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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What’s coming in December

Heading north for Christmas.

Scotland is well known for great ingredients. Venison, Scallops, Langoustine etc, but how do the chefs north of the border compare with say London? We have chosen two of Edinburghs top restaurants for comparison.

One an established classic, the other cutting edge. They are:-

We would also like to wish all our readers a Merry Xmas & Happy New Year.

Oh and on January 1st 2010 we shall be awarding our Best and Worst restaurant of 2009.

 

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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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Louis Roederer Cristal – bling bling!

A friend who is emigrating to Australia and is loath to pay the 50% tax on importing some of her fine wine collection, had an informal wine tasting. We started with a glass of Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal 2002. The price of this puts it outside most peoples range (mine included), it is a champagne you tend to associate with footballers wife’s and rappers – money no object, all about the bling!. So it was a great experience to try a glass. Wow – it was absolutely stunning, a dry beautifully balanced wine, with a lovely biscuit bouquet. I do not know why but I rather expected this to be over hyped, instead it was undoubtedly the best champagne I have ever had or probably likely to have.

This was followed by a glass of Bollinger Grand Année vintage 1992, another lovely champagne with a distinct nutty flavour. We also had a selection of Penfolds Grange wines. These and the other wines at the tasting are listed above, and I would struggle to find superlatives to describe them.  Suffice to say I now feel utterly spoiled. Thank you Rita.

 

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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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The Hide Bar – Hidden Gem

The Hide Bar is one of my favourite bars. They take drink seriously here, i.e., they do not do any old wines, beers or spirits.  They focus on the “good stuff” and design a lot of their own cocktails.  They also do regular wine, beer and spirit tastings in the back room.

We popped in for a quick drink at Halloween:-.

They have a pretty basic food menu, and serve some food during the tasting events (normally selected to match the beverages, e.g., Oysters and Champagne, Beer and Sausages, Armagnac and Cheese).  The food can be a bit hit and miss – occasionally very good, but more often fairly ordinary.

Marks out of 10

Food 5

Drink 8

Service 7 (Bar service and waiter/waitress service)

Ambience 7

 

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