Category: London

Foliage – Accidental walkin

A first for us, getting the dates wrong for one of our restaurant visits. It turned out that we had arrived a week earlier than our booking – almost a disaster. Fortunately they just managed to squeeze us in. We literally got the very last table in a packed restaurant.

The meal was of the usual high standard, with the Gnocchi and Ox Cheeks dishes being the standouts. In fact it was so good, we decided to keep the booking for the next week as well!.

Marks out of 10

Food 8

Service 8

Ambience 7.8

 

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City Cafe – Winter in the City

January is a normally a quiet time for Hotels and Restaurants, so there does tend to be a lot of offers on the go. The City Inn for example are currently doing 2 for 1 meal offers in their City Cafe Restaurant.

We did not bother booking, we just turned up with our voucher and as expected the restaurant was not busy, only half a dozen tables were being used. Which is not a problem as the restaurant layout is split up nicely into separate sections.

The service was good and the food was nicely presented. Nothing stand out, but a pleasant meal for a winter evening. We started with a hearty Pumpkin Soup and a very nice Pork Belly dish, then Steak and Frites, finishing with a Raspberry Brulee and an apple tart with cinder toffee sauce. We also had two glasses of wine (the City Cafe has a reliable wine list and they do quite a few by the glass) and a bottle of mineral water. The two for one deal worked out well, our meal which should have been £50 a head, worked out at £25 a head, a good price for London.

For more on the City Cafe, see Post:-

Marks out of 10

Food 5.5

Service 5

Ambience 4

 

UPDATE : November 2010 – The City Inn has been rebranded and is now the Mint Hotel.

UPDATE : January 2012 – This hotel has now been rebranded as a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.

UPDATE : May 2013 – Not sure if Hilton are paying much attention to the restaurant now, when I have passed by it at lunch times during the week and weekends it has been completely empty.

 

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Magdalen – Friendly neighbourhood restaurant

The Magdelen has quite a pedigree. With links to some of the countries top Restaurants and Gastropubs. The reviews on its website are superb. On the whole we found it to be a friendly neighbourhood restaurant that provides good tasty food, but perhaps not meriting all the superlatives in the reviews.


I would certainly happily make a return visit.

Marks out of 10

Food 6

Service 6

Ambience 6 (although it was a bit drafty)

 

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Chino Latino – lighten up!

Chino Latino is the restaurant at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel and as hotel restaurants go this is a winner, especially if you are into Pan Asian cuisine.

The name does not really fit, I believe the Latino part is meant to apply to the bar which does have a reasonable range of “latin” cocktails. The bar is comfortable, but too big to be cosy and the service is rather slow. It’s fine if you’re not in a rush.

The food here used to be stunning, it’s not as good now, but the kitchen can still deliver some excellent dishes. The food is designed for sharing. We had a really good duck dish with kumquats, absolutely yummy. The grilled scallops were also excellent, and the sashimi served with homemade wasabi was a treat. They were a bit heavy handed with the salt though on a couple of other dishes, the ribs in particular were a problem.

The prices here are pretty steep, but if you can get a Top Table deal on the food (we got 40% off on our visit), they are more manageable. It is hard though not to overindulge on the cocktails – I would recommend the watermelon martini for dessert!

I would also recommend bringing a torch to read the menu as the lighting can be a problem at some of the tables.

UPDATE : September 2011 –  Back again, one of the highlights of this meal was a Thai Curry (for sharing – as all the food here is), the presentation was very different and the dish itself was lovely. Seriously good Pan Asian food. My only real complaint is the room, which although atmospheric, fails on one of the most important aspects of restaurant dining – You must be able to read the menu. The font is too small and the lighting design is totally impractical

UPDATE : January 2023

Hotel & Restaurant closed, now a Hyatt hotel, click here to see article for details.

 

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Adam & Eve – Tempting!

This gastropub has only been open a few months. It is certainly going to be my place of choice next time I am trying to escape the crowds on Oxford Street. It’s refreshing to visit somewhere modern that does not feel like part of some huge souless “All Bar One” style chain.

The Adam & Eve is part of a chain though (Geronimo Inns), however it somehow managed to feel like a one off.

Admittedly it was a quiet Sunday evening when I visited, so I can not judge how good it will be at busier times, but the staff were friendly and efficient. They had a good selection of wine, beer and spirits. The Food menu was inviting. I had a very tasty Pumpkin and Onion Tart with some fresh salad leaves. The burger also looked really good.

 

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Le Pont de la Tour – No Fireworks!

It was November the 5th – Fireworks night, a visit to Le Pont de la Tour next to Tower Bridge seemed like a good location to see some displays, and off course the bridge has some historical significance in the Guy Fox story.  Alas the only fireworks were some drunken revellers outside the window putting on an impromptu display using sparklers. There were no fireworks inside on the food front either, the style and quality of the food was actually more reminiscent of their sister restaurant next door (the Chop House), which aims for a different market sector.

When we left, as the Restaurant was closing at about 11:45, (I had been there since 7:20, but more about that later) one of the waiters asked if we had a good evening. One of my companions replied “Yes, the Food was good, The Wine was good”, and tactfully omitted any mention of the service which had been pretty abysmal, causing us to still be in the restaurant at 11:45.

I had arrived at 7:20 and waited 10 minutes while “the Greeter” was on the phone dealing with enquiries about the restaurant. The Maitre d’ apologised, took my coat and escorted me to the table. I noticed about 15 minutes later he was still carrying my coat as he took other people to their tables. My companions arrived, they too had felt invisible as they waited to be acknowledged, they spotted me and made their own way to the table. We were then quickly served  Champagne – a freebie due to problems my companions had on a earlier visit. We were about to enjoy the Champagne, in fact I started drinking it (forgetting to smell it first) bad mistake – it was seriously corked. They replaced it with a better quality Champagne which was good. Our food order was taken, again after a fair gap. The Bread arrived about 15 minutes after that, a good hour after I had!.  So you can imagine how hungry we were by the time the food arrived.

We shared a plate of 12 oysters, which we enjoyed. When the rest of the food arrived we found that several of the dishes, especially the Steak Tartar  were under seasoned,  so we had to ask for salt and pepper.

It was getting late by the time we got to the dessert/cheese course and we needed advice on wine matching, after conversations with several members of staff we finally got the sommelier, who recommended a lovely red dessert wine to go with our cheese. Unfortunately the cheese trolley had shrunk quite a bit by the time it arrived at our table, so we had to make do with  a selection of what was left. There were no standout cheeses despite the menu descriptions, which had sounded so promising. However I am being picky now, as on the whole we did enjoy our evening it was just marred by the service.

I am afraid based on this visit that I have to class Le Pont de la Tour as one of these restaurants that relies too much on its location to attract custom (see Food Vent number 22). The Bar/Brasserie and the restaurant were both completely packed, which off course impacted on the service, but in general there did seem to be lots of staff and most off the issues we had were at the start off the evening when the restaurant was only half full.

Marks out of 10

Food 5.5

Service 3

Ambience 5

 

 

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