What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

physichull · 4 Apr 2011 at 17:28

I thought that since we have a highly successful "What film did you watch last night?" thread, that this would be an excellent equivalent in the new new La Cuisine board!

This idea may flop, but it is well worth giving it a go and keeping it as a fairly mainstream thread where forum users could log their favourite restaurant suggestions, and perhaps if the occasion deserves it, their least favourite restaurants (places to stay well clear of).

The restaurant I ate at recently was (shamefully, I know) a chain restaurant known as "The Red Chilli" in Manchester, down Oxford Road.

I'd never been before, but was on an outing with about 15 friends and decided to give it a go. I would describe the food as well above average for a chain restaurant. We ordered mixed starters, including deep fried squid. We shared a variety of Main courses which included Salt and Pepper Eel (which turned out to be mega spicy!), deep fried soft crab claws, frogs legs in cantonese sauce (subsequently I have learnt frogs legs is a particularly barbaric trade and kinda regret trying them, but they tasted nice, a bit like chicken with a distinct aroma of pond sludge! I wouldn't recommend a whole dish to yourself) and duck in hoi sin sauce amongst the favourites.

Overall I would give this an 9/10, losing a mark for having a poor selection of drinks (mostly very fizzy lagers sold in very small glasses for ~£4).

Ahleckz · 4 Apr 2011 at 17:48

Rawalpindi Tandoori, Glasgow.

Went there last night after a few beers with my pal. Fancied a curry, he had a 20% off voucher and I had never been. He had been once and said it was OK so we popped in at half 9 and got a seat straight away, and there were others there.

I had a Lamb Dopiaza, pal had a chicken dish which I've forgotten the name of. Lamb was well cooked, not quite spicy enough for my liking but certainly fine. He said his chicken was on the most part tasty but possibly slightly overcooked.

6 poppadoms with spiced onion, two curries, one boiled rice, one garlic nan, two pints of beer (Kingfisher) and the bill came to £30 or so. Good value, and a good restaurant.
Certainly not up with the best of the curry houses in Glasgow and I wouldn't go out of my way to go back but I would eat there again.

Muban · 4 Apr 2011 at 20:26

I recently went to Chapter One in Forres. I've been a few times before and it was my second visit for the evening service.

Pros: Great food. Nice relaxed atmosphere. Friendly helpful staff. Huge portions. Relatively inexpensive. Nice little finishing touches (fresh hand made bread, small packet of sweets for the walk home).
Cons: Huge portions (Yes, I know I had it under Pros too....only a downside as I could never manage to have 3 courses there so have to pick a starter or a dessert). Evening service on a weekend is impossible to get a table at unless you book well in advance, lunchtimes you might get very lucky and not need to book.

I had (for less than £20 not including drinks):
Chicken and venison parfait with tomato salsa, oatcakes and sweet onion.
Slow Roasted Confit of Pork Belly cooked for 6 hours with white wine, herbs and butter. Seasonal vegetables (including spiced red cabbage and creamed leeks) and potatoes.

moody · 4 Apr 2011 at 20:43

Aroma in Northallerton.

Superb Indian in Northallerton. Reasonably priced as well cost £70 for 4 people having a starter/main plus two drinks each. This was a repeat visit and look forward to going back again.

molinari · 5 Apr 2011 at 08:51

We went to Bruges at the weekend for our 2nd anniversary

. We've been there a few times, it's beautiful. I did a bit of research before hand as I wanted to go to a nice restaurant (last anniversary was at Le Manoir). I believe Bruges has 6 michelin starred restaurant so plenty of choice, however I found kardinaalshof which looked very nice and has some very good reviews. This is what we had:

Appetizer - Jelly of Sea Trout, caviar and horseradish sauce.

Scallops with lime, vadouvan, cucmber tartar and Basil sorbet

Crispy fried Young cod, green pea cream and pork belly rillettes

Dublin Bay Prawns with sesamy seeds and marrow, wakamé and beef stock

Sweetbreads, crab cannelloni, mashed potatoes with herbs and sushi vinegar

Cheese “Brique de Jussac” with Brugean Biscuits

White chocolate mousse with yoghurt, pistachoes, raspberry and mint sorbet

The food was fantastic (the cod was my favourite), very well presented and the flavours worked really well, especially the Scallop dish. I thought the experience (especially the food) was better than at Chez Bruce (my local 1 star restaurant) but although the service was very good, it was slightly below what I'd expect of a Michelin star restaurant, perhaps one of the reasons why it doesn't have one. That was a 6 course taster menu with accompanying wine, and coffee for around £160 which isn't bad at all. The appear to change their menu every month and I wouldn't hesitate to go back there.

TheDean · 5 Apr 2011 at 10:50

I like chez Bruce, and want to return. I'm in a bit of a mood with so called fine dining at the moment. Sometimes I adore it, and sometimes I hate it. My experience tells me that more often than not, it is not conducive to a sucsesful evening. Far too often I see snobby waiters and pretencious Maitre D's spoil a perfectly good meal. There was a brilliant one off on the beep a while ago on the pain & agony of the Michelin ratings system. They met with chef's, and even met a chef's wife in France who killed himself after losing a star (from 2 to 1). I have been lucky to eat at a selection of Michelin starred restaurants and have found the best always make you feel at ease. I cannot stand it when a restaurant has an air of arrogance about it; they merely serve food, and would do well to remember it!

HumanShield · 5 Apr 2011 at 11:05

I've recently been to Upstairs at the Grill (http://www.upstairsatthegrill.co.uk/)

Had the 12oz Delmonico, with peppercorn sauce and a large number of sides (we were celebrating!)

The atmosphere was very nice there, really relaxed, but I dont like restaurants that like to pack as many tables into a small space as possible. It is quite a small place, but I didnt like being as close to the table next to us as we were. Still, the staff certainly knew their steaks, and the food was wonderful.

Combination of a couple of drinks, and starters and mains for 2 came to just over £100, but it was certainly worth it! The experience was nice too, we were well looked after, and I look forward to going back again.

Teledude · 5 Apr 2011 at 11:21

Went to Babylon at Kensington Roof Gardens on Friday night...

Had wood pigeon for starters, I had lamb for main and she had pork belly.

Meat was beautifully cooked, service great, portions perfect and overall a great experience

Was £300 with 2 bottles of veuve though

dpbadger · 5 Apr 2011 at 16:34

Didn't go last night but it was the most recent eating out experience.
il Bordello in Wapping. A lovely italian restaurant, it is always busy so you need to book.
I would recommend it every time.

xarr · 6 Apr 2011 at 05:57

TheDean said:
I like chez Bruce, and want to return. I'm in a bit of a mood with so called fine dining at the moment. Sometimes I adore it, and sometimes I hate it. My experience tells me that more often than not, it is not conducive to a sucsesful evening. Far too often I see snobby waiters and pretencious Maitre D's spoil a perfectly good meal. There was a brilliant one off on the beep a while ago on the pain & agony of the Michelin ratings system. They met with chef's, and even met a chef's wife in France who killed himself after losing a star (from 2 to 1). I have been lucky to eat at a selection of Michelin starred restaurants and have found the best always make you feel at ease. I cannot stand it when a restaurant has an air of arrogance about it; they merely serve food, and would do well to remember it!

I think the below blog posts have some interesting things to say about the guide.

http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-michelin-good-for.html

http://londoneater.com/2011/01/20/my-thoughts-on-the-2011-michelin-guide-london-mostly/

There are plenty of fantastic places in London without stars, and given that a star represents a type of restaurant I don't always.

Bocca Di Lupo is a recent fave of mine, great, simple food served in a buzzy, friendly atmosphere its my idea of the perfect place. Not too expensive and a great small/large plates thing so you can mix it up.

oli collett · 6 Apr 2011 at 20:29

Went to smithfield bar and grill last night in farringdon on a whim.

With a 50% toptable discount, the place is ridiculous value. Steaks are usually very good - not up to hawksmoor/goodman level but for the price you can't complain. Highly recommended

Also went to Heston's dinner last week - it was my third visit and it delivered yet again. The wine list is ridiculous (blame the mandarin oriental) and some of the pricing of dishes seems a bit odd, but there are some real gems on the menu. Sadly the beef royale seems to have dissapeared for the moment but the meat fruit, rice & flesh, pork chop, tipsy cake and tafferty tart are all top notch!

Loki · 6 Apr 2011 at 22:31

Not exactly last night but over the weekend, took the Family to The Gourmet Burger Kitchen In the Trafford Centre in Manchester. I'm not usually a big fan of eating in shopping malls as I find the food to be overprices tut.

Anyway on with the mini review. The GBK is certainly an interesting dining experience thats for sure. The first warning sign was a lot of the eateries were pretty full at peak time so it was surprising to see this establishment half empty. When seated, the waitress tells you that you must order your own food from the till and then proceeds to speak to the other waitress about last nights TV

Family of four had two adult meals and two children's meals with a couple of starters. Half way through the starters the waitress comes over with the mains. Very little room on the table at all. Mrs L Plumped for the Jamaican Burger and I went for the Mexican. Have to say it was one of the worst meals I have had out in a very long time. My burger was unseasoned and tasteless and it was obliterated with sour cream which killed any flavour left the burger may have had.

The meal cost £70.00 with a bottle of beer coming in shy of £5.00. I have to say that the quality of food, value for money and overall experience was way below what I was expecting. At least if you goto a 'proper' fast food burger bar your expectations are managed at £15.00 for a self service meal. I would not recommend GBK to anyone after this visit.

physichull · 7 Apr 2011 at 07:26

I'm surprised about Gourmet Burger. Its a fairly recent addition to the trafford centre and i was going to try it out....

I usually head over to Frankie and Bennys when i am there. You know what you get with F&Bs, decent food, fast service and reasonably priced. I nearly always go for the burgers, they are pretty good.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS a place in there called Bar and Grill, i ve not had such a poor meal since going there, stay well clear!

xarr · 7 Apr 2011 at 20:38

oli collett said:
Also went to Heston's dinner last week - it was my third visit and it delivered yet again.

Third visit :eek:

Loki said:
Words.... GBK crap

Yup no surprise there, GBK is terrible. The North is missing the best burger joint in the UK; Byron. From the horses mouth, every bit is true.

Byron said:
We source good beef from Scotland. We mince it fresh every day. We cook it medium so it’s pink, juicy and succulent. We place it in a soft, squishy bun with minimum fuss and fanfare. We serve it with a smile in a comfortable environment. And that’s it.

Better burgers may be on menus elsewhere, not tried Goodman/Hawksmoors yet, but I can't imagine a better burger based place.

Duke · 7 Apr 2011 at 21:34

Loki said:
Not exactly last night but over the weekend, took the Family to The Gourmet Burger Kitchen In the Trafford Centre in Manchester. <snip>

I've been to two GBK places in Bristol and both were pretty much the same as that. Pricey and poor.

Robzere31 · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:12

The Blue Boar in Temple Grafton near Alcester. Excellent food & a great cosy atmosphere.

MacLef420 · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:20

Muban said:
I recently went to Chapter One in Forres. I've been a few times before and it was my second visit for the evening service.

Pros: Great food. Nice relaxed atmosphere. Friendly helpful staff. Huge portions. Relatively inexpensive. Nice little finishing touches (fresh hand made bread, small packet of sweets for the walk home).
Cons: Huge portions (Yes, I know I had it under Pros too....only a downside as I could never manage to have 3 courses there so have to pick a starter or a dessert). Evening service on a weekend is impossible to get a table at unless you book well in advance, lunchtimes you might get very lucky and not need to book.

I had (for less than £20 not including drinks):
Chicken and venison parfait with tomato salsa, oatcakes and sweet onion.
Slow Roasted Confit of Pork Belly cooked for 6 hours with white wine, herbs and butter. Seasonal vegetables (including spiced red cabbage and creamed leeks) and potatoes.

I am based in Forres and have to agree with the above comment completely, a slight disagreement on the portion size though - can never get too much

.

Only ever go in for the lunch, due to the dinner service being full usually, and the starter/main course set is the one to go for, why? Because the female never manages to finish the pudding :cool:

Type_R · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:26

I ate at The Food & Wine Co @ Westfield, London.

Excellent steak (good size) with a nice selection of sauces. Not too keen on the price though!

oli collett · 9 Apr 2011 at 11:49

xarr said:
Third visit

Well it was meant to be 2, but then a friend had a spare reservation and I couldn't resist

xarr said:
Better burgers may be on menus elsewhere, not tried Goodman/Hawksmoors yet, but I can't imagine a better burger based place.

I liked Byron when I went, seemed good for a chain!

Anyway - went to cinammon club on thursday. I liked the setting, and the food was good. Highlights were scallop with squid ink and spices, Red deer with onion & fenugreek sauce and a lovely saffron poached pear with lemon and pistachio mousse.

One important thing to note is the concept here. This isn't intended to be "authentic" indian food, cooked with imported ingredients, it's refined food using locally sourced ingredients. It's not the place to go for the ultimate curry in london, but if you want some of the best british/indian food in the country, it's right up there.

shroomz · 9 Apr 2011 at 11:55

Going to Oloroso in Edinburgh tonight, they say they have Scotland's finest steaks.

I would love to actually get a steak that doesn't have the texture of tyre rubber and taste like sea water in a restaurant. On the other hand, I might try something a little less risque; will write more once I get back xD