to the standard Indian. For a start it was much shorter, just a few dishes, rather than the numerous curry combinations found elsewhere. We had poppadoms for starters followed by lamb shank and spiced partridge with naan and a potato/cauliflower/pea side dish. The food was very good. The poppadoms and chutneys were noticeably nicer than other places. My lamb shank was beautifully cooked and the slightly spiced sauce very more'ish - when I finished my plate was clean. The off-the-bone partridge was equally good. The portions were a good size and after that lot (plus some beer) we were too full for dessert. Although seeing the Belgian chocolate icecream at the next table tempted us, we did not waver and got the bill.

The service was very fast and efficient. It was more expensive than other Indian places, but also far better. Although, it was by no means expensive by general London standards, a little over £60 before the voucher discount (and including service). For comparison, the next best Indian restaurant I've been is Babur. Without a discount Café Spice Namaste is a little more expensive than Babur, but with better food (thanks to the poppadoms) and easily better service. This is definitely a place I'll be visiting again.

While holidaying in the Orkneys we ate dinner one night at The Creel, regarded as one of the best restaurants in Scotland (according to our guidebook). It also has a long list of awards (AA rosettes, Good Food Guide and a Scottish Restaurant Chef of The Year), most of which it displays on its walls. The menu is quite simple and short - a choice of around four starters, with a similar number of mains - all skewed heavily towards local seafood.

We had the scallops and a langoustine salad for starters. The scallops were good (for what they were - I'm not a huge fan of that shellfish), but the langoustines with orange and a pesto dressing on the salad were excellent. For mains one of us had hake with squid and aubergine and the other halibut with mashed cauliflower and peas. The halibut was just about 30 seconds cooked beyond its best, but the hake was perfect. For both the accompaniment were particular highlights. However, the one issue was salt - there was way too much. This is something The Creel has in common with nearly every restaurant we visited in Scotland, so perhaps that is just the Scottish style. Still, to my palate it stopped a very good dish becoming a great dish.

We had no dessert, and the whole meal came to £67 with a couple of drinks. Very reasonable by London standards and not that much more than some of the other places we visited while away. The service and décor were fine. One thing to note though is that it is a small restaurant and all the tables were taken when we were there on a Tuesday night - booking is essential. Well worth a visit and I would try it again if in the area.

As an aside, I would also like to say the lunch I had at the Skara Brae Tourist Centre was excellent. It may just look like a standard canteen, but the quality of the food is very high with friendly and helpful staff. I almost drove back there a second time just for lunch. A hidden gem, and if you are in Orkney it behoves you to see Skara Brae and then eat lunch on site (or take away).

Deux because they're fancy!

Starting with the best, Pied a Terre is a small, intimate restaurant in Fitzrovia. At least I think it is small. It appears to be a converted house, so there are many small rooms. We were in the front room with four tables, most of which were empty during our meal, and none were in our eyeline. The large front window was frosted to just above head height. The room felt light, but no one on the street could see in, nor could we be distracted. Combined with the staff materialising as if from nowhere whenever required, the impression was a private dining experience. It is the effect Hakkasan was attempting and failing to achieve (there I felt as if I was on a stage with down lighting trying to isolate our table in a large room). We ordered the tasting menu with the discovery wines option. Were I to describe each dish it would become a bore of hyperbole. It is safe to say the food was incredible, sometime surprisingly so. I'm not normally a fan of raw tuna, but here the flavour was exquisite. The wine was of a high standard with two outstanding exceptions and another disappointing exception (which turned out to be from my home town). Although with 8 glasses over 10 courses it was too much and we had to leave nearly half. The staff were friendly but to the point and never instrusive. Overall, the meal was verging on perfection. The main negative point was the expense - oh my lord the expense. It is by far the most expensive meal I've ever had by a long way. About 50% more expensive than Hakkasan, which I thought was expensive. For the cost of this meal for two, you could feed eleven at The Sportsman. Having said that, I'm glad to have been once, just not sure I could justify another visit before I win the Lotto jackpot. If this is what two Michelin stars is like, how much better can three be?

Babur is an Indian restuaurant in Forest Hill (about 15 minutes walk from where I live) which recently won an award. I thought it was the "Best Cheap Eat in South London", but I'm told that's not right, and if it is correct then it must only just qualify on the price criteria (to my mind it's at the high end of cheap - £60 for two, with beer but no wine or dessert). Their takeaway menu is very good so we went for a sitdown meal. The food was excellent. I had the ostrich starter with tandoori jumbo prawns (the largest prawns I have seen in Britain), it was mouthwatering and satisfying in the way good curry can be. Based on the food alone, this would be one of my favourites. However, I found the service a little lacking. Our naan was forgotten, but when pointed out it was removed from the bill with no hassle. Also they tried to sell us a loyalty card a little too strongly. At first I was interested, but after a quick calculation realised it wouldn't be much use to us. We politely refused. So far no problem. However, they then proceeded to try selling it to us a further two times, each time explaining to us the "benefits" in full as if we hadn't grasped the system the first time. I wasn't impressed. Overall, despite the hassle it's worth a visit.

I have recently had occasion to visit a couple Michelin star restaurants. Together with a previous dinner, I have been to a total of three restaurants rated one Michelin star (none higher rated). As there is a bit of buzz at the moment around chefs and restaurants, here are some brief reviews.

River Café - I used to share a flat around the corner from this place. There were always expensive cars parked out the front, some with chauffeurs reading a paper in the front seat. I wanted to see what it was like before leaving London. I had a crab pasta dish. It was very nice, but I was slightly unimpressed considering the cost. Nice food, nice wine, it just didn't grab me. Although I'd be happy to give it another try sometime.

Hakkasan - A subterranean Chinese restaurant in the west end. The décor was very stylish. The tables were spotlighted but the paths were in darkness - a cool affect. The food was very good but my foremost memory of this place is the service. I found it excessive. The staff were constantly checking on us. I joked that if I dropped my napkin one of the waiters would catch it before it hit the floor. Looking around there seemed to be more staff than diners. Neither I or my partner could relax. I enjoyed the food, but probably would not go again.

The Sportsman - This is a gastro-pub on the coast at Seasalter near Whitstable. It looks like a standard pub from the outside. Inside it is light (on an overcast day) and spacious. The staff were friendly, although they did warn me the stout had a strong taste, maybe they thought I was a tourist. I had a crab starter with a lamb main and it was cooked perfectly. In short, unpretentious atmosphere and excellent food. Most surprising of all, the cost was about the same as an average London restaurant. Definitely recommended.