The next Gusto meal will be at Simurgh. The cuisine is Persian.
Simurgh
17 Garrick Street
WC2E 9BL
Estimated price per head: £40
Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).
Dinner starts at 7:30pm
Andreas B., Andy Y., Bill R., Chris D., David W., Gary T., Gilles C., Ian S., John H., John R., Mark J., Martin T., Matt S., Peter J., Ricardo B., Richard O., Robert J., Roger T., Royston G., Yves H.
Suda (Siamese Rice Bar), 23 Slingsby Place, WC2E 9AB
This in one to avoid I think. I certainly won’t be rushing back. I’m not superstitious but perhaps some people would think it untoward that we were thirteen for dinner.
The first problem I noticed was when the waitress poured a bottle of Chang beer (£3.80) down the back of my nice new shirt. The beer was certainly cold enough to sharply focus my attention.
Before ordering the beer I’d ordered a couple of bottles of Prosecco (£26 each) to gets things going and another diner had decided to splash out and order Champagne (£40). The Prosecco eventually arrived and was finished before the starters. After the Prosecco we’d moved on to Pinot Grigio and Merlot (both at £20 per bottle). The Champagne arrived with main courses which was too late and so got sent back.
Eleven of us ordered starters. Ten arrived and were duly eaten. Only after ten plates had been cleared did my ‘Tom Kha Gai’ get to the table at nine pm. The soup was lovely but perhaps I was simply ravenous having been seated waiting for food since quarter to eight.
Things did not get better for the main courses. Some cold food was sent back to the kitchen. The sticky rice was dry and hard crusted. I don’t recall the last time I ate in a restaurant that served food one plate a time, with the waitress returning to the kitchen for each dish for every diner. I’d ordered ‘Nua Panang’ which was last to be served from the kitchen and was not hot on arrival. In fairness, the Panang sauce was delicious.
Every drink that was ordered, whether beer or more wine, took forever to arrive. We decided not to stay for coffee or dessert because we were worried about how many hours that would add to the day.
They asked for £454.96 which included a 10% service charge and made no mention of my wet shirt. I declined to pay the service charge.
Guglee 7 New College Parade NW3 5EP
Actual price per head: £35
Nearest tube: Swiss Cottage (Jubilee Line and Metropolitan Line).
Plenty of food and very willing service. The house Merlot is very drinkable.
Ali H., Bill R., Brian M., Colin I., Gary T., Ian S., John H., John R., Manzar K., Martin T., Michael N., Ricardo B., Roger T., Steven V., Terry J.
Palm Court Brasserie
39 King Street
WC2E 8JS
Actual price per head: £40
Nearest tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line).
Not bad. Ham hock terrine starter was tasty. Xmas turkey main course was fine. The sea bream was a popular choice and people remarked on the freshness of the fish. The chocolate tart was way too sweet and not chocolaty enough. The brandy sauce which drowned the Xmas pudding was burnt. Those who complained were offered a replacement crème brûlée. The wine was £14.95 a bottle and the three course Xmas menu was £23.95 per head. Service from Vanessa was good so I tipped her some cash on top of the 12.5% service charge.
I cocked up the bill because I did not take into account a deposit I’d paid of £100 in advance, and hence undercharged each of the diners by a fiver so they paid £35 where it should have been £40 a head. Merry Xmas All.
Ali H., Andy Y., Cheebs S., Colin I., David H., Gary T., George F., Ian S., John B., John H., Leo H., Mark B., Martin T., Matt S., Paul G., Paul R., Peter J., Ricardo B., Roger T., Steven V.
Whits
21 Abingdon Road,
W8 6AH
Actual price per head: £45
Nearest tube: High Street Kensington (Circle Line and District Line).
I’d happily highly recommend Whits to anyone in the area. The welcome was good, so too was the food.
Some starters: The Cauliflower Potage with Four Cheese Ravioli was delicious. The Panacotta of Red Peppers with Pancetta and Parmesan Crisp was beautiful. The Smoked Duck, Duck and Foie Gras Parfait, Mimolette Cheese Tuile was an interesting presentation because the parfait looked like a ball of chocolate ice-cream with some wafer atop (the tuile).
Some mains: Whole Grilled Lemon Sole, Sprouting Broccoli Hollandaise, New Potatoes looked great. The Roast Rib of Scottish Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables was a huge plate of food and ‘Seasonal Vegetables’ seems like a completely inadequate description for the assortment of seven different vegetable concoctions on the plate (I can recall asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, parsnip, and swede but there was more). The Roast Loin of Pork, Crisp Crackling, Sage and Onion Stuffing, Apple Sauce also looked like a full plate neatly arranged.
My dessert: Hot Red Wine poached Pear Crumble, Ginger Ice Cream – The hot wine was good, the ginger ice-cream was scrummy. The crumble was a little hard.
The food was very good with extra points for the presentation. The quantities were perhaps too much. At least one of our group asked for a doggy bag for his beef.
My only quibble was that some of the food might have been served a bit hotter; the vegetables with my beef were cold very quickly and the poached pear crumble had a hot plate and hot wine but the pears were cold. Ah, almost forgot to report that the Yorkshire pudding was on the stodgy side.
The wine was not cheap. I usually prefer red to white but the house white here was very good, so much so that I only had one glass of the red before reverting to the white.
Attendees
Chris D., Colin B., David W., Fred D., George G., Ian S., John R., Martin T., Ricardo B., Richard O., Stéphane B.
O-Tower Caribbean Cuisine
60 Tower Bridge Road,
SE1 4TR
Actual price per head: £15 (including tip of £2.50). Please note that this restaurant does not accept credit cards.
Nearest tube: Borough (Northern Line).
This restaurant is a really good find; a local restaurant that really makes an effort to get it right, and they do. Great, authentic food, and completely underpriced. The hospitality offered by Sheila and Orville (front of house and chef) cannot be overstated. The restaurant is B.Y.O. and definitely deserves many repeat visits.
The most expensive starter was £3, the main courses all cost £5.50 and that includes a huge portion of rice and ‘peas’. We had loads of side dishes and doggy bags were provided.
The home made juice combinations were a refreshing surprise.
Alberto ?., Andreas B., Andrew W., Andy Y., Brian B., Brian M., Chris D., Colin B., Colin I., David W., Gary T., Gilles C., Glenvil ?., Ian S., Jeremy P., Joel R., John H., John R., Keith M., Martin T., Matt S., Ricardo B., Robert S., Roger T., Steven V.
La Forchetta
73 Upper Street,
N1 0NY
Actual price per head: £38
Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line).
Overall disappointing. Some sections of our seating area only had room for a very thin person to sit down; I don’t know why because they had so few other customers they could easily have made more room for us by moving the long table out from the wall by a couple of feet which would have made things better for all of those jammed up against the wall. We were all seated by twenty to eight but the starters did not arrive on table until almost half past.
Luckily we were not in the downstairs section which is a bit airless.
Portions sizes were good. The Antipasto Misto was very good value, the mozzarella was creamy and surprisingly tasty. The presentation of the prawn cocktail thing was so dated that you might call it retro. After the starters was another huge wait before the main courses arrived. Again portion sizes were remarked upon. Sadly a lot was not eaten because the quality did not match the quantity.
The music was too loud but they turned it down when asked.
The wine, at £13.95 a bottle, was drinkable; the white a little on the sweet side. The bill as presented to me was just under £670 so we paid £38 each. It was as I was checking how many bottles of wine we’d drunk that I remembered that we should not have been paying for a fully itemised bill but instead for a TopTable arranged package with a fixed price for three courses including half a bottle of wine each. At that point I queried the bill and was told that as only about half of us had pudding they thought itemised billing would give us a cheaper overall total than all paying for three courses. We then went through a painful process of counting and re-counting and re-counting, juggling how much wine was drunk as part of the package (9 bottles – doh!) and the rest and the coffees and the service charge though not all of the items in every count which is why the numbers kept changing. Eventually we settled on a figure, by which time almost all eighteen diners had gone, and that means I owe them all some money. To keep things complicated the restaurant staff had also lost one of the credit card receipts from one of our diners which meant they thought I was trying to leave underpaying by £38. Although this eventually got sorted I didn’t need the hassle at the end of the evening and I can’t see myself returning to La Forchetta.
Sad to note that the Edward IV pub has closed down. Less sad to note The Green has closed down too. Are there any gay bars left in Islington?
Ali H., Colin B., Colin I., David Y., Fred D., Gary T., Gilles C., Guy W., Ian S., James C., John H., Lobo C., Mark T., Martin T., Paul R., Ricardo B., Roger T., Steven V.
Chimes of Pimlico
26 Churton Street,
SW1V 2LP
Actual price per head: £37
Nearest tube: Pimlico (Victoria Line). From Pimlico Tube Station take the Tachbrook Street exit and follow Tachbrook Street to the end, turning left into Churton Street. Only 5 minutes walk.
Quite good.
Ali H., Andrew W., Barry C., Colin I., Colin S., David H., David W., Dinesh S., Fred D., James C., John R., Mark B., Mark T., Martin T., Ricardo B., Ryan C., Stephen T., Terry J.
The Gay Hussar
2 Greek Street,
W1D 4NB
Actual price per head: £35
Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).
A good night apart from a few glitches with the service. Two people were told that the pork dishes they’d ordered had run out. That can happen, but the time to tell the customers is not when everyone else at their tables have already been served with their main courses.
After I complained we received 2 free bottles of wine, bringing our total up to 25 bottles for 24 people. The house wine was £16.25 per bottle. It was a hot night, which is probably why we drank so much. We also drank 11 bottles of mineral water at £3.25 each.
The service charge was 12.5%
I especially enjoyed the Hungarian sausage starter but not so much the Hungarian Summer Pudding which was just a plate of jam.
After dinner we decided to go to a bar to drink some more. First we went to the Ku Bar on Frith Steet; they wouldn’t let us in. Gary, the manager, later explained: “The policy in place currently means that anyone approaching the bar after 10.45pm is told that we are closed. That policy as of today is changed to …. anyone approaching the doors B4 11pm is allowed entry but told that we are closing at 11pm. I am glad that this was raised and that I have now changed the policy. I apologise for any upset caused. I do hope that you and you friends remain customers of Ku. Please feel free to approach and discuss further with me in person at any time.”
Then we went to Circa also on Frith Steet; they wouldn’t let us in either. They gave an excuse which seemed unlikely. The only reason we could come up with was that a few of us were over 50. I think that this apparent ageism is a disgrace. This is a venue that I’ll be boycotting from now on. Kudos to Roy for doing the right thing.
Alberto L., Andrew W., Andy Y., David H., Gary T., Ian S., Jamie M., Jeremy P., John H., John R., Mark J., Mark T., Martin T., Matt A., Matt S., Michael D., Michael N., Nicholas T., Ricardo B., Richard O., Richard S., Roger T., Roy C., Steven V.
Wednesday 6th July, 2011
The Draft House
206 Tower Bridge Road,
SE1 2UP
Actual price per head: £27 (reduced after an original incorrect bill for £30)
Nearest tube: London Bridge (Jubilee Line and Northern Line).
Slow service, great meal, excellent value. We were overcharged however. The original bill claimed that 18 * £12.75 = £283.50 which meant I had to go back the following day to sort it out. Pity, because it was a good meal.
Andy Y., Chris S., Colin B., Gary T., Ian S., Jeremy P., John B., John H., John R., Jose F., Martin T., Matt S., Michael B., Michael D., Peter J., Ricardo B., Richard O., Roger T.