Latest reviews in Mayfair, London, United Kingdom

Goodman - by NickR

NickR — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:00:57 +0000

Review by NickR

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7499 3776

You have to hand it to them, the steaks were fantastic. Dare I say even better than Goucho's! However the atmoshere is not quite there, but the steak and service makes up for it.You have to hand it to them, the steaks were fantastic. Dare I say even better than Goucho's! However the atmoshere is not quite there, but the steak and service makes up for it.

Wild Honey - Lovely little spot by Sami

Sami — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:39:15 +0000

Review by Sami

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7758 9160

Website: http://www.wildhoneyrestaurant.co.uk/

Tags: french, good value, romantic

Went here last night with my flatmate and parents who were visiting from overseas - my parents are serious foodies and I wanted to find somewhere that would both appeal to myself and flatmate, and my parents.

The food was exceptional and I couldn't believe how well it was priced; it was cheap, considering how good our meals were. I had a beef tartare and a steak and the tarte tatin for dessert - unfortunately I don't remember what everyone else had as I was too busy eating my own dinner... but they were extremely pleased with their choices. My parents kept saying how much they liked it, which is always a good indication...

Lastly, the service was excellent; I find that service in this country can be lacking too often but our waiter was accommodating, helpful, and always available - even though the restaurant was packed.

Definitely, definitely recommended.Went here last night with my flatmate and parents who were visiting from overseas - my parents are serious foodies and I wanted to find somewhere that would both appeal to myself and flatmate, and my parents.

The food was exceptional and I couldn't believe how well it was priced; it was cheap, considering how good our meals were. I had a beef tartare and a steak and the tarte tatin for dessert - unfortunately I don't remember what everyone else had as I was too busy eating my own dinner... but they were extremely pleased with their choices. My parents kept saying how much they liked it, which is always a good indication...

Lastly, the service was excellent; I find that service in this country can be lacking too often but our waiter was accommodating, helpful, and always available - even though the restaurant was packed.

Definitely, definitely recommended.

Curzon Mayfair - Best screen in town by ASMG

ASMG — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:02:37 +0000

Review by ASMG

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7465 8865

Website: http://www.curzoncinemas.com/venues/curzon_mayfair/

Tags: posh, bar, theatre

Screen 1 at the Curzon Mayfair is one of the best cinema screens in London. And being part of the small Curzon chain, the cinema has tons of character. You can always expect to see great films here, not just whatever blockbuster Hollywood is trying to flog.Screen 1 at the Curzon Mayfair is one of the best cinema screens in London. And being part of the small Curzon chain, the cinema has tons of character. You can always expect to see great films here, not just whatever blockbuster Hollywood is trying to flog.

Automat - What's with the attitude...you're a burger joint! by chernandezg

chernandezg — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:37:32 +0000

Review by chernandezg

Rating: 1.00

Phone: 020 7499 3033

Website: http://www.automat-london.com

Tags: american, lively, expensive

I was hoping to do a nice casual dinner in Mayfair and I thought of Automat...the young lady's response pretty much guarantees that I will never go back...

Me: Hi, I was wondering if you might have an availability for 4 people around 830?

Lady: I seriously doubt that... but if you really want me to look...

Seriously lady...I appreciate that you are popular...but you are still only a burger joint... Dispense with the attitude!

I was hoping to do a nice casual dinner in Mayfair and I thought of Automat...the young lady's response pretty much guarantees that I will never go back...

Me: Hi, I was wondering if you might have an availability for 4 people around 830?

Lady: I seriously doubt that... but if you really want me to look...

Seriously lady...I appreciate that you are popular...but you are still only a burger joint... Dispense with the attitude!

Absolut Icebar - It's an ice bar by paolaenergya

paolaenergya — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:28:47 +0000

Review by paolaenergya

Rating: 3.00

Phone: 020 7287 9192

Website: http://www.belowzerolondon.com

Tags: sexy, cool & smart, cool

Oh yes it's a nice bar. Oh yes it's an ice bar. The end.
No, seriously, this is a nice little place to bring your friends visiting London, I've never been even if I live in London so I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and fun it was.
I agree with other reviewers that the waiters were rude: a lady shouting instructions about gloves being attached to our robes; a girl serving free top ups to her friends while ignoring me and my friend waiting to be served.
But who cares, we stayed there for 20 mins as we were done after the initial novelty factor - a couple was snogging nearby (I never knew that ice ignited passion).
Took pictures, had a laugh, and went for a lovely meal at Momo's next door.Oh yes it's a nice bar. Oh yes it's an ice bar. The end.
No, seriously, this is a nice little place to bring your friends visiting London, I've never been even if I live in London so I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and fun it was.
I agree with other reviewers that the waiters were rude: a lady shouting instructions about gloves being attached to our robes; a girl serving free top ups to her friends while ignoring me and my friend waiting to be served.
But who cares, we stayed there for 20 mins as we were done after the initial novelty factor - a couple was snogging nearby (I never knew that ice ignited passion).
Took pictures, had a laugh, and went for a lovely meal at Momo's next door.

Herbie Frogg - OK Clothes, Dreadful Service by josephkelly

josephkelly — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:41:41 +0000

Review by josephkelly

Rating: 1.00

Phone: 020 7734 4206

Jermyn Street is home to many great shops to buy men's clothing, so there is a lot of competition. I have visited Herbie Frogg a few times and I consistently received poor service. It is unfortunate because some of the clothes are acceptable, particularly for the price. However, it is not worth a visit given the poor treatment from staff (they are out-of-date, rude and unprofessional) you are likely to receive, which is likely why they now have signs indicating they are closing down... let's hope a better shop takes its place.Jermyn Street is home to many great shops to buy men's clothing, so there is a lot of competition. I have visited Herbie Frogg a few times and I consistently received poor service. It is unfortunate because some of the clothes are acceptable, particularly for the price. However, it is not worth a visit given the poor treatment from staff (they are out-of-date, rude and unprofessional) you are likely to receive, which is likely why they now have signs indicating they are closing down... let's hope a better shop takes its place.

The Square - The Square: Generous, Rich, Golden by laissezfare

laissezfare — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:14:29 +0000

Review by laissezfare

Rating: 4.00

Phone: 020 7495 7100

Tags: french, expensive, business

[Non-Photo Review]

For full review go to: http://wp.me/pwXBH-nE

----------

The Square: Generous, Rich, Golden

Meeting the older sister

Having had a pleasant (though not perfect) time at The Sqaureâ¬"s little sister in Westbourne Grove a few months ago â¬ for full review of that dinner see here â¬ we were very excited to try out what is one of the most established stalwarts on the London fine dining scene. From what I know about The Square, it is undoubtedly one of the most consistently well regarded high-end restaurants in London, both by mainstream media food critics and food bloggers alike.

Chef Philip Howard has certainly garnered a lot of respect and praise from his fellow chefs and food commentators of all sorts. This would appear to be partly because he is to some extent self-taught (though according to their website he did have a stint in the Dordogne, a year with Roux Restaurants Ltd. and a year at the now (in)famous Harveys where he had the opportunity to work with Marco Pierre White and no doubt learned that â¬Smother nature is the true artistâ¬ â¬ that chefâ¬"s favorite modern day refrain â¬ in-between having frying pans thrown at him), and partly because he is one of the few head chefs performing at this level to actually be present and cooking in his own kitchen pretty much day in and day out. As a short aside, I recently saw quite an interesting video interview with him on Caterersearch, but generally speaking he eschews the media and tries to keep to himself to the extent possible.

So, an interesting character in the driving seat and certainly a serious contender for a very promising meal. My taste buds were certainly on high alert.

Business or pleasure?

Occupying the ground floor of a Mayfair office block, the entrance to The Square is rather nondescript, with a subtle sign somewhat camouflaged in the slightly curved burnt orange wall to the left of the front door. The line of windows facing the street is frosted to just above eye level, so you have to jump up to see into the restaurant, unless youâ¬"re really tall. Once inside, this is an effective shield to the outside world, as when you are seated you can mainly see from the first floor upward of the buildings across the street, and not the street and pedestrian traffic.

We were efficiently welcomed and shown to our table, which was at the back left corner of theâ¬¦ wellâ¬¦square room, right next to where all of the food was being brought out from the kitchen. Not usually the best spot as it can be quite busy, but it turned out to be fine and afforded us a commanding view of the room and also enabled us to overhear the chit-chat of the staff.

Compared to The Ledbury, whose interior Mrs. LF and I both found really appealing, The Squareâ¬"s ambience was a bit of a letdown. The tables are very well spread out, which provides you with good privacy and it isnâ¬"t too noisy. But it is quite a plain room that for me lacks an engaging identity or design theme. It seems much more a business lunch on the companyâ¬"s expense place than somewhere youâ¬"d want to come for a romantic evening or a celebratory gathering.

At first impression, the waiting staff were also all business. There seemed to be a small army of them coming and going from our little corner. They all conveyed a very professional air but, at the same time, they all felt quite distant and reserved in their interactions with us. It wasnâ¬"t really a warm, inviting beginning. Not that this is a disaster, but quite the opposite of what we had experienced at The Ledbury.

These factors were compounded by the fact that, as we were perusing the menu and trying to make our choices, our first amuse bouche was brought out. Then, shortly thereafter, a second round of amuses (of which there were three elements) followed. The Squareâ¬"s menu is quite a large affair, and it was rather awkward to find a place for them amongst all the little nibbles and bread which looked so appetizing. I got a bit flustered by the whole episode, and would have much rather preferred having them take our orders first and then properly beginning the meal. It just meant that we felt rushed and werenâ¬"t able to concentrate on the food as much as we would have wanted to. While this is a small thing, and I probably wouldnâ¬"t comment on it if the restaurant did not hold two heavy Michelin stars, it wasnâ¬"t an impressive start. Since there was no time limitation on the table that I was aware of, I just didnâ¬"t get why they were in such a hurry.

Are you gonna finish that?

But enough of my quibbles and onto the food. And boy was there a lot of it.

Even though we had opted for the standard Ã la carte 3-course menu, we quickly found out that it was to be more of a 7-course evening when taking into account all of the little extras that The Square very generously includes in all of its dinners. It also turned out that the portions at The Square are much larger than you get at any other restaurant of a similar ilk (at least the ones Iâ¬"ve been to) and that the food was in general extremely rich. In this way, it was truly an old school approach that was full-on right through the end. This was again something neither of us was quite prepared for, and was barely able to stomach in the end. However, with 20/20 hindsight, I would know that when coming to The Square for dinner, or lunch for that matter, to show up with an empty stomach and to be in the mood for some rich and decadent food. With these conditions, I am certain I would enjoy the hell out of a meal at here.

You can find a blow-by-blow account of the meal below.

Amuse Bouche: GelÃ©e of Girolles & Roast Chicken ConsommÃ© with Corn Smoke Foam and Cheese Frazzle

It came in a little glass cup which clearly displayed the distinct layers of colors and textures, with the cheese frazzle stuck into the glass vertically like a flagpole sans flag. It was very rich and the deep mushroom flavor came through clearly, curbed nicely by the layer of sweetcorn foam (which took up nearly half the glass), with notes of roasted fowl hovering in the background. It was pretty heavenly dipping the cheese stick all the way into the concoction and eating it all together. 8/10.
I almost forgot to mention the bread, which was good. It is all baked on-site and the best of the bunch was the white mini-baguette (crispy at the tips, crunchy crust and soft inside), followed closely by the walnut and raisin roll (lots of deep, almost sour nutty flavor balanced by the sweetness of sultanas). The brown rolls were okay. 7/10.

Further Amusement for our Bouches

First up in the second course of amuses was a cornet of foie gras mousse, which was stuck into the center of a little brown wooden square. It was really rich and scrumptious and had a lovely smooth and silky texture. The anchovy ice cream cone offered some saltiness, and the combination definitely provided my palate with some serious amusement. (8/10). The black ink puff pastry, which had a salty core, was interesting and left a sharp, intriguing and pleasant taste in my mouth. Points for inventiveness, but Iâ¬"m not sure it was a completely finished pastry conceptually. (6/10). The prawn crackers were nothing that special in and of themselves, but were crispy and flaky. They were enlivened a bit by the mild curry dipping sauce, which again had a great creamy consistency and a little hint of spice. (7/10).

Starter 1: Potted Grouse with Terrine of Foie Gras, Pink Gooseberry Chutney and Sour Dough Toast" (Sorry - No Photo)

Given that we were in the full swing of grouse season at the time of our meal, I really wanted to try some as we hadnâ¬"t yet had any this year. I didnâ¬"t have to work too hard in persuading Mrs. LF to order the grouse starter special for the evening, which did sound very appetizing.
It is a shame that this dish managed to pretty much kill both of our appetites for the rest of the evening. The potted grouse came in a large old fashioned self-sealing glass jar with a metal hinge (the kind you find homemade country jam in), and was full up to the brim of grouse paste. I unfortunately forgot to snap a photo (possibly due to shock), but it was a huge-bordering-on-ginormous portion for a main course, let alone a starter! It had a pretty singular flavor and didnâ¬"t really do that much for me personally. Even though it wasnâ¬"t my dish, Mrs. LF couldnâ¬"t even eat half of it, so I was brought in to dust it off, which I couldnâ¬"t do given the richness of my own starter (see below). The foie gras terrine itself was very good and I loved the gooseberry chutney with it. 6/10.

Starter 2: Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and Champagne Foam

This dish was very beautifully presented, and was not exactly what I had expected when I thought of â¬Ülasagneâ¬", which I typically associate with square or rectangular alternately stacked layers of pasta and sauce. The dainty little circular tower of crab lasagne was bathing in a luxurious bath of cream that was topped off with champagne bubbles. You could just tell this was going to be a satisfying plate of food. The lasagne itself was excellent, and the sweetness of the crab really shone through. The plentiful sauce was extremely rich and unctuous (lots of butter, lots of cream) and married well with crab, with the â¬Ülasagneâ¬" layers providing some good chewy texture in order to ground the dish. The layer of shellfish cream on top lent different and slightly more sharp notes from the sea and again proved a worthy and subtle partner. It is a testament to the quality of the execution that I finished this starter, which was again huge and insanely rich, but I did wonder how well I would digest that sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 1: Slow Cooked Turbot with a Warm Potato Salad, Leek Hearts, Vichyssoise and Smoked Eel

Mrs. LF ordered the turbot for her main course. She said that it was a refined and light dish which she thoroughly enjoyed. The turbot itself had a great texture and the vichyssoise was clever because although it looked like a heavy, cream-based sauce, in reality it was mainly made up of purÃ©ed leeks, potatoes, onions and stock (with what seemed to be just a little bit of cream) and therefore had more of a vegetable essence. It worked beautifully with the delicateness of the turbot. The pretty black hive of caviar nestled on top of the fish gave it that little punch of salt needed to elevate the dish to something just more than a well prepared fish and sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 2: Roast Calves Sweetbreads with Beurre Noisette, Sweetcorn, Girolles and Almonds

I had heard that The Squareâ¬"s sweetbreads ranked right up there with the best of them, so in my mind I had ordered this main as my â¬Ürich courseâ¬", thinking that the earlier starter of crab lasagne would be a rather â¬Üsmall and lightâ¬" start to the meal â¬ well, we all know what happens when we assume.

There was a massive amount of sweetbreads on this plate, certainly more than Iâ¬"ve ever seen before, even for a main course. They had all been huddled together in the middle, and in the back of my mind I thought they sort of formed the shape of a little brainâ¬¦fancy that. They were served on a base of perfectly made beurre noisette and were surrounded by a plate of crisps, which I thought was novel, and they actually worked very well as instruments to dip into that lovely butter sauce. The sliced almonds on top worked a treat with the sweetbreads, as did the sweet accent of corn and the earthy and woody flavors of the girolles. The various bits of meat themselves were exactly the right texture for me, having been well seared and firm (they held their shape well) yet with just enough softness and bounce. It was a very good dish, but I felt that again there was just an enormous amount of everything. 8/10.

Pre-Dessert: Peach & Vanilla Yogurt Topped with a Beignet

This little pre-dessert was a welcome respite to the carnage that had preceded it. The peach was refreshing and was of course a perfect foil for the vanilla yogurt. The beignet was crisp but I didnâ¬"t think it sat naturally on top of what was essentially a posh pot of yogurt. Maybe this is just an oddity of mine, or of this pair of restaurants, as I recall a similar thing happened at The Ledbury with churros and a strawberry gariguette and I had a similar reaction. 6/10.

Dessert 1: Peach Melba SoufflÃ©

Mrs. LF had the soufflÃ© for her dessert. It was, in our experience, as good a soufflÃ© as weâ¬"ve had, and was certainly a notch higher than the pistachio soufflÃ© we had at Le Manoir Aux Quatâ¬"Saisons earlier this year. The textures were spot on, with the exterior of the crown being nicely hardened and the insides being soft, light and fluffy. The peach flavor came through very strongly â¬ so much so that Mrs. LF felt that it may have been a bit too strong, to the extent it almost smacked of artificial flavouring (though it was certainly genuine peach flavor). A scoop of ice cream was plopped into the center, where it sunk to its gooey death, and a bit of raspberry coulis was then poured into the crevasse it had created, which gave some good freshness and bite to the dessert. While we agreed it was the best weâ¬"ve had, I think we also came to the realization that sweet soufflÃ©s just really arenâ¬"t our favorite desserts; for some reason they just never seem to wholly satisfy either of us. 8/10.

Dessert 2: Mousseline of Raspberry with Lemon Verbena Jelly, Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream and Nectarines

I loved, loved, loved this dessert. Thereâ¬"s not all that much more to say about it. The three little parcels of raspberry mousse had been neatly wrapped with a â¬Üskinâ¬" of raspberry which was slightly more sharp than the sweet creaminess of the mousse (although it did also have a nice pang of tartness). The nectarines were ripe and if memory serves me right they were a little syrupy too, and I really enjoyed the little kick up the butt that the lemon verbena jelly gave to any forkful you happened to include it with. In some sense, the raspberry ripple ice cream almost stole the show; it was just perfect in every way. It was such a nice ending to the meal, but of course, it wasnâ¬"t really the ending was itâ¬¦.9/10.

Petit Fours

The petit fours were arranged in what I assume to be The Squareâ¬"s classic presentation of â¬Ülollipopsâ¬" sticking out of a semi-circular shaped brown wooden block. It looked very pretty, and most of them were good. Memory fails me now, so I canâ¬"t tell you which ones I loved and which ones I could have done without.

Just to make sure that they had filled and coated every inch of our greatly expanded stomachs, there was also a bowl of around eight or nine truffles for the two of us! I absolutely adored them, but could only eat a couple at this point.

Because we liked them so much, we asked if we could have a little box to place the remaining truffles in to take them home with us. In a baffling and logic-defying move, one of the waiters decided that they should instead give us a full box of â¬Ünewâ¬" truffles from the kitchen and insisted that we leave the â¬Üoldâ¬" ones on the table, which defeated the whole point of not wanting to waste such good sweets. Maybe it is just not the done thing in such fine dining establishments? I really donâ¬"t know, but was sort of mystified by it all. Whatever the case, we did take home the box of truffles and scoffed them down pretty quickly the next evening

Yquemical bonding

I have thus far neglected to mention the wines for the evening. As I was the only ne drinking, I ordered a half-bottle of the Condrieu that they had available from their very extensive and interesting wine list. It was a 2005 Christophe Pichon (RhÃ´ne Valley, France) that came in at Â£33/half bottle, and unfortunately it was a real let down after my sublim[Non-Photo Review]

For full review go to: http://wp.me/pwXBH-nE

----------

The Square: Generous, Rich, Golden

Meeting the older sister

Having had a pleasant (though not perfect) time at The Sqaureâ¬"s little sister in Westbourne Grove a few months ago â¬ for full review of that dinner see here â¬ we were very excited to try out what is one of the most established stalwarts on the London fine dining scene. From what I know about The Square, it is undoubtedly one of the most consistently well regarded high-end restaurants in London, both by mainstream media food critics and food bloggers alike.

Chef Philip Howard has certainly garnered a lot of respect and praise from his fellow chefs and food commentators of all sorts. This would appear to be partly because he is to some extent self-taught (though according to their website he did have a stint in the Dordogne, a year with Roux Restaurants Ltd. and a year at the now (in)famous Harveys where he had the opportunity to work with Marco Pierre White and no doubt learned that â¬Smother nature is the true artistâ¬ â¬ that chefâ¬"s favorite modern day refrain â¬ in-between having frying pans thrown at him), and partly because he is one of the few head chefs performing at this level to actually be present and cooking in his own kitchen pretty much day in and day out. As a short aside, I recently saw quite an interesting video interview with him on Caterersearch, but generally speaking he eschews the media and tries to keep to himself to the extent possible.

So, an interesting character in the driving seat and certainly a serious contender for a very promising meal. My taste buds were certainly on high alert.

Business or pleasure?

Occupying the ground floor of a Mayfair office block, the entrance to The Square is rather nondescript, with a subtle sign somewhat camouflaged in the slightly curved burnt orange wall to the left of the front door. The line of windows facing the street is frosted to just above eye level, so you have to jump up to see into the restaurant, unless youâ¬"re really tall. Once inside, this is an effective shield to the outside world, as when you are seated you can mainly see from the first floor upward of the buildings across the street, and not the street and pedestrian traffic.

We were efficiently welcomed and shown to our table, which was at the back left corner of theâ¬¦ wellâ¬¦square room, right next to where all of the food was being brought out from the kitchen. Not usually the best spot as it can be quite busy, but it turned out to be fine and afforded us a commanding view of the room and also enabled us to overhear the chit-chat of the staff.

Compared to The Ledbury, whose interior Mrs. LF and I both found really appealing, The Squareâ¬"s ambience was a bit of a letdown. The tables are very well spread out, which provides you with good privacy and it isnâ¬"t too noisy. But it is quite a plain room that for me lacks an engaging identity or design theme. It seems much more a business lunch on the companyâ¬"s expense place than somewhere youâ¬"d want to come for a romantic evening or a celebratory gathering.

At first impression, the waiting staff were also all business. There seemed to be a small army of them coming and going from our little corner. They all conveyed a very professional air but, at the same time, they all felt quite distant and reserved in their interactions with us. It wasnâ¬"t really a warm, inviting beginning. Not that this is a disaster, but quite the opposite of what we had experienced at The Ledbury.

These factors were compounded by the fact that, as we were perusing the menu and trying to make our choices, our first amuse bouche was brought out. Then, shortly thereafter, a second round of amuses (of which there were three elements) followed. The Squareâ¬"s menu is quite a large affair, and it was rather awkward to find a place for them amongst all the little nibbles and bread which looked so appetizing. I got a bit flustered by the whole episode, and would have much rather preferred having them take our orders first and then properly beginning the meal. It just meant that we felt rushed and werenâ¬"t able to concentrate on the food as much as we would have wanted to. While this is a small thing, and I probably wouldnâ¬"t comment on it if the restaurant did not hold two heavy Michelin stars, it wasnâ¬"t an impressive start. Since there was no time limitation on the table that I was aware of, I just didnâ¬"t get why they were in such a hurry.

Are you gonna finish that?

But enough of my quibbles and onto the food. And boy was there a lot of it.

Even though we had opted for the standard Ã la carte 3-course menu, we quickly found out that it was to be more of a 7-course evening when taking into account all of the little extras that The Square very generously includes in all of its dinners. It also turned out that the portions at The Square are much larger than you get at any other restaurant of a similar ilk (at least the ones Iâ¬"ve been to) and that the food was in general extremely rich. In this way, it was truly an old school approach that was full-on right through the end. This was again something neither of us was quite prepared for, and was barely able to stomach in the end. However, with 20/20 hindsight, I would know that when coming to The Square for dinner, or lunch for that matter, to show up with an empty stomach and to be in the mood for some rich and decadent food. With these conditions, I am certain I would enjoy the hell out of a meal at here.

You can find a blow-by-blow account of the meal below.

Amuse Bouche: GelÃ©e of Girolles & Roast Chicken ConsommÃ© with Corn Smoke Foam and Cheese Frazzle

It came in a little glass cup which clearly displayed the distinct layers of colors and textures, with the cheese frazzle stuck into the glass vertically like a flagpole sans flag. It was very rich and the deep mushroom flavor came through clearly, curbed nicely by the layer of sweetcorn foam (which took up nearly half the glass), with notes of roasted fowl hovering in the background. It was pretty heavenly dipping the cheese stick all the way into the concoction and eating it all together. 8/10.
I almost forgot to mention the bread, which was good. It is all baked on-site and the best of the bunch was the white mini-baguette (crispy at the tips, crunchy crust and soft inside), followed closely by the walnut and raisin roll (lots of deep, almost sour nutty flavor balanced by the sweetness of sultanas). The brown rolls were okay. 7/10.

Further Amusement for our Bouches

First up in the second course of amuses was a cornet of foie gras mousse, which was stuck into the center of a little brown wooden square. It was really rich and scrumptious and had a lovely smooth and silky texture. The anchovy ice cream cone offered some saltiness, and the combination definitely provided my palate with some serious amusement. (8/10). The black ink puff pastry, which had a salty core, was interesting and left a sharp, intriguing and pleasant taste in my mouth. Points for inventiveness, but Iâ¬"m not sure it was a completely finished pastry conceptually. (6/10). The prawn crackers were nothing that special in and of themselves, but were crispy and flaky. They were enlivened a bit by the mild curry dipping sauce, which again had a great creamy consistency and a little hint of spice. (7/10).

Starter 1: Potted Grouse with Terrine of Foie Gras, Pink Gooseberry Chutney and Sour Dough Toast" (Sorry - No Photo)

Given that we were in the full swing of grouse season at the time of our meal, I really wanted to try some as we hadnâ¬"t yet had any this year. I didnâ¬"t have to work too hard in persuading Mrs. LF to order the grouse starter special for the evening, which did sound very appetizing.
It is a shame that this dish managed to pretty much kill both of our appetites for the rest of the evening. The potted grouse came in a large old fashioned self-sealing glass jar with a metal hinge (the kind you find homemade country jam in), and was full up to the brim of grouse paste. I unfortunately forgot to snap a photo (possibly due to shock), but it was a huge-bordering-on-ginormous portion for a main course, let alone a starter! It had a pretty singular flavor and didnâ¬"t really do that much for me personally. Even though it wasnâ¬"t my dish, Mrs. LF couldnâ¬"t even eat half of it, so I was brought in to dust it off, which I couldnâ¬"t do given the richness of my own starter (see below). The foie gras terrine itself was very good and I loved the gooseberry chutney with it. 6/10.

Starter 2: Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and Champagne Foam

This dish was very beautifully presented, and was not exactly what I had expected when I thought of â¬Ülasagneâ¬", which I typically associate with square or rectangular alternately stacked layers of pasta and sauce. The dainty little circular tower of crab lasagne was bathing in a luxurious bath of cream that was topped off with champagne bubbles. You could just tell this was going to be a satisfying plate of food. The lasagne itself was excellent, and the sweetness of the crab really shone through. The plentiful sauce was extremely rich and unctuous (lots of butter, lots of cream) and married well with crab, with the â¬Ülasagneâ¬" layers providing some good chewy texture in order to ground the dish. The layer of shellfish cream on top lent different and slightly more sharp notes from the sea and again proved a worthy and subtle partner. It is a testament to the quality of the execution that I finished this starter, which was again huge and insanely rich, but I did wonder how well I would digest that sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 1: Slow Cooked Turbot with a Warm Potato Salad, Leek Hearts, Vichyssoise and Smoked Eel

Mrs. LF ordered the turbot for her main course. She said that it was a refined and light dish which she thoroughly enjoyed. The turbot itself had a great texture and the vichyssoise was clever because although it looked like a heavy, cream-based sauce, in reality it was mainly made up of purÃ©ed leeks, potatoes, onions and stock (with what seemed to be just a little bit of cream) and therefore had more of a vegetable essence. It worked beautifully with the delicateness of the turbot. The pretty black hive of caviar nestled on top of the fish gave it that little punch of salt needed to elevate the dish to something just more than a well prepared fish and sauce. 8/10.

Main Course 2: Roast Calves Sweetbreads with Beurre Noisette, Sweetcorn, Girolles and Almonds

I had heard that The Squareâ¬"s sweetbreads ranked right up there with the best of them, so in my mind I had ordered this main as my â¬Ürich courseâ¬", thinking that the earlier starter of crab lasagne would be a rather â¬Üsmall and lightâ¬" start to the meal â¬ well, we all know what happens when we assume.

There was a massive amount of sweetbreads on this plate, certainly more than Iâ¬"ve ever seen before, even for a main course. They had all been huddled together in the middle, and in the back of my mind I thought they sort of formed the shape of a little brainâ¬¦fancy that. They were served on a base of perfectly made beurre noisette and were surrounded by a plate of crisps, which I thought was novel, and they actually worked very well as instruments to dip into that lovely butter sauce. The sliced almonds on top worked a treat with the sweetbreads, as did the sweet accent of corn and the earthy and woody flavors of the girolles. The various bits of meat themselves were exactly the right texture for me, having been well seared and firm (they held their shape well) yet with just enough softness and bounce. It was a very good dish, but I felt that again there was just an enormous amount of everything. 8/10.

Pre-Dessert: Peach & Vanilla Yogurt Topped with a Beignet

This little pre-dessert was a welcome respite to the carnage that had preceded it. The peach was refreshing and was of course a perfect foil for the vanilla yogurt. The beignet was crisp but I didnâ¬"t think it sat naturally on top of what was essentially a posh pot of yogurt. Maybe this is just an oddity of mine, or of this pair of restaurants, as I recall a similar thing happened at The Ledbury with churros and a strawberry gariguette and I had a similar reaction. 6/10.

Dessert 1: Peach Melba SoufflÃ©

Mrs. LF had the soufflÃ© for her dessert. It was, in our experience, as good a soufflÃ© as weâ¬"ve had, and was certainly a notch higher than the pistachio soufflÃ© we had at Le Manoir Aux Quatâ¬"Saisons earlier this year. The textures were spot on, with the exterior of the crown being nicely hardened and the insides being soft, light and fluffy. The peach flavor came through very strongly â¬ so much so that Mrs. LF felt that it may have been a bit too strong, to the extent it almost smacked of artificial flavouring (though it was certainly genuine peach flavor). A scoop of ice cream was plopped into the center, where it sunk to its gooey death, and a bit of raspberry coulis was then poured into the crevasse it had created, which gave some good freshness and bite to the dessert. While we agreed it was the best weâ¬"ve had, I think we also came to the realization that sweet soufflÃ©s just really arenâ¬"t our favorite desserts; for some reason they just never seem to wholly satisfy either of us. 8/10.

Dessert 2: Mousseline of Raspberry with Lemon Verbena Jelly, Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream and Nectarines

I loved, loved, loved this dessert. Thereâ¬"s not all that much more to say about it. The three little parcels of raspberry mousse had been neatly wrapped with a â¬Üskinâ¬" of raspberry which was slightly more sharp than the sweet creaminess of the mousse (although it did also have a nice pang of tartness). The nectarines were ripe and if memory serves me right they were a little syrupy too, and I really enjoyed the little kick up the butt that the lemon verbena jelly gave to any forkful you happened to include it with. In some sense, the raspberry ripple ice cream almost stole the show; it was just perfect in every way. It was such a nice ending to the meal, but of course, it wasnâ¬"t really the ending was itâ¬¦.9/10.

Petit Fours

The petit fours were arranged in what I assume to be The Squareâ¬"s classic presentation of â¬Ülollipopsâ¬" sticking out of a semi-circular shaped brown wooden block. It looked very pretty, and most of them were good. Memory fails me now, so I canâ¬"t tell you which ones I loved and which ones I could have done without.

Just to make sure that they had filled and coated every inch of our greatly expanded stomachs, there was also a bowl of around eight or nine truffles for the two of us! I absolutely adored them, but could only eat a couple at this point.

Because we liked them so much, we asked if we could have a little box to place the remaining truffles in to take them home with us. In a baffling and logic-defying move, one of the waiters decided that they should instead give us a full box of â¬Ünewâ¬" truffles from the kitchen and insisted that we leave the â¬Üoldâ¬" ones on the table, which defeated the whole point of not wanting to waste such good sweets. Maybe it is just not the done thing in such fine dining establishments? I really donâ¬"t know, but was sort of mystified by it all. Whatever the case, we did take home the box of truffles and scoffed them down pretty quickly the next evening

Yquemical bonding

I have thus far neglected to mention the wines for the evening. As I was the only one drinking, I ordered a half-bottle of the Condrieu that they had available from their very extensive and interesting wine list. It was a 2005 Christophe Pichon (RhÃ´ne Valley, France) that came in at Â£33/half bottle, and unfortunately it was a real let down after my sublim

Tossed Salad Bar - Disorganised mess by emmanx

emmanx — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:13:24 +0000

Review by emmanx

Rating: 3.00

Tags: crowded, business, cheap eat

Just started working in the area a couple of weeks ago and already had two very dissapointing visits to Tossed on St. Martin's lane. The first time I happened to be helped by someone who had just started so I decided to be forgiving and give the place a second go. Mistake.

The salad bar staff have no specific work area so they just run around getting in each other's way. My server gave me lip because I asked for a wrap but didn't have a base salad in my hands. Apparently, a wrap without a tonne of lettuce is weird. After he put the ingredients in a bowl he passed it on to someone else who had no idea what they were doing - the process was about 15 minutes, bit much for someone on their lunchbreak run

I got bored of watching her so I walked over to the till waiting for my food. I got harrassed to pay before I received it, which I refused. Result? Dirty look.

After she finally managed to finish my wrap, she handed it over to someone else, who gave it to another customer who was waiting for another wrap. By the time I caught on, she walked off with it. At that point, I left and I will NEVER go back. Boo hiss.

AfterJust started working in the area a couple of weeks ago and already had two very dissapointing visits to Tossed on St. Martin's lane. The first time I happened to be helped by someone who had just started so I decided to be forgiving and give the place a second go. Mistake.

The salad bar staff have no specific work area so they just run around getting in each other's way. My server gave me lip because I asked for a wrap but didn't have a base salad in my hands. Apparently, a wrap without a tonne of lettuce is weird. After he put the ingredients in a bowl he passed it on to someone else who had no idea what they were doing - the process was about 15 minutes, bit much for someone on their lunchbreak run

I got bored of watching her so I walked over to the till waiting for my food. I got harrassed to pay before I received it, which I refused. Result? Dirty look.

After she finally managed to finish my wrap, she handed it over to someone else, who gave it to another customer who was waiting for another wrap. By the time I caught on, she walked off with it. At that point, I left and I will NEVER go back. Boo hiss.

After

H.K Diner Restaurant - by liangliang

liangliang — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:47:33 +0000

Review by liangliang

Rating: 5.00

Tags: lively, malaysian, vegetarian

have gone thee twice , excellenthave gone thee twice , excellent

The Fitzroy Patisserie - Avoid this place by jmd

jmd — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:18:50 +0000

Review by jmd

Rating: 1.00

Phone: 020 7388 7928

Tags: cafe

The most ridiculously over priced cafe in the area. Â£5 for toast & coffee ! Cheap & nasty ingredients & sour service at the tills. Plenty of much better places on the surrounding side streetsThe most ridiculously over priced cafe in the area. Â£5 for toast & coffee ! Cheap & nasty ingredients & sour service at the tills. Plenty of much better places on the surrounding side streets

Corrigan's Mayfair - An expensive disappointment by Unpremeditated

Unpremeditated — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:43:08 +0000

Review by Unpremeditated

Rating: 2.00

Phone: 020 7499 9943

Website: http://www.corrigansmayfair.com

Tags: expensive, british, posh

Given the many rave reviews for Richard Corrigan's work we had high expectations for his Mayfair outfit, unfortunately they were far from met.

The restaurant itself is classy in a low-ceilinged, modern club way - the main seating area being at the end of a long bar, perfect for perching with a (very good) cocktail before the meal itself.

The first disappointment was the menu. I'm a big fan of St John so enjoy my hearty, meaty, gamey, offally fare. I also love the food at, say, the Manoir Aux Quat Saisons - so I'm happy to go for a refined French take too. What I'm not so sure about is the mixture of the two that Corrigan's was serving up. There wasn't a single dish that leapt from the page and this was one of the first times I've sat in a "posh" restaurant feeling not spoiled for choice but starved of possibility. Everything was entirely sensible but unoriginal ... except the prices which lived up to the Mayfair premium and beyond.

Oysters were good, as they should be. Ox cheek ravioli was actually Ox cheek raviolo + Ox cheek two other ways. It tasted pleasant enough but the portion was small ... which is fine in a restaurant which serves up amuses gueules, palate cleansers et al but not so great where the best you get is some (admittedly lovely) deep fried goats cheese and olive affairs as appetisers and some (uninspiring) petits fours with the coffee. My other half's crab starter was fresh and zingy but the pigs trotter with mash was too fatty to be refined and too poncey to be hearty. The desserts were so dull we skipped them (and, at Â£10.50, the Eton Mess (every restaurant's favourite, cheap emergency dessert) was outrageously priced) and the cheese board "from these islands" was worse - it may be patriotic on the chef's part, but to eschew a really good Stilton in favour of Cashel blue seems like lunacy, and Lancashire really only belongs alongside an Eccles Cake.

Service was pleasant but rushed, with the wine for our first course arriving half way through and the sommelier helping out with service.

At over Â£200 with no dessert or cheese and in no way pushing the boat out on wine, this was an overpriced experience. A real pity.
Given the many rave reviews for Richard Corrigan's work we had high expectations for his Mayfair outfit, unfortunately they were far from met.

The restaurant itself is classy in a low-ceilinged, modern club way - the main seating area being at the end of a long bar, perfect for perching with a (very good) cocktail before the meal itself.

The first disappointment was the menu. I'm a big fan of St John so enjoy my hearty, meaty, gamey, offally fare. I also love the food at, say, the Manoir Aux Quat Saisons - so I'm happy to go for a refined French take too. What I'm not so sure about is the mixture of the two that Corrigan's was serving up. There wasn't a single dish that leapt from the page and this was one of the first times I've sat in a "posh" restaurant feeling not spoiled for choice but starved of possibility. Everything was entirely sensible but unoriginal ... except the prices which lived up to the Mayfair premium and beyond.

Oysters were good, as they should be. Ox cheek ravioli was actually Ox cheek raviolo + Ox cheek two other ways. It tasted pleasant enough but the portion was small ... which is fine in a restaurant which serves up amuses gueules, palate cleansers et al but not so great where the best you get is some (admittedly lovely) deep fried goats cheese and olive affairs as appetisers and some (uninspiring) petits fours with the coffee. My other half's crab starter was fresh and zingy but the pigs trotter with mash was too fatty to be refined and too poncey to be hearty. The desserts were so dull we skipped them (and, at Â£10.50, the Eton Mess (every restaurant's favourite, cheap emergency dessert) was outrageously priced) and the cheese board "from these islands" was worse - it may be patriotic on the chef's part, but to eschew a really good Stilton in favour of Cashel blue seems like lunacy, and Lancashire really only belongs alongside an Eccles Cake.

Service was pleasant but rushed, with the wine for our first course arriving half way through and the sommelier helping out with service.

At over Â£200 with no dessert or cheese and in no way pushing the boat out on wine, this was an overpriced experience. A real pity.

Maze - Dark by chrisp

chrisp — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:40:38 +0000

Review by chrisp

Rating: 2.00

Phone: 020 7107 0000

Website: http://gordonramsay.com/maze/

Tags: expensive, french, lively

It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals. In fact in the end, it wasn't quite either, it was just maddeningly, bewilderingly inconsistent, and giving an overall score to a sequence of small dishes, 50% of which were excellent and 50% horrible, served half in daylight and half in increasing pitch blackness, accompanied by service that veered between winningly professional and laughably incompetent, will prove quite a challenge. Let's see how we do.

First of all, the traditional Ramsay veloutÃ© starter. Perfectly pleasant, with a miniscule amount of lobster meat but with an interesting if not wholly successful cold parmesan ice cream thingy (OK, a "parfait"). As with so many of Ramsay's sub-3* dishes, it's admirable if not entirely loveable. A bit like the man himself, in fact.

The first proper course was a neat little row of marinated beetroot and cheese constructions. These were pretty good for a vegetarian dish - the sharpness of the marinated veg was balanced nicely with the rich cheese and pine nuts added some pleasant texture. Nothing too extraordinary though.

Up next, the famous Maze signature dish of an ironic 'BLT' - that is, tomato gelÃ©e, bacon onion cream and lettuce veloutÃ©. An ambitious dish (just look at the recipe) and one with a weight of expectation behind it, I'm afraid I was slightly underwhelmed. It was fine, just absolutely nothing more than you might think cold tomato jelly, bacon bits and lettuce soup would taste like. The best bit, in fact, was the accompanying croque monsieur, which was a perfectly balanced and strongly flavoured cheese and ham toastie. And who doesn't like a cheese and ham toastie?

So, from the ridiculous to the sublime. The next course of pork belly, pig's head, crackling and jasmine tea was a pleasingly powerful mix of flavours and textures. The jasmine "tea", in particular, was as good a sauce I have had for a very long time, rich and satisfying with an incredibly deep, complex flavour. The pork belly was slightly on the chewy side but tasted good enough, and the crackling was delicate and fun to eat. I can only apologise for the photo, my poor iPhone by this time battling with the bizarre compulsion of the staff to turn the house lights down every ten minutes. I should also mention that a vegetarian dining companion had by this time been served a full four out of five dishes garnished with pea shoots. If you are a vegetarian and want to eat at Maze, you'd better like pea.

So from the sublime, back to the ridiculous. Roasted Anjou pigeon was a disappointingly stringy cut of breast meat (I nearly pulled a muscle trying to cut the damn thing up), with a wobbly skin and an overly sharp red wine sauce. Sadly, that wasn't the worst thing about it though. Through the murk of the restaurant lighting (they had turned them down again) I noticed an ominous black blob of something very dark perched on top of the pigeon breast. Thinking it would be some sort of marinated fruit or braised vegetable, I popped it in my mouth. My stomach instantly heaved in reaction to a huge blob of bitter chocolate, sickly and overwhelming and completely unsuitable in this amount to the rest of the dish. Even if the pigeon had been good quality (it wasn't) or cooked well (it wasn't), the baffling addition of half a pound of raw 70% chocolate as a 'garnish' to this meat was a complete disaster. Adding a small amount of chocolate to liven up a red wine sauce or chilli con carne is perfectly acceptable. Dumping such a relatively huge amount onto a dish such as this (bearing in mind these are all small tasting plates) is a frankly unforgivable mistake. Awful.

Unbelievably, the house lights dropped yet again before the arrival of the pre-dessert, which was a lovely shot of lemon sorbet sat on top of an incredibly strongly flavoured lime and passion fruit jelly. Served with it was a perfectly moist almond financier (cake). I was beginning to feel dizzy by this point, and it wasn't just because I couldn't see the floor. How could the same kitchen that considered it acceptable to turn out that chocolate pigeon monstrosity also produce such an interesting and exciting dessert?

The final course was served in near-darkness. The ironically-titled "peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich" was nothing of the sort, it was just a pleasant combination of peanut-flavoured ice cream and cherry jam and sorbet. I would like to tell you it was presented well, but I could hardly see it - I just blindly hacked away in front of me with my spoon until it eventually came back empty. It tasted fine, but as the saying goes we eat with our eyes first, and if I wanted to dine in the dark I would have booked elsewhere.

I will also say a word about our waiters. The front of house was professional and sharp, and the sommelier friendly and helpful. But in between periods of excellent service was an incident where a member of our table (I wasn't drinking, for a change) was shown his empty wine bottle and asked (actually more like mumbled) something about wanting another one. This was, bear in mind, well after we had finished our last savoury course. Given a firm no, he slunk off, then another member of staff immediately returned and poured nearly a full glass of wine out of what suspiciously looked like the same "empty" bottle. Now, I wouldn't suggest for a moment they had swapped the bottles to make it look empty the first time, but even so the implication, without us being asked to examine the bottle closely, was that it was empty. And I wonder - had we had said yes to another bottle when first asked, would that final glass from the first bottle have mysteriously disappeared?

The final insult, as is sadly so often the case, was the bill. I had barely more than a sniff of our single bottle of wine between the three of us, from the lower end of the wine list, and we only ate the "recommended" number of dishes - that is, 7 small plates of food each. And yet the bill came to nearly Â£100 per person. This is too way much to feel like good value when there are such glaring errors in the cooking. Perhaps, if you went every day for a couple of weeks and worked your way through the myriad of dishes you'd eventually be able to construct a flow of their best offerings and be able to enjoy a reasonably consistent evening. But by that time not only would you still only have a solid single Michelin-star meal but you'd have permanently damaged your eyesight and be about Â£1000 worse off. So your best bet is just to go to one of the many other much better restaurants in this price range. And that, sad to say, is pretty much all of them.It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals. In fact in the end, it wasn't quite either, it was just maddeningly, bewilderingly inconsistent, and giving an overall score to a sequence of small dishes, 50% of which were excellent and 50% horrible, served half in daylight and half in increasing pitch blackness, accompanied by service that veered between winningly professional and laughably incompetent, will prove quite a challenge. Let's see how we do.

First of all, the traditional Ramsay veloutÃ© starter. Perfectly pleasant, with a miniscule amount of lobster meat but with an interesting if not wholly successful cold parmesan ice cream thingy (OK, a "parfait"). As with so many of Ramsay's sub-3* dishes, it's admirable if not entirely loveable. A bit like the man himself, in fact.

The first proper course was a neat little row of marinated beetroot and cheese constructions. These were pretty good for a vegetarian dish - the sharpness of the marinated veg was balanced nicely with the rich cheese and pine nuts added some pleasant texture. Nothing too extraordinary though.

Up next, the famous Maze signature dish of an ironic 'BLT' - that is, tomato gelÃ©e, bacon onion cream and lettuce veloutÃ©. An ambitious dish (just look at the recipe) and one with a weight of expectation behind it, I'm afraid I was slightly underwhelmed. It was fine, just absolutely nothing more than you might think cold tomato jelly, bacon bits and lettuce soup would taste like. The best bit, in fact, was the accompanying croque monsieur, which was a perfectly balanced and strongly flavoured cheese and ham toastie. And who doesn't like a cheese and ham toastie?

So, from the ridiculous to the sublime. The next course of pork belly, pig's head, crackling and jasmine tea was a pleasingly powerful mix of flavours and textures. The jasmine "tea", in particular, was as good a sauce I have had for a very long time, rich and satisfying with an incredibly deep, complex flavour. The pork belly was slightly on the chewy side but tasted good enough, and the crackling was delicate and fun to eat. I can only apologise for the photo, my poor iPhone by this time battling with the bizarre compulsion of the staff to turn the house lights down every ten minutes. I should also mention that a vegetarian dining companion had by this time been served a full four out of five dishes garnished with pea shoots. If you are a vegetarian and want to eat at Maze, you'd better like pea.

So from the sublime, back to the ridiculous. Roasted Anjou pigeon was a disappointingly stringy cut of breast meat (I nearly pulled a muscle trying to cut the damn thing up), with a wobbly skin and an overly sharp red wine sauce. Sadly, that wasn't the worst thing about it though. Through the murk of the restaurant lighting (they had turned them down again) I noticed an ominous black blob of something very dark perched on top of the pigeon breast. Thinking it would be some sort of marinated fruit or braised vegetable, I popped it in my mouth. My stomach instantly heaved in reaction to a huge blob of bitter chocolate, sickly and overwhelming and completely unsuitable in this amount to the rest of the dish. Even if the pigeon had been good quality (it wasn't) or cooked well (it wasn't), the baffling addition of half a pound of raw 70% chocolate as a 'garnish' to this meat was a complete disaster. Adding a small amount of chocolate to liven up a red wine sauce or chilli con carne is perfectly acceptable. Dumping such a relatively huge amount onto a dish such as this (bearing in mind these are all small tasting plates) is a frankly unforgivable mistake. Awful.

Unbelievably, the house lights dropped yet again before the arrival of the pre-dessert, which was a lovely shot of lemon sorbet sat on top of an incredibly strongly flavoured lime and passion fruit jelly. Served with it was a perfectly moist almond financier (cake). I was beginning to feel dizzy by this point, and it wasn't just because I couldn't see the floor. How could the same kitchen that considered it acceptable to turn out that chocolate pigeon monstrosity also produce such an interesting and exciting dessert?

The final course was served in near-darkness. The ironically-titled "peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich" was nothing of the sort, it was just a pleasant combination of peanut-flavoured ice cream and cherry jam and sorbet. I would like to tell you it was presented well, but I could hardly see it - I just blindly hacked away in front of me with my spoon until it eventually came back empty. It tasted fine, but as the saying goes we eat with our eyes first, and if I wanted to dine in the dark I would have booked elsewhere.

I will also say a word about our waiters. The front of house was professional and sharp, and the sommelier friendly and helpful. But in between periods of excellent service was an incident where a member of our table (I wasn't drinking, for a change) was shown his empty wine bottle and asked (actually more like mumbled) something about wanting another one. This was, bear in mind, well after we had finished our last savoury course. Given a firm no, he slunk off, then another member of staff immediately returned and poured nearly a full glass of wine out of what suspiciously looked like the same "empty" bottle. Now, I wouldn't suggest for a moment they had swapped the bottles to make it look empty the first time, but even so the implication, without us being asked to examine the bottle closely, was that it was empty. And I wonder - had we had said yes to another bottle when first asked, would that final glass from the first bottle have mysteriously disappeared?

The final insult, as is sadly so often the case, was the bill. I had barely more than a sniff of our single bottle of wine between the three of us, from the lower end of the wine list, and we only ate the "recommended" number of dishes - that is, 7 small plates of food each. And yet the bill came to nearly Â£100 per person. This is too way much to feel like good value when there are such glaring errors in the cooking. Perhaps, if you went every day for a couple of weeks and worked your way through the myriad of dishes you'd eventually be able to construct a flow of their best offerings and be able to enjoy a reasonably consistent evening. But by that time not only would you still only have a solid single Michelin-star meal but you'd have permanently damaged your eyesight and be about Â£1000 worse off. So your best bet is just to go to one of the many other much better restaurants in this price range. And that, sad to say, is pretty much all of them.

Maze Grill - Sublime food by sanctuary

sanctuary — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:15:12 +0000

Review by sanctuary

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7495 2211

Website: http://gordonramsay.com/mazegrill

Tags: american, romantic, expensive

Not being a Beef eater I got to experience Maze Grill's other delights. Shame as it's supposed to be "the" place for steaks. All the cuts shown to us before ordering looked mouth wateringly tasty and the Wagyu cut especially looked very nice.

We started with the Pigs on Toast and Arancini balls which were both excellent. My main of half a label Anglaise chicken was cooked perfectly. Chicken tastes pretty much the same where ever you go, but cooking it right is an art. One which has been mastered by the chefs at Maze Grill. The side of Mash Potato has to be the best I've ever had. The addition of olive oil makes it taste like none I've ever had before. I also ordered the onion rings just to see, and they were also cooked perfectly. For dessert I had rice pudding with raspberry ice cream. Once again, absolutely perfectly.

The decor is well done IMHO. Classy without feeling pretentious. Their site says smart jeans and trainers are okay, but the majority of people there that evening (Thursday evening) were in suits. But overall the feeling is more relaxed then I had expected it to be. Service is also extremely well done. Attentive without being over bearing as well as being very friendly. I hate it when staff get an over stated sense of ego just because they work in a well known restaurant, but that was not the case at all here. The service, was certainly of the highlights and talking points of the night. Although with the many different types of servers, at the end we did debate as to wether it's acceptable to ask any one of them for the bill.

For the price we payed, considering we all had three courses and no alcohol, it's very reasonably priced.Not being a Beef eater I got to experience Maze Grill's other delights. Shame as it's supposed to be "the" place for steaks. All the cuts shown to us before ordering looked mouth wateringly tasty and the Wagyu cut especially looked very nice.

We started with the Pigs on Toast and Arancini balls which were both excellent. My main of half a label Anglaise chicken was cooked perfectly. Chicken tastes pretty much the same where ever you go, but cooking it right is an art. One which has been mastered by the chefs at Maze Grill. The side of Mash Potato has to be the best I've ever had. The addition of olive oil makes it taste like none I've ever had before. I also ordered the onion rings just to see, and they were also cooked perfectly. For dessert I had rice pudding with raspberry ice cream. Once again, absolutely perfectly.

The decor is well done IMHO. Classy without feeling pretentious. Their site says smart jeans and trainers are okay, but the majority of people there that evening (Thursday evening) were in suits. But overall the feeling is more relaxed then I had expected it to be. Service is also extremely well done. Attentive without being over bearing as well as being very friendly. I hate it when staff get an over stated sense of ego just because they work in a well known restaurant, but that was not the case at all here. The service, was certainly of the highlights and talking points of the night. Although with the many different types of servers, at the end we did debate as to wether it's acceptable to ask any one of them for the bill.

For the price we payed, considering we all had three courses and no alcohol, it's very reasonably priced.

New Taj Mahal - Yummy by Sammy792

Sammy792 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:54:21 +0000

Review by Sammy792

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7493 0024

Tags: indian, vegetarian dishes

Well, what do you expect of a restaurant located in heart of Mayfair?! Excellent all round!Well, what do you expect of a restaurant located in heart of Mayfair?! Excellent all round!

Bank Of Scotland - by PSS

PSS — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:29:19 +0000

Review by PSS

Rating: 3.00

Phone: 0845 780 1801

DEAR SIR,

WE HAVE A CLIENT VERY MUCH REQUIRING SBLC/BG FOR US$10 MILLION ON LEASE FOR ONE YEAR FROM A TOP BANK AND THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE RETURNED UNENCUMBERED AT THE END OF ONE YEAR PERIOD

AND WE ALSO HAVE IMMEDIATE REQUIREMENT FOR FRESHCUT OR SEASONED INSTRUMENTS FOR 10M TO 500M. WE SHALL BE GLAD TO RECEIVE YOUR OFFERS AND CONTRACT, AS WE LOOKING FOR SERIOUS AND GENUINE BUSINESS, THEREFORE KINDLY ENABLE US TO PROCEED FURTHER.

REGARDS
P.S

DEAR SIR,

WE HAVE A CLIENT VERY MUCH REQUIRING SBLC/BG FOR US$10 MILLION ON LEASE FOR ONE YEAR FROM A TOP BANK AND THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE RETURNED UNENCUMBERED AT THE END OF ONE YEAR PERIOD

AND WE ALSO HAVE IMMEDIATE REQUIREMENT FOR FRESHCUT OR SEASONED INSTRUMENTS FOR 10M TO 500M. WE SHALL BE GLAD TO RECEIVE YOUR OFFERS AND CONTRACT, AS WE LOOKING FOR SERIOUS AND GENUINE BUSINESS, THEREFORE KINDLY ENABLE US TO PROCEED FURTHER.

REGARDS
P.S

Spaghetti House - Bellisimo! by adiguy60

adiguy60 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:07:20 +0000

Review by adiguy60

Rating: 5.00

Phone: 020 7629 6097

Website: http://www.spaghetti-house.co.uk

Tags: italian, lively, romantic

How rare to find authentic italian food in london which is properly prepared and served in hearty italian portions... none of this 'food to nibble' here! Great value and good staff... loved itHow rare to find authentic italian food in london which is properly prepared and served in hearty italian portions... none of this 'food to nibble' here! Great value and good staff... loved it

Fitness First Kingley Street - OK if you work in the area... by lowjohnny

lowjohnny — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:52:17 +0000

Review by lowjohnny

Rating: 2.00

Phone: 020 7734 6226

Tags: gym

I have been using Kingley St Fitness First for about 10 months now. The main selling point is its location 3 minutes from my office.

As gyms go it is quite average. It tends to be very crowded during the week, especially in the afternoons and evenings.

The equipment is adequate and generally in good working order, although be prepared for a wait for benches during busy times.

However it did take them several weeks to repair the broken water fountain - quite an inconvenience being summer.

Avoid using the lockers at all costs. Shady characters blatantly have a master key, because I had my wallet and phone stolen from my LOCKED locker twice in two weeks, in the couple of minutes I was in the shower.

Needless to say I either leave my valuables at the office, or take them in the shower if I cycle in of a morning.

On the positive side I find most of the staff very pleasant to deal with, and I have never had any issues with fellow patrons.I have been using Kingley St Fitness First for about 10 months now. The main selling point is its location 3 minutes from my office.

As gyms go it is quite average. It tends to be very crowded during the week, especially in the afternoons and evenings.

The equipment is adequate and generally in good working order, although be prepared for a wait for benches during busy times.

However it did take them several weeks to repair the broken water fountain - quite an inconvenience being summer.

Avoid using the lockers at all costs. Shady characters blatantly have a master key, because I had my wallet and phone stolen from my LOCKED locker twice in two weeks, in the couple of minutes I was in the shower.

Needless to say I either leave my valuables at the office, or take them in the shower if I cycle in of a morning.

On the positive side I find most of the staff very pleasant to deal with, and I have never had any issues with fellow patrons.

Vendome Mayfair - BE WARNED! by magshake

magshake — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:26:10 +0000

Review by magshake

Rating: 1.00

Phone: 020 7495 2595

Website: http://vendomemayfair.com/

BE WARNED! Being on the guest list at Vendome does not guarantee you entry. My friend had emailed the club and spoken to ANNIKA ZABLOCKA a number of times and arranged for a group of us to be on the guest list. We arrived at 10.30 on the prearranged Saturday night and were refused entry. It appeared that the whole queue was on the guest list. We looked respectable and were not drunk. Vendom's policy is obviously to put everyone on the 'guest list' and then pick and choose at the door. This policy is absolutely dispicable and I will never try to go back.BE WARNED! Being on the guest list at Vendome does not guarantee you entry. My friend had emailed the club and spoken to ANNIKA ZABLOCKA a number of times and arranged for a group of us to be on the guest list. We arrived at 10.30 on the prearranged Saturday night and were refused entry. It appeared that the whole queue was on the guest list. We looked respectable and were not drunk. Vendom's policy is obviously to put everyone on the 'guest list' and then pick and choose at the door. This policy is absolutely dispicable and I will never try to go back.

Galvin at Windows - High-altitude dining by chrisp

chrisp — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:07:11 +0000

Review by chrisp

Rating: 4.00

Phone: 020 7208 4021

Website: http://www.galvinatwindows.com/

Tags: french, romantic, expensive

I can't remember who it was, but somebody once explained to me their theory of the relationship between the quality of a meal and the altitude it is served at. Apparently, so the theory goes, you will have a worse meal the higher up you go. So starting in your Michelin-starred basement restaurants like The Greenhouse, Hakkasan and Le Gavroche, where the atmosphere is hushed and exclusive and the food divine, all the way up to the most extreme example - airline food - microwaved, over-salted slop eaten with your neighbours elbows jabbing into your ribs. And somewhere in the middle we have the "revolving restaurant" category, reliant largely on the tourist trade and unimaginative soppy couples after a nice view, serving overpriced, mediocre food. I'm thinking particularly of the Oxo Tower restaurant and the Coq d'Argent - awful places which if they didn't have the added value of a sweeping backdrop would have closed years ago.

But like all good theories, it's the exceptions that prove the rule. And although Galvin at Windows, perched high atop of the 28-storey Hyde Park Hilton on Park Lane, would no doubt do very well fleecing its well-heeled clientele with a "never mind the food, check out the view" attitude, they have thankfully decided to go down a much different route. The meal I had last night was not only presented in front of a vista that stretched from Wembley Stadium to Hampstead Heath but consisted of some of the most accomplished dishes I'd eaten for many months.

Let's start with the bread, which came in two variations - a wholemeal and a white olive bread. A slightly chewy crust on the white perhaps but a good flavour, and the butter was lovely and spreadable.

Amuse of tomato gelÃ©e did its job perfectly well. The tomato flavours were fresh and the gelÃ©e was actually a very good texture - not too off-puttingly solid but thick enough to scoop onto the spoon. Young basil leaves provided colour and a nice Italian flavour combination. Pretty little thing, isn't it?

My starter was a slab of seared Landes foie gras sat on top of a soft gingerbread biscuit and surrounded by semi-dried grapes and a kind of honey jus. The best foie gras recipes never muck about with the liver too much, and this was true to that form, being just interesting enough to be worth its paycheck while still allowing the rich, creamy foie to star. It's also, as you can just about tell from the picture, a hugely generous portion for a starter, and my waiter was kind enough during ordering to point out that the beef also comes with more foie and did I want to reconsider? Of course I didn't.

Once I'd polished off the cruelly inflated goose organ, another unannounced mini course arrived, of Mesclun (baby leaf) salad, balsamic and goats cheese. This was my least favourite course, which although perfectly pleasant in a salady kind of way didn't really have anything to lift it out of the mundane. The baby leaves were just that, and the goats cheese seemed a bit timid. I fully admit I'm not really a salad person, though, so maybe if all you're used to is lentils and quiche then this you'd probably think this was brilliant.

The main course finally arrived in the form of a cute little pink medallion of beef fillet, a slow-roasted portion of fatty rib topped with another generous slab of foie gras, and a colourful selection of caramelised roasted veg. And you could hardly fault any of it. The beef was cooked perfectly, the fillet well-seasoned and smooth in texture and the rib section meltingly tender with its slivers of juicy fat. Vegetables were bitesize examples of perfect French cooking, each a self-contained, juicy canapÃ© and great fun to eat. I have, admittedly, tasted better beef - but then the fillet steak is never really just about the raw flavour, particularly not in French cooking, and it still tasted great.

Sadly, we didn't have room for desserts, but that didn't stop various final petits fours arriving, including a juicy raspberry chocolate, very fruity strawberry marshmallows and a startling little sphere of crispy salty caramel with a liquid centre. We ate them as the sun was setting over the Wembley Stadium arch.

You'd have to be very, very unlucky not to enjoy an evening at Galvin. This is a mature, confident kitchen serving Michelin-star standard food, and has even improved since my last visit in 2007. That it was totally booked up on a Thursday night in the middle of a recession is not really a mystery - what is a mystery is why the Espoir (rising star) I spoke about in the 2007 review has not yet come good. From what I can gather, the food is definitely up to scratch - at least as good as that served at Chez Bruce, for example. But then, who cares what Michelin think these days - increasingly not anyone who's opinions I trust. All you need to know is that the the service and the food at Galvin @ Windows is as good as you can hope for in this price bracket (it's not cheap - Â£58 for three courses), and you can certainly do a lot worse. Oh yes - and the view's not bad either.I can't remember who it was, but somebody once explained to me their theory of the relationship between the quality of a meal and the altitude it is served at. Apparently, so the theory goes, you will have a worse meal the higher up you go. So starting in your Michelin-starred basement restaurants like The Greenhouse, Hakkasan and Le Gavroche, where the atmosphere is hushed and exclusive and the food divine, all the way up to the most extreme example - airline food - microwaved, over-salted slop eaten with your neighbours elbows jabbing into your ribs. And somewhere in the middle we have the "revolving restaurant" category, reliant largely on the tourist trade and unimaginative soppy couples after a nice view, serving overpriced, mediocre food. I'm thinking particularly of the Oxo Tower restaurant and the Coq d'Argent - awful places which if they didn't have the added value of a sweeping backdrop would have closed years ago.

But like all good theories, it's the exceptions that prove the rule. And although Galvin at Windows, perched high atop of the 28-storey Hyde Park Hilton on Park Lane, would no doubt do very well fleecing its well-heeled clientele with a "never mind the food, check out the view" attitude, they have thankfully decided to go down a much different route. The meal I had last night was not only presented in front of a vista that stretched from Wembley Stadium to Hampstead Heath but consisted of some of the most accomplished dishes I'd eaten for many months.

Let's start with the bread, which came in two variations - a wholemeal and a white olive bread. A slightly chewy crust on the white perhaps but a good flavour, and the butter was lovely and spreadable.

Amuse of tomato gelÃ©e did its job perfectly well. The tomato flavours were fresh and the gelÃ©e was actually a very good texture - not too off-puttingly solid but thick enough to scoop onto the spoon. Young basil leaves provided colour and a nice Italian flavour combination. Pretty little thing, isn't it?

My starter was a slab of seared Landes foie gras sat on top of a soft gingerbread biscuit and surrounded by semi-dried grapes and a kind of honey jus. The best foie gras recipes never muck about with the liver too much, and this was true to that form, being just interesting enough to be worth its paycheck while still allowing the rich, creamy foie to star. It's also, as you can just about tell from the picture, a hugely generous portion for a starter, and my waiter was kind enough during ordering to point out that the beef also comes with more foie and did I want to reconsider? Of course I didn't.

Once I'd polished off the cruelly inflated goose organ, another unannounced mini course arrived, of Mesclun (baby leaf) salad, balsamic and goats cheese. This was my least favourite course, which although perfectly pleasant in a salady kind of way didn't really have anything to lift it out of the mundane. The baby leaves were just that, and the goats cheese seemed a bit timid. I fully admit I'm not really a salad person, though, so maybe if all you're used to is lentils and quiche then this you'd probably think this was brilliant.

The main course finally arrived in the form of a cute little pink medallion of beef fillet, a slow-roasted portion of fatty rib topped with another generous slab of foie gras, and a colourful selection of caramelised roasted veg. And you could hardly fault any of it. The beef was cooked perfectly, the fillet well-seasoned and smooth in texture and the rib section meltingly tender with its slivers of juicy fat. Vegetables were bitesize examples of perfect French cooking, each a self-contained, juicy canapÃ© and great fun to eat. I have, admittedly, tasted better beef - but then the fillet steak is never really just about the raw flavour, particularly not in French cooking, and it still tasted great.

Sadly, we didn't have room for desserts, but that didn't stop various final petits fours arriving, including a juicy raspberry chocolate, very fruity strawberry marshmallows and a startling little sphere of crispy salty caramel with a liquid centre. We ate them as the sun was setting over the Wembley Stadium arch.

You'd have to be very, very unlucky not to enjoy an evening at Galvin. This is a mature, confident kitchen serving Michelin-star standard food, and has even improved since my last visit in 2007. That it was totally booked up on a Thursday night in the middle of a recession is not really a mystery - what is a mystery is why the Espoir (rising star) I spoke about in the 2007 review has not yet come good. From what I can gather, the food is definitely up to scratch - at least as good as that served at Chez Bruce, for example. But then, who cares what Michelin think these days - increasingly not anyone who's opinions I trust. All you need to know is that the the service and the food at Galvin @ Windows is as good as you can hope for in this price bracket (it's not cheap - Â£58 for three courses), and you can certainly do a lot worse. Oh yes - and the view's not bad either.

Napket - upset stomach by charltonboy

charltonboy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:56:58 +0000

Review by charltonboy

Rating: 1.00

Phone: 020 7495 8562

Website: http://www.napket.com/

Tags: cosy, quick bite, quiet & relaxed

What a terrible place to eat - my whole family, including my disabled child ended up in A&E after eating there - stay clear - when we complained the staff - who could hardly speak english were so rude
What a terrible place to eat - my whole family, including my disabled child ended up in A&E after eating there - stay clear - when we complained the staff - who could hardly speak english were so rude