25th July 2008
Good but not great!
My girlfriend and I visited LSB for the first time this week for my birthday. Having read a number of good reviews I was looking forward to the experience. We visited during the evening and chose from the full A La Carte menu. Setting was great, we managed to get a seat outside on the terrace which was a result as our original table upstairs would have been unbearably hot. Definitely go for the downstairs tables (or outside if weather nice). The menu has a good choice. I went for the salt & pepper squid as a starter. The squid was beautifully cooked and tender in a light spiced tempura type batter. No discernible salt & pepper element to the dish though, a little bland in terms of flavour if I'm honest. My girlfriend went for the scallops. Scallops were once again cooked well but for £11 I'd have expected a lot more than four small scallops. The cauliflower puree was a good texture but lacked seasoning and was also a bit bland. Definitely not value for money. Main course for me was the pork cutlet. An outstanding piece of meat. Huge chop, beautifully cooked. Let down by the accompanying items. A celeriac fondant was nothing of the kind, more a mush. The parsley carrots were large and undercooked and I got no sense of calvados from the apple. The cornichon sauce added nothing to the pork and I felt it was wasted. Crackling was superb though. The seared tuna steak was what my girlfriend went for. Could have done with another 30 seconds each side but the tuna was fresh and tasty. Severely let down by the pak choi and fennel it was served with, a very unattractive looking dish in a watery soup. Too much green veg on the plate - it looked unappetising and devoid of imagination. Desserts were ok, my chocolate fondant was home made and was good but not spectacular. Like other reviews I have read you got the sense that the sticky toffee pudding we also had was not made in the kitchen. It was once again nice but not amazing. Strange choice to serve chantilly cream with it.
Nice wine list, pretty much what you would expect although a little on the pricy side, we paid £42 for a Gigondas that you can get for around £13 in Majestic. But thats restaurants for you, so no real complaints on that score. Staff were friendly, service was good and although busy that night we didn't have to wait too long between courses. All in all it was a pleasant night. Was it value for money? At £130 for all of the above I would have expected more quality in the food. No doubting the quality of the ingerdients but how they arrived on the plate was disappointing. Would I go back? No, I don't think I would. There are much better places in Reading.
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