What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

La Bandera was a nice place, a little small but made to feel bigger by the judicious use of light colours and wall mirrors.

The service was perfectly-pitched throughout but it was very quiet when were there.

I had a Savannah Sunset aperitivo, Whitley Neil gin with fever tree tonic, angosturas bitters, orange segments, and juniper berries. It was delish and really got the juices flowing.

We decided on sharing plates of Tapas y Pintxos. Each one was fantastic and authentic. We had:

Sweet red peppers stuffed with pulled pork on garlic toast
Garlic and chilli prawn
Twice-cooked Galician octopus with smoked paorika mash
Calamari with aioli
Seasonal veg plate
Steak, serrano ham, and potatoes with rojo sauce
Braised pig cheek with sherry sauce

The servings were small, as is the way with tapas and pintxos. The dishes were seasoned perfectly and often had some purple rock salt at the side for those who like extra salt. This is the way to plz all tastes. Everything was on the money. I finished with a coffee and a brandy.

I left feeling neither hungry nor overstuffed. The bill was steep, I can imagine some will say it is overpriced. In my view it isn't, you pay for authenticity of the dishes and the quality of the food and service. Highly recommended, particularly for lovers of Spanish food who don't mind splashing out a bit.
 
Anyone been to The Ivy? Almost 5,000 tripadvisor reviews with overall score of 5. I know it's well known and presumably always busy, hoping to take a friend there for a celebratory dinner but problem is will not know which day until a few days in advance so probably a slim chance of getting a reservation as it is!
 
Somewhat inspired by 'The Trip' we visited http://www.innatwhitewell.com for a spot of lunch yesterday.

I had the pate followed by the fish pie and the missus had potted crab followed by sea bass. We shared a sticky toffee pudding which was the absolute star of the show.

Lovely place, very reasonably priced and some of the best surroundings and views anywhere. The only really annoying thing is you can't book bar tables for lunch and they have no sort of 'front of house' person to organise those waiting for tables so it's a bit of a free for all. We managed to get a table in the dining room area which was much more pleasant than the main bar area to be honest.
 
Last night I ate at Bird in Shoreditch. I'm a greedy sod and was starving so I had a large chicken skillet (2 drumsticks, 2 boneless thighs & 4 wings) plus 5 boneless tenders. I also had blue cheese sauce & lime and wasabi mayo.

The chicken was exellent, really well seasoned with a crunchy coating and juicy chicken. The blue cheese sauce was a bit light on blue cheese flavour. The mayo was disappointing, there was minimal at most taste of wasabi or lime.

I also had a doughnut which I barely touched. It was so dry!

All in though I was fairly happy so I'd go back there.

This morning I had breakfast at Hawksmoor which was fantastic. I had eggs benedict and a sausage and egg HcMuffin. The eggs benedict was possibly the best I've had. Thick slices of ham and very rich hollandaise. Yum. The HkMuffin was very nice but personally I prefer the Macdonalds version. The Hawksmoor version didn't seem quite right as it had proper cheese, nicely fried eggs with runny yolk and a good sausage patty.
 
the-evaluator said:
Last night I ate at Bird in Shoreditch. I'm a greedy sod and was starving so I had a large chicken skillet (2 drumsticks, 2 boneless thighs & 4 wings) plus 5 boneless tenders. I also had blue cheese sauce & lime and wasabi mayo.

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Funnily enough this is on my list of places to visit despite being a veggie. Their veg burgers look so good!

I visited Le Bab in Kingly Court the other day. I like their ethos of making everything from scratch and sourcing local ingredients. But me for the notion of 'kebab' is synonymous with indulgence and being full. I left hungry after being relieved of 15 quid for very small paneer wrap and chips. The service could do with some improvement also. Were seated with no menus and had to call someone for them.

I have Hakkasan booked for next month so will report back on that.
 
Went to Big Easy in Covent Garden last week.
Open and noisy like a TGI Friday, shody service but decent BBQ food. Went for the Taste-O-Rama, which was Pit-Smoked Bar.B.Q Chicken (nice), Dry-Rubbed
St Louis Pork Ribs (very good), Carolina Pulled Pork (very good) and Texas Brisket (decent - a little dry but tasty). £24 for that which I though was good value as it was a fair amount of meat. It was a free meal so I'm not complaining, better meat than Bodeans but I'd rather go to Pit Que.
 
Went to a couple in Brick Lane over weekend, Monsoon and Standard Balti, both OK but nothing special and very expensive for curry houses
 
Over the last few years Brick Lane has really changed. You used to be able to go anywhere there and get a good curry for a low price but it's pretty much the opposite now. The last couple of times the food has been pretty bad and quite expensive. I don't go to Brick Lane any more.
 
As a location for great curry, you can't go wrong with Tooting, South London. A great selection of restaurants serving South Indian (and Sri Lankan and Pakistani) cuisine. Awesome.
 
the-evaluator said:
Over the last few years Brick Lane has really changed. You used to be able to go anywhere there and get a good curry for a low price but it's pretty much the opposite now. The last couple of times the food has been pretty bad and quite expensive. I don't go to Brick Lane any more.
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yep I was expecting a lot better and double the prices I pay back home
 
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