What Restaurant did you eat at last night?
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Soldato
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That's a shame, I've never been anything less than completely satisfied when eating there.
I know the meat fruit is just a chicken liver parfait but it's the best chicken liver parfait I've had - even better than the parfait at The Hand & Flowers and the parfait served as part of one of the courses at The Fat Duck.
Couldn't agree more on the tipsy cake, it's a fantastic desert.
I guess everyone has different tastes. It'd be a dull world if we all liked the same things.
The comment about the service came as a real surprise, I've always found Heston restaurants to offer outstanding service - probably the best in the industry that I've seen. That's quite disappointing.
I know the meat fruit is just a chicken liver parfait but it's the best chicken liver parfait I've had - even better than the parfait at The Hand & Flowers and the parfait served as part of one of the courses at The Fat Duck.
Couldn't agree more on the tipsy cake, it's a fantastic desert.
I guess everyone has different tastes. It'd be a dull world if we all liked the same things.
The comment about the service came as a real surprise, I've always found Heston restaurants to offer outstanding service - probably the best in the industry that I've seen. That's quite disappointing.
Just back from a trip to Spain which included some time in the wonderful Basque country including San Sebastian. If you love food, the San Sebastian is fantastic, with the wonderful Pintxos bars in the old town delivering some wonderful Pintxos dishes as you move from bar to bar trying each specialty. However, whilst there we checked out two of the 3* restaurants in the area:
Akelare - a wonderful setting on a cliff looking out to the ocean and up and down the coast. Refreshingly you could each eat a different menu, and switch dishes between menus. The food was seasonal and the ingredients stunning, but nothing really stood out and a few dishes were average or misconceived in my view. The service was a bit shambolic, they didn't know a couple of times who ordered what dish, wine topping up was slow. Reviews rave about it, but I wasn't completely convinced. The wine list was amazingly good value and it was so refreshing to not be paying 3 or 4 times retail price for wines and 12.5% service.
Azurmendi - nearer Bilbao than San Sebastian. This is much more of an experience type restaurant. It is set in a beautiful building/greenhouse that houses the restaurant, kitchen and some gardens that provide various ingredients. The service was very welcoming and friendly throughout although again things like wine topping up were a bit shambolic. The food was stunning throughout with only one or two dishes not being particularly memorable. The chef was absolutely charming and I look forward to seeing what he does when he opens a restaurant in London. Overall, this is one of the best meals I've had anywhere.
Akelare - a wonderful setting on a cliff looking out to the ocean and up and down the coast. Refreshingly you could each eat a different menu, and switch dishes between menus. The food was seasonal and the ingredients stunning, but nothing really stood out and a few dishes were average or misconceived in my view. The service was a bit shambolic, they didn't know a couple of times who ordered what dish, wine topping up was slow. Reviews rave about it, but I wasn't completely convinced. The wine list was amazingly good value and it was so refreshing to not be paying 3 or 4 times retail price for wines and 12.5% service.
Azurmendi - nearer Bilbao than San Sebastian. This is much more of an experience type restaurant. It is set in a beautiful building/greenhouse that houses the restaurant, kitchen and some gardens that provide various ingredients. The service was very welcoming and friendly throughout although again things like wine topping up were a bit shambolic. The food was stunning throughout with only one or two dishes not being particularly memorable. The chef was absolutely charming and I look forward to seeing what he does when he opens a restaurant in London. Overall, this is one of the best meals I've had anywhere.
Associate
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Northcote - 2/5. This place has been on our hit-list for ages but the food and a couple of other things let it down on the night we went. Were asked to be there for 8:00pm for an 8:30pm reservation and were still sat in the bar holding area at 9pm - missus was starving!
When we made it to the main room, it turned out the place was absolutely packed which must have had a bearing on the food served. Very nice canapes in the holding pen and a lovely Bramble cocktail. If you like gin, this is the place for you.
We'd booked the tasting menu which had a couple of good dishes but overall it was frankly a ****-take. If you're going to trumpet about your 10-week aged Hereford beef and the John Dory (which must have been off as they gave us lemon sole) then at least put enough on the plate to actually form an opinion. Both of those were a mouthful at best and just felt like another round of canapes, especially as the accompanying sauces drowned out any chance to actually taste the fish and meat. Highlight of the night was the onion baked in it's own skin with some lovely ham at the bottom you had scrape to get into, and the further you dug, the more of the of the "ash" it was baked in came out. Absolutely top notch that was. We were still hungry by the time the deer loin "en croute" came out which was a complete opposite to the previous dishes in that it was a massive whack of dry venison, with pastry around it, resembling a huge pork pie. That was the worst dish of the night but we just tore into it as we were still hungry.
I've done the paired wines a few times and had good and bad experiences but this selection was the best I've had anywhere. Some oddball choices that I would never think to order on their own but the sommeliers there know what they're doing. An English Guenivre (?), a New Zealand Riesling and a glass of Rothschild and Mondavi Opus One which I had to Google afterwards to try and get a bottle of but turns out is £300 a pop if you can actually get hold of one. That really was excellent.
From start to finish, the waiting staff were absolutely brilliant and in a lovely setting. Come for the alcohol. The food was a total letdown on our visit, to be frank.
When we made it to the main room, it turned out the place was absolutely packed which must have had a bearing on the food served. Very nice canapes in the holding pen and a lovely Bramble cocktail. If you like gin, this is the place for you.
We'd booked the tasting menu which had a couple of good dishes but overall it was frankly a ****-take. If you're going to trumpet about your 10-week aged Hereford beef and the John Dory (which must have been off as they gave us lemon sole) then at least put enough on the plate to actually form an opinion. Both of those were a mouthful at best and just felt like another round of canapes, especially as the accompanying sauces drowned out any chance to actually taste the fish and meat. Highlight of the night was the onion baked in it's own skin with some lovely ham at the bottom you had scrape to get into, and the further you dug, the more of the of the "ash" it was baked in came out. Absolutely top notch that was. We were still hungry by the time the deer loin "en croute" came out which was a complete opposite to the previous dishes in that it was a massive whack of dry venison, with pastry around it, resembling a huge pork pie. That was the worst dish of the night but we just tore into it as we were still hungry.
I've done the paired wines a few times and had good and bad experiences but this selection was the best I've had anywhere. Some oddball choices that I would never think to order on their own but the sommeliers there know what they're doing. An English Guenivre (?), a New Zealand Riesling and a glass of Rothschild and Mondavi Opus One which I had to Google afterwards to try and get a bottle of but turns out is £300 a pop if you can actually get hold of one. That really was excellent.
From start to finish, the waiting staff were absolutely brilliant and in a lovely setting. Come for the alcohol. The food was a total letdown on our visit, to be frank.
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Man of Honour
Another really good meal (though if I'm honest, only about 90% as good as it has been..but that was a pretty high bar) at Palate in Chorlton: http://palatechorlton.co.uk/
I tried the raclette for the first time today. Delicious but despite my love of cheese and all things rich, an entire plate of melted cheese with potatoes, pickles and ham hock defeated me
I tried the raclette for the first time today. Delicious but despite my love of cheese and all things rich, an entire plate of melted cheese with potatoes, pickles and ham hock defeated me
Soldato
Antonio's, Fareham 9/10
5 of us stuffed ourselves last night. Fantastic selection on offer for each course and great service from the staff.
My sister is fluent in Spanish so the owner was very attentive and wouldn't let us order wine from the list. He came back with a bottle which my sister must have recognised the name of as her eyes lit up. We had another bottle after that one too.
She wired into the tapas whilst I had tuna. Braised lamb shank, grey mullet and a chicken and beef dish were the other mains. All very happy with our choices.
Couldn't manage dessert so had a few liquors each. The owner was then informed it was my birthday (it's not til Wednesday so I denied it). So I got sung at and ended up with a chocolatey dessert anyway.
Stuffed.
Definitely going back.
5 of us stuffed ourselves last night. Fantastic selection on offer for each course and great service from the staff.
My sister is fluent in Spanish so the owner was very attentive and wouldn't let us order wine from the list. He came back with a bottle which my sister must have recognised the name of as her eyes lit up. We had another bottle after that one too.
She wired into the tapas whilst I had tuna. Braised lamb shank, grey mullet and a chicken and beef dish were the other mains. All very happy with our choices.
Couldn't manage dessert so had a few liquors each. The owner was then informed it was my birthday (it's not til Wednesday so I denied it). So I got sung at and ended up with a chocolatey dessert anyway.
Stuffed.
Definitely going back.
Soldato
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A few nights ago we went to Cafe Spice Nameste and had the £75/head tasting menu.
In a word - excellent.
They'll keep bringing you food until you ask them to stop and you'll get to try most things from the menu. Without exception each course was delicious! The dynamite piri piri squid was a bit too spicy for my tastes so I'm glad it was a small portion.
Cyrus Todiwala went to each table to have a chat and was a delight when he came to ours. He was genuinely interested in how we were enjoying ourselves and was realy happy to hear that the haggis samosa had gone down well.
Wine was good too, we got a glass of rose, white and red as part of the menu. Each wine was a good match for the food but the stand out was the Soul Tree Indian Shiraz which was almost smoky in flavour.
This place is never going to get a star, it isn't that sort of establishment as it's quite loud and colourful inside but the food absolutely warrants it.
We'll definitely return.
In a word - excellent.
They'll keep bringing you food until you ask them to stop and you'll get to try most things from the menu. Without exception each course was delicious! The dynamite piri piri squid was a bit too spicy for my tastes so I'm glad it was a small portion.
Cyrus Todiwala went to each table to have a chat and was a delight when he came to ours. He was genuinely interested in how we were enjoying ourselves and was realy happy to hear that the haggis samosa had gone down well.
Wine was good too, we got a glass of rose, white and red as part of the menu. Each wine was a good match for the food but the stand out was the Soul Tree Indian Shiraz which was almost smoky in flavour.
This place is never going to get a star, it isn't that sort of establishment as it's quite loud and colourful inside but the food absolutely warrants it.
We'll definitely return.
The Fat Duck, Bray
I have been looking forward to visiting The Fat Duck, for literally years. The stars aligned and the chance eventually arose to go last Friday. There is only now the tasting menu available, which comprises a vast number of courses, some of which a mere mouthfuls but a few are a little more substantial.
Perhaps I had built the experience up in my mind, but, I can't help but feel a little disappointed overall with the experience. The highlight for me was the sound of the sea sashimi. Perhaps the courses were all the more impressive when the style of cooking was brand new and unusual, but there's nothing that really stands out any more in 2016. There was nothing "wrong" as such with the meal, but was I wrong to expect to be blown away?
It's one to tick off the bucket list, but, and I'm sorry to say after looking forward to it for so long, The Fat Duck has had its heyday.
I have been looking forward to visiting The Fat Duck, for literally years. The stars aligned and the chance eventually arose to go last Friday. There is only now the tasting menu available, which comprises a vast number of courses, some of which a mere mouthfuls but a few are a little more substantial.
Perhaps I had built the experience up in my mind, but, I can't help but feel a little disappointed overall with the experience. The highlight for me was the sound of the sea sashimi. Perhaps the courses were all the more impressive when the style of cooking was brand new and unusual, but there's nothing that really stands out any more in 2016. There was nothing "wrong" as such with the meal, but was I wrong to expect to be blown away?
It's one to tick off the bucket list, but, and I'm sorry to say after looking forward to it for so long, The Fat Duck has had its heyday.
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Soldato
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That doesn't make good reading. I've been to the Fat Duck twice, most recently about 2 years ago and was utterly blown away both times. I'm intending to go back later this year.
Soldato
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Ah, that makes sense.
That style of food has moved on a lot since The Far Duck became iconic so I guess the syle is more run of the mill now than it ever was.
You've got people like Michael O'Hare pushign thigns forward. I'm having dinner at his place in September - should be fun.
Soldato
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I went to The Gingerman in Brighton the other night.
I was expecting more to be honest, but it was still a nice meal.
I was expecting more to be honest, but it was still a nice meal.
Man of Honour
I just had a (not so light) lunch at Bar San Juan in Chorlton with my father.
It had a lot to live up to given the amount of people I've heard describe it as the best tapas in Manchester but it actually managed it. The entire meal was lovely. The only (very minor) gripe was that the batter for the calamari was a bit blah. I think they went a bit heavy with the cornflour and light with the seasoning. Everything else though....sublime. Easily the nicest tapas I've eaten.
edit: I've put the right name in now...
It had a lot to live up to given the amount of people I've heard describe it as the best tapas in Manchester but it actually managed it. The entire meal was lovely. The only (very minor) gripe was that the batter for the calamari was a bit blah. I think they went a bit heavy with the cornflour and light with the seasoning. Everything else though....sublime. Easily the nicest tapas I've eaten.
edit: I've put the right name in now...
I went to Juan Sanchez a few months ago after a foodie at work recommended it. It was an alright meal but I didn't really understand the rave reviews. I reported back to the guy my lukewarm experience and it turns out he meant Bar San Juan, also in Chorlton. I haven't been yet but intend to in future.
Tapas is definitely seems to be the 'in' cuisine at the moment with places like Lunya and Iberica opening in the centre. A bit further out and Levanter Fine Foods in Ramsbottom is great tapas too. It's done so well they've opened a pintxos bar, also in Ramsbottom, which is meant to be good.
Tapas is definitely seems to be the 'in' cuisine at the moment with places like Lunya and Iberica opening in the centre. A bit further out and Levanter Fine Foods in Ramsbottom is great tapas too. It's done so well they've opened a pintxos bar, also in Ramsbottom, which is meant to be good.
Just realised my last post is a bit of a whazzer on your positive tapas experience. To clarify, it wasn't a bad meal, but we didn't get the really good value lunchtime deal and instead paid full evening prices. With a few jugs of sangria it was a fairly expensive meal overall and while some of the tapas were really good, some others weren't as good and the portion sizes seemed meagre for £5 a pop.
Man of Honour
I actually meant Bar San Juan too... I was in a rush when I wrote my post and just copy-pasted from Google as I wasn't sure of the name 
I've been to Juan Sanchez previously and enjoyed it but I certainly wouldn't give it as gushing a review as Bar San Juan.
I've been to Juan Sanchez previously and enjoyed it but I certainly wouldn't give it as gushing a review as Bar San Juan.