What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

Down in London with work.

Monday night we went to Bodeans at Tower Hill. My first time at a "proper" BBQ restaurant despite being a huge BBQ fan. I had diablo chicken wings to start and the burnt ends and pulled pork as a main. The chicken wings were very nice - undoubtedly hot but the chili had a nice flavour and the wings themselves were good quality. The burnt ends and pulled pork were good but nothing to really rave about. The fries and coleslaw were fairly standard fare too.

Last night was St John Bread & Wine in Spitalfields. This was really good! Particular highlights were the devilled duck hearts starter and the pigs cheek main. Not a place for a fussy eater but I think they'd be converted by the food if they gave it a go. Reasonably priced too.
 
NiCkNaMe said:
Any recommendations in Dublin guys? I'm over there on the 21st and after somewhere decent to take my girlfriend :)

Open to all cuisines!
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The Anglers rest was excellent last time I went! Stood out as one of the best parts of the holiday. We sat outside in the fading sun with an open peat fire they have in the court yard bit. + a pint of guinness :Dhttp://theanglersrest.ie/

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cheechm said:
Bills. Slightly overpriced for what they serve, but their slow cooked pork belly wasn't too bad!
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Odd, I've never found Bills to be overpriced for anything and I've been going to the one in Lewes since it was just a greengrocer/deli with about 12 tables. Had a fish finger sandwich in the on ein Chichester a few months ago and it was delicious. I think it was about £7.50 and made a very good lunch.

Their breakfasts are usually my bribery payment for getting up early for a family shopping trip to Brighton.

I had lunch at Tony Tobin's Dining Room yesterday. Pretty standard smoked salmon but the dark soda bread was fantastic. Confit duck wasn't a patch on what I've had elsewhere (The Gun in Findon is still the best I've ever had!) but it was tasty and the whole dish was very nice. Apple crumble tart was very tasty and the sticky toffee pudding was delicious, just heavy enough and full of flavour without being too stodgy or sickly sweet.
 
Patty & Bun, again :D. Got there before 12pm to join the already sizeable queue, and just managed to get a table.
Had a fantastic Smokey Robinson burger with some rosemary salt fries. So so good!
After that, I popped round the corner to Workshop Coffee for a lovely coffee!
 
Kiin Kiin, the only Michelin starred Thai restaurant in Scandinavia (I think). Over three hours which flew by, plenty of interesting food and drink! Not sure I would go back in a hurry, was a great experience but slightly lacking in a way I can't describe, perhaps the atmosphere...
 
Burger & Lobster (St Pauls, London)
Out of the blue, we thought we'd give this a try. Three choices on the menu; 1lb lobster (grilled or steamed), lobster roll (cold meat), or beef burger. All come with side of salad and fries, and all cost £20.

The lobster wasn't particularly big so not a huge amount of meat, but it was nice. You can't really go wrong with grilled lobster can you. The burger was also a good size and pretty tasty, although not up to Patty & Bun's standard.
We got there early as all the pre-booked tables were booked, and we didn't fancy queuing for a table if it got busy. There is a nice buzzing atmosphere inside with people enjoying their food, and the service was friendly and polite. Overall, it was ok but I wouldn't rush back there because of the price and the limited choice. It would better if there was a lobster and burger combo on the menu, rather than one or the other.

To finish the evening off, we made our way over to Soho for some fantastic cocktails at Jason Atherton's Social Eating House. A great bar area, and some great cocktails.
 
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Went to Brasserie Zedel on Friday. Didn't book and so there was a little wait but stood at the bar with a bottle of wine.

I had sardines followed by Choucroute Alsacienne - would have been nice with a litre of German beer!

The dining hall is great!
 
I went to Pitt Cue last night, fan-****ing-tastic.

Loved every second of it. Got there about 10 past 5, it opens at 5.30 and the kitchen opens at 6. We were the second people there but by the time the restaurant opened there was already about 20-30 odd people there queuing up.

Best pulled pork I've ever had and the caramel ribs were delicious. Well worth having the pork scratchings whilst you're waiting to be seated too. Ribs!

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And the menu, pics a little shakey!

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J-FRO said:
I went to Pitt Cue last night, fan-****ing-tastic.
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Great place, I need to go back soon.

I ate at Barbecoa (St Paul's, London), Jamie Oliver's steak restaurant. A lovely location, it was packed when I went on a Thursday evening.
Pork scratchings for starters, and they were pretty tasty :). For main, there was the usual selection of meats to choose from. I went with a 320g sirloin (£32), with smoked bearnaise sauce and duck fat chips. The steak was nice, nothing amazing but nothing to write home about either. The chips were, again, nice, but the smoked bearnaise was all smoke and no bearnaise, which was a shame. Service was ok for a busy night, and the prices are what you'd expect for a London celebrity chef steak restaurant.
 
Went to Bill's on Stoney Street (near Vinopolis). Shared their amazing tacos to start with, then went with the day's special - "sea-reared salmon
served on crushed new potatoes with peas and bacon, soft poached egg and grain mustard sauce" very tasty
 
The Staith House, North Shields.

I want to love it, but they have got too many things wrong.

Service is shockingly bad, they don't have anywhere enough staff for a start. Wine was chucked down on the table. I was stood waiting at the bar for 5minutes like a lemon because they didn't have enough bar staff to show us to our table.

Starters and Main courses were brilliant. Really top quality, but main courses were expensive. £16 was the cheapest I think, Halibut was £22!

Now I am more than happy to pay £22 for a halibut dish, but it really needs to be top class service, and environment. Given I had loads of lads getting drunk stood next to me, I am simply not prepared to retun at that price.

£12-£18 a main course and I would return if they sort out service issues and hire more staff. In the mean time we'll try here for our next meal out: http://www.davidkennedysrivercafe.com/about.html
 
I've just booked a table for dinner and rooms at Gidleigh Park for Friday evening for my wife's Birthday as we are planning a few days in Devon. The debit card has taken a battering but it should be lovely. I've taken a lunch there previously but plan to do the full table menu this time around. If I remember I shall take some shots to share with the salivating massive! :)

http://www.gidleigh.com/
 
Was stopping in Glasgow last night for business meetings today and I stayed at the Blythwood Square Hotel. I had a burger in their bar which is hardly A list nosh, but it was a very very good burger. Double cooked chips were nothing special, but burger was quality, nice size and lovely and tasty and probably only better by one I had in Paris some years back.
 
Pollen Street Social on Saturday evening for a joint 40th birthday meal. A little nervous as the last time we visited it was a weekday lunch, so full of loud suits on business lunches talking about how much money they're making. The service wasn't great either.

As usual, we went straight for the taster menu:

-Mushroom tea.

-English breakfast.

-Orkney sea scallop carpaccio, kohlrabi, frozen pink grapefruit, lemon skin purée, black olive & samphire.

-Roasted Atlantic halibut, gambas & onion broth, turnip, cabbage, chestnuts.

-Loin of Highland venison, honey spiced beetroots, quince purée, pickled pear.
or
-Lake District rack of lamb, braised shoulder & shank, pumpkin fregola, parmesan cabbage & apple purée.

-Beetroot and blood orange sorbet.

-Caramel popcorn & sweet corn cream.

-Caramelised apple purée, vanilla cheesecake cream, puff pastry, yuzu & apple sorbet.

-Mini ice-cream.

I'd struggling to not write about every course as they were all so good, but the highlights were:

The mushroom tea, which was gorgeous; a beautiful mushroom velouté poured over (and which then rested under) a delicate parmesan foam.
The halibut was just superb. Fantastically presented, it was cooked perfectly and accompanied by a fantastic broth and gambas tail on top.
The lamb was cooked to perfection, and was probably the best piece of lamb that I’ve had for a very long time. The shank and pumpkin fregola which was served in a side pot, was also superb.
As it was a special occasion, I’d asked that we could take our desserts at the dessert bar, and they’d very kindly set four places for us close to the kitchen. This is a great experience, being able to see the desserts being prepared, and having a chance to talk to the chefs when they have a spare second. The caramel popcorn & sweet corn cream was my favourite dessert by far. A crème anglaise made with sweetcorn, and soft caramel popcorn pieces on top, it was wonderful. I wanted more.

Thankfully, this time the service and ambiance was a lot better than our first visit. Being a Saturday evening, it was a lot less noisy than the previous visit, so conversations around the table were no problem to hear. The service was also much better. Very professional and polite, but friendly and more than happy to assist when needed. It was a different level altogether compared to our visit to Maze last month, which was shocking.

It was a lovely meal and a great overall experience which our guests thoroughly enjoyed too.
 
Was at TGI Fridays (Piccadilly). Ordered their Jack Daniels chicken strips with a BBQ smokehouse burger and a Magners berry cider. Excellent meal it was. Packed a pound probably :D

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