What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

Recently came back from Istanbul and had a number of great meals, the highlight being Mikla at the top of the Marmara Pera Hotel. Great view across the whole city with a terrace (plus it has a rooftop bar in the summer). Had a good martinis, 3 courses, a local bottle of white and a couple of whiskeys at it was very reasonable, around £85 a head with lots of booze. Food was good, very simple and well cooked, nothing very exciting but clearly good ingredients. Overall a very nice evening.

Also went to Ceviche in Soho, a peruvian place. Nice ceviche (a first for me), interesting flavours, and somewhat good value. Didn't have a pisco sour, but they looked good. The place was naturally packed but the service was good (they did forget a couple of dishes though). Will be a little stuffy in the summer though I would return.

Off to Burger and Lobster next week and Roganic soon after, quite excited about them in very different ways.
 
Jolly Sportsman at east chiltington.

Local to me, go there about every 2 months, never had a bad meal.

They also do good cider (Black rat, and others) but this is not so good if you are driving!
 
I forget the name, but I ate at a fantastic little Portuguese restaurant the other night, and it was fantastic. €13 per head for five courses (yes, you read that correctly) and wine. The restaurant is owned, run and staffed by a single family, and it shows. There was no 5* service, it was not fine dining. I do love fine dining, but if that's all you can abide, then this wouldn't have been up your alley. It was simple, homemade and wholesome food. No fancy place settings or anything like that, just laid back service that made sure your food was on the table, your glasses were filled and that your table was cleared.

For the soup course, two bowls came out, along with a big metal bowl with soup and a ladle. It was a simple stock, with carrots, cabbage and some other bits in it. I wasn't paying too much attention, but it was delicious.

After was the entrée, which was a piece of jambon de (ham of) Bayonne for me, and my friend had l'assiette de charcuterie which consisted of my ham, with some other salamis and what not. Both were just served on the plate, with some butter. Of course there was a basket of bread on the table, so the meats were enjoyed with that.

I can't even remember what the plat was called, but it was very similar to a fish pie. It tasted like an incredible fish cake, but it was served in a dish, and one spooned it onto the plate, if one can picture that. But either way, absolutely delicious.

For dessert, I had a fruit salad as I was stuffed, and my friend had some profiteroles. Fairly standard, but delicious.

Annoyingly we had to leave, so we couldn't stay for the cheese course. :( :o

As for the wine, we had a pichet du vin rouge, and it was great. I had eaten at another restaurant that had a similar style of menu a couple of nights prior, i.e. €12 for three courses inc. wine, but the wine was terrible there, and I was not expecting it to be tasty. But again, it was outstandingly good.

It could possibly have been the best value meal I have ever had, let alone in Bordeaux. Absolutely great. I shall be returning next week. :cool:
 
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Last week, four months after booking it (and many more months before that of wanting to book it), we finally had our evening at The Hand & Flowers, Marlow. This was to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. I'm a big fan of Tom Kerridge and have been looking forward to this meal for a long time. For those that don't know, The Hand & Flowers is an old pub in Marlow, not too far from Reading. It is the first pub to be awarded 2 Michelin stars for its food. Inside it is fairly small, and the wooden beams on the ceiling give it great character.

Before ordering, we were given some homemade breads and butter, and some whitebait with a Rose-mayo dip (I think it was Rose, but I can't remember). The breads were lovely and warm, the butter nicely salted, and the whitebait was hot and crunchy.

This is the menu (please excuse the photo, taken in the dark on my HTC Desire):


To start, I went with the Crispy Pig's Head, and my wife went for the Braised Pearl Barley. The Pig's head was part of Tom's winning main course for last year’s Great British Menu, so I had an idea of what it would look like (not a Pigs head with an apple in the mouth as others were joking). We were told that they use every part of the Pig's head to make the dish, with the exception of the brain and the eyes. Served on the Pancetta, with a crispy coating, it was gorgeous! A rich meaty flavour like good pork belly, I could have eaten double. The crackling was very thin and long, and perfectly crunchy.
The Braised Pearl Barley was also really good. Not the dish I would immediately choose, Pearl Barley doesn't excite my taste buds (Foie Gras does though), but that shows I shouldn't judge the dish on one ingredient.

For the main course, I went for the Duck Breast whilst my wife chose the Shin of Beef. The duck was cooked perfectly, nice and pink in the middle, and had lovely flavour. The cabbage came in its own little pot and went well with the Duck, and the chips were fantastic. The Shin of Beef was served on half of the shin bone, where the marrow would be, and it was lovely and tender. The carrot that came with it had an ever so subtle hint of aniseed to it that worked extremely well. We also had a side of the Crushed Swede which was lovely and creamy, and we had to try the Salt Baked Potatoes which we had seen on last year’s Great British Menu. For this, they make a very salty dough, wrap it around the potatoes, and then bake it for about 2 ½ hours. The outside of the dough forms a very hard crust whilst inside it is still slightly soft. It is served as it is baked so that you have to take the top off of the crust (which they have already cut to make it easier) and scoop out the potatoes. Normally I’d have butter with baked potatoes, but these were so soft and creamy that I ate them on their own. Fantastic.

For dessert I went with the Glazed Russet’s Apple Tart, and the wife went for the Passion Fruit Soufflé. The Hazelnut ice cream had the perfect amount of flavour to go with the apple tart without being overpoweringly nutty. The tart itself was really good. The same can be said for the Lime ice cream which accompanied the Passion Fruit Soufflé really well. Both desserts were lovely but I’m a big meat eater, so will always prefer starters and mains to desserts.

To go with the meal, we each had a carafe of wine (2 glasses each), and a coffee after the meal.
The service we received right from when we arrived was perfect. Friendly, attentive, and they answered every question we had about the restaurant and the food. They were happy to stop and chat if you wanted, but didn’t hang about or bother you if you were having your own discussion. Before we left we asked them for a copy of the menu, and they kindly got Tom to sign it for us which was a nice touch :).

In total we paid £130 which I think is a bargain for a 2 Michelin star meal consisting of 3 courses, wine and coffee.
It’s hard to compare The Hand & Flowers to The Ledbury or Le Gavroche (both also 2 Michelin stars) as this is quite different. At The Ledbury and Le Gavroche we had the taster menus which were incredible, and whilst I wouldn’t describe The Hand & Flowers food as incredible, it was without question better than all of the 1 Michelin star restaurants that we’ve been to.

At some point in the near future, we’ll be heading back for another meal :).
 
The way michelin works is that it is a 2* restaurant in it's category - so comparing it to Ledbury, Noma etc. is misleading. Keep meaning to go though, bumped into Tom at a do a few weeks back, lovely chap!
 
Had lunch with the parents at Jamie's Italian in Glasgow. I've not heard or read particularly good things about it but wanted to try it for myself. For the three of us it was £60 for a filling lunch and a glass of wine which seemed decent enough value.

Shared starters of the 'special' bruschetta were fine if not particularly special, and the selection of breads tasted deliciously fresh. My dad had the turkey milanese which I was very impressed with; lovely flavours. I had potato and pecorino filled pasta in a pumpkin sauce which was nice enough if a little heavy for lunch, and my mum had the vegetable antipasta which was, well, vegetable antipasta. The chips, which let so many places down, were lovely. Overall it seemed decent enough value for money (considering you would pay similar prices at TGIs, Nandos etc) and had a nice atmosphere with good service. It would probably benefit from a smaller and less confused menu but I guess that doesn't fit well with the family feel easy eating vibe it's aiming for. I'd happily go back but perhaps not in a hurry.
 
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nydryl said:
Had lunch with the parents at Jamie's Italian in Glasgow...

I'd happily go back but perhaps not in a hurry.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's ok but not without its flaws. The best things like the breads, olives, cold meat planks require little intervention on the part of the kitchen so I wouldn't recommend it on those alone, while the few times I've been (in Nottingham), I found the pastas under-sauced and boring and the seasoning generally, wildly variable. We've taken to having antipastas and small main plates because no one dish is actually good enough to merit plowing through a large serving of it. Which now that I read it, is pretty damning criticism. Nice idea then, but the reality just isn't as good as it should be.
 
time to bring this thread down a few levels.. i ate at Harvester last night :)
had my usual chicken fillet burger with fries and some peppercorn sauce + 'eat as much as you like' salad cart..
tasted great and was a bargin for £6.49
 
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