What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

My girlfriend took my to The Kitchin, a Michelin Starred restaurant in Edinburgh, for my 24th on Wednesday just gone. We had the 'Chef's Land & Sea Surprise' menu with matching wines. It was really good, and a wonderful treat! I don't like taking pictures at restaurants, but took a picture of the menu:

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My favourite course was the Pig's Head & Scallop. The pig meat was just beautiful. I didn't really 'get' the curried Plaice. The Plaice was well cooked but not sure on the curry and it just didn't seem to gel with the rest of the menu.
Wine was awesome, best one was the Pinotage. I'm going to try and get some for Christmas.

Got a birthday card from Tom Kitchin, and met him.
 
I don't have a picture of the card. I also got a signed copy of his cookbook (Kitchin Suppers). If you want, I could type up some recipes. Let me know what sort of thing you're after and I'll see what he has. That is, if you don't already have it.

Here's me, her and him. A friendly old man took the picture.

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Me and the missus ate last night at Benihana in Chelsea on Kings road i think.

Its not the first time ive been there, went there yrs ago with my brother, sis in law and mum for her bday. But really couldnt remember much of the decor, all i remember was it being downstairs the restaurant.

Anyhow was a nice place and being a sunday, i was surprised to see it so busy. So as much as i wanted a table all to myself and the missus, it wasnt possible.

Anyhow if no one is familiar with Benihana's then its a japanese teppanyaki type of place where you have a table and a grill in front. You place your order and the chef comes out and cooks the food in front of you.

Luckily for us and the group at our table, we had a brilliant chef who kept us amused and laughing with his jokes and general silliness...all in all everyone had a fab night except right next to us there was a french couple who every so often were snogging each others faces off :/...and yes the french chick was pretty hot:p.

As for what me and the missus ordered?? we ordered 2 seafood palaces which consisted of scallops, king prawns, lobster tails, salmon fillet and cod fillets. We also got some japanese onion soup which was very tasty and steamed veggies as well.

Bill came out to £150 with the food, drinks and dessert. So it wasnt exactly cheap but it was filling nonetheless.

Not somewhere you go regularly but me and the missus enjoyed it immensely so will be going there again very soon.
 
Marco's olive tree in Bristol Friday night - didnt expect to have such a great steak from an italian, but it was so damned succulent, well cooked. The service was great and not too expensive either (18.99) ..
 
For the 2nd time this year, I went to The Square (2 Michelin stars) in Mayfair, London, last Saturday. For no other reason than I enjoy watching it, I was also pleased by Phil Howard appearing on Saturday Kitchen that morning. This visit was for a pre-Christmas lunch with a couple of friends. To keep the cost down, we had the intention of having the set menu, and as it was the 1st of December they had their Christmas Lunch menu up.

Amuse bouche: Foie Gras mouse with Parmesan foam

*****

Slow Cooked Duck Egg with Truffle Butter, Sourdough Soldiers, Leeks and Chanterelles

Velouté of Celeriac and Pear with Raised Partridge Pie and Sherry

Parcel of Cured organic Salmon with Crab, Clementine, Endive and Iceberg

*****

Fillet of Cornish Pollock with Truffled Cauliflower Purée and Beaufort Croquettes, Sprout Leaves and Bay

Breast of Goose with Pumpkin and Trompettes de la Mort Croustillant of the Leg with Cranberries

Glazed Short Rib of Beef with Smoked Creamed Potato, Espresso, Glazed Carrot and Bay

*****

Truffled Brie de Meaux

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Foam and Brown Butter Ice Cream

Pomegranate Jelly with a Fine Fruit Salad and Passion fruit and Banana Sorbet

Roasted Pear with Date Cake and Sherry and Raisin Ice Cream
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For starters, I had the Velouté of Celeriac and Pear which was lovely, rich and creamy. The Raised Partridge Pie was fantastic, I could have eaten it for my main as well. For the main, I went with the Pollack dish. Perfectly cooked and with a lovely combination of accompanying veg. For dessert I had to go with the Christmas Pudding, and it was superb. The brandy foam and ice cream went perfectly, and with a dessert wine with a hint of spice, it was a fantastic dessert. The service was superb as to be expected.
One of my friends very kindly picked up the bill which made the meal that bit better.

For me, The Square is about the best restaurant I've ever eaten in. Perfectly cooked faultless food.
 
Went to Maze Grill in Mayfair yesterday for my department Christmas lunch. We were allowed any steak from the menu except for the Wagyu steaks (£90+). To start I had the Pork Belly slider which was lovely, for the main I chose the 12oz USDA Prime rib-eye which was the most expensive on the menu at £53 aside from the Wagyu steaks, some chips and Bearnaise sauce. The steak was really nice, perfectly cooked and had good flavour. The chunky chips were also very nice and so was the Bearnaise sauce.

By comparison, last Friday evening I went to Fyre Steak in Earlsfield, an small independent steak restaurant. I had an 8oz fillet for £15 and it was superb. The third time I've been there this year, and for a price to flavour comparison, it matches Maze Grill/Hawksmoor/Gaucho every time.
 
I went to Burger and Lobster in Soho earlier this week.

I'd heard good things and thought that the concept was pretty good.

Sat and had time for a chat and a cocktail whilst waiting for a table- so not a particularly long wait as I'd anticipated. It gave me time to also soak in a bit of the atmosphere, which I really liked.

It's not fancy in the slightest, yet not a total dive. It has the feeling of a good honest restaurant where you can go with anyone, dressed in whatever you feel comfortable in (i.e. you dont need to dress up). The background music wasn't too loud and I actually liked it, when usually I cant stand whatever claptrap gets aired in these "buzz" restaurants.

The cocktail I had was a summer one which I really enjoyed and it was very reasonably priced as well which is always a major plus in London.

A point that I should raise now is the service was excellent. We had an extremely charming waiter who made us feel comfortable and who basically was really nice as well. No pretensions and no aloof behaviour which is increasingly rare in London restaurants which aren't top notch.

I also liked the way you could see the lobsters in the tank.

I had the double sized lobster (which gives you unlimited chips as well), grilled and with garlic sauce. It also came with a small salad which had balsamic dressing and croutons on it.

My concern was that the lobster would be overcooked. It was not. It was very tasty although could have been served piping hot instead of tepid. I love lobster and regularly eat cold seafood so warm lobster wasn't a problem for me. Chips were a bit on the cool side too.
The taste of the food was good. I thought it was a solid effort when eating it and would go back.

For dessert was a vanilla cheesecake mousse which I did enjoy.

I left thinking I'll definitely return to this place as I had a really nice time and enjoyed my food.


The lobster did take its revenge on me during the night and following day unfortunately.

In spite of that, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Burger and Lobster and would recommend it to anyone (also you get to wear a bib when eating which I think is pretty cool anyway). I don't think I'd go there on a first date, but it has the warm, friendly feel of the kind of place where you could go on a date night or equally with a group of mates.

Overall ratings:

Atmosphere:
7/10

Service:
8/10

Food:
6.75/10
(note that had the food been hotter it would be 7.5 so marks deducted for that)

Price:
7.5/10
I paid £60 for a 3lb lobster and two good cocktails and a dessert.
You could eat lobster and chips with salad there for £20!
 
Lussmans - St Albans, A fantastic restaurant, worked out around £40 a head for a 3 course meal and drinks which is very fair considering the quality of the food.
If anyone is in the hertfordshire area i would recommend trying them.
 
I went to Loch Fyne in Woburn last night for a work Christmas meal.

Their Christmas menu was very good value, £19.95 for three courses.

We were a party of 7, the entrance was very welcoming and even had an area to the side where a chef appeared to be plating up or preparing food which seemed interesting.
We were greeted and taken to our table which was actually in its own room. With the restaurant being on the highstreet of an old town they have made the most of the space.

Service was excellent and we were well looked after and it all seemed very slick even with a lot of parties going on.

To start I had the Fisherman's Platter;
Smoked salmon, Bradan Rost (kiln roasted salmon fillet), smoked prawns, potted peppered mackerel, marinated herring, marinated olives, shallot marmalade, brown bread.

As several of us had ordered the same starter they served it on one sharing board, which made it a little less formal and a little easier for people to skip the bits they didn't like so others could have them. They were a bit skimpy on the bread though, only 1 slice per person. Could have eaten the whole thing to myself if given half a chance!

For main I chose the Pan-fried Fillet of Bream
with braised fennel in a lemon beurre sauce, sesame carrots, buttered new potatoes, tender-stem broccoli.

Fish was perfectly cooked and a lovely crispy skin that got eaten as well. The fennel was very tasty, don't often have that. I thought the potatoes would have been boiled but they seemed to have been roasted which was nice. Carrots got some interesting depth from sesame oil which I guessed was used as no sign of sesame seeds that I was expecting. Very tasty.

Dessert was Glazed Lemon Tart with vanilla ice cream

Exactly as it was, nothing spectacular with the desert, but tasty and refreshing after the quite buttery main.

I had house red wine with the meal, probably would have picked white but someone else preferred red and the ladies were having rosé. Was perfectly fine for my palate but I'm no wine fanatic.

After the meal we were offered coffee which two people had, then we were sort of left to our own. It would have been nice to have been offered some further drinks or at least a check that we were ok.

Overall an excellent meal and the Christmas crackers gave us 25% off in January so I might have to re-visit and see what their normal menu is like.
 
lordhughes said:
weatherspoons is not without its merit, ok they are a bit tacky and 99% of them are complete dives but cheap OKish food and cheap drinks are good for when thats all you want. Plus their breakfasts are really good value.
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Hanley Wetherspoons in the only one i've ordered food from, 90% of the time it's great. Only recently over november and december have I noticed their standards slipping, ordered 2 sunday dinners, got one with peas carrots and sweetcorn and the other just had peas. Nothing said by the waitress, asked her why one only had peas, "They must have run out", that was it, no apology, not even a free pint.
 
http://www.salthousetapas.co.uk/

Went here for lunch today. Was first class and put the likes of la tasca et al to shame.

No pics but I had belly pork with cranberry, stuffing and apple sauce. Perfectcly cooked with crispy crackling and moist meat. Calamari with aioli which was melt in your mouth fresh and grilled chicken in spices which was lovely and moist but needed a bit more spice.

The mrs had bravas which were very good, iberico ham croquettes which were amazingly smooth and gambas Pil Pil which were spot on.

If you like tapas and are in Liverpool you will be hard pushed to find a better place
 
molinari said:
For the 2nd time this year, I went to The Square (2 Michelin stars) in Mayfair, London, last Saturday. For no other reason than I enjoy watching it, I was also pleased by Phil Howard appearing on Saturday Kitchen that morning. This visit was for a pre-Christmas lunch with a couple of friends. To keep the cost down, we had the intention of having the set menu, and as it was the 1st of December they had their Christmas Lunch menu up.



For starters, I had the Velouté of Celeriac and Pear which was lovely, rich and creamy. The Raised Partridge Pie was fantastic, I could have eaten it for my main as well. For the main, I went with the Pollack dish. Perfectly cooked and with a lovely combination of accompanying veg. For dessert I had to go with the Christmas Pudding, and it was superb. The brandy foam and ice cream went perfectly, and with a dessert wine with a hint of spice, it was a fantastic dessert. The service was superb as to be expected.
One of my friends very kindly picked up the bill which made the meal that bit better.

For me, The Square is about the best restaurant I've ever eaten in. Perfectly cooked faultless food.
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The brother of my boss owns it, Phil did our Christmas hampers this year! Nom nom nom!

I ate at La Bodega Negra last night, cool facade and ambience bearing in mind the front door is a sex shop. But the food was average.
 
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