Moratti

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The next Gusto meal will be at Moratti on Wednesday 6 June at 7:30pm. The cuisine is Italian.

Moratti
80 Albert Embankment
SE1 7TP

Estimated price per head: £41

Nearest tube: Vauxhall (Victoria Line). If you haven’t been before then you may be surprised at how quickly you can get to Vauxhall.

Moratti Journey Planner

Remarks

Dinner starts at 7:30 pm.

Reservations

Ali H., Andrew M., Andrew W., Colin I., David W., Ian B., Ian S., Jason N., Jeremy P., John R., Keith B., Neil M., Nick B., Oscar C., Peter J., Peter W., Richard A., Steven V.

Naga

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Naga
2 Abingdon Road

W8 6AF

Actual price per head: £40

Nearest tube: High Street Kensington (Circle Line and District Line).

Remarks

The food at Naga, 2 Abingdon Road, really was excellent.The beef with scallions main course was fantastic, as too was the Chinese broccoli with ginger that I had on the side.  Even the spring rolls were something special. However, the service almost had me in tears of either laughter or frustration because it was so bad. Still, the food was very good and the final bill was less than I expected given how much wine we’d drunk.
After dinner five of us stopped in a local pub for a few drinks.

Attendees

Ahmed K., Ali H., Andy Y., Colin I., David C., Glenville F., Ian S., Jeremy P., John R., Mark B., Mark J, Matt S., Richard A., Robert J., Roy C., Steven V., Warwick B.

Boulevard Brasserie

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Boulevard Brasserie at one pm on Sunday 15th April, 2012. The  cuisine: Sunday Roast.

Boulevard Brasserie
40 Wellington Street
WC2E 7BD

Actual price per head: £35

Nearest tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line).

Remarks

Not a bad lunch but the waiter, although pretty, was somewhat dopey. The chocolate tart was very good.

Reservations

Chris L., David W., George G., Gilles C., Ian S., John R., Scott S.

Fora

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Fora
11 Circus Road
NW8 6NX

Actual price per head: £40

Nearest tube: St John’s Wood (Jubilee Line).

Remarks

I enjoyed my Ottoman Feast; a good selection of fresh meze starters and a tasty main course. I liked the chili nut/veg side dish especially. This is a good restaurant for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. The waiter who started us off was attentive, charming, and handsome – always a good combination. All in all, I’d happily go back to this Turkish restaurant in sunny St John’s Wood.

Attendees

Ali H., Colin I., Donal M., Ian S., Jeremy P., John H., Peter J., Richard O., Steven V., Terry J.

The Forge

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The Forge at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 7th March, 2012. The  cuisine: Modern European.

The Forge (entrance is on Floral Street)
14 Garrick Street
WC2E 9BJ

Actual price per head: £42

Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).

Remarks

Thanks to Gilles C. who attempted to negotiate a better deal with The Forge. The Forge was intransigent.

We ended up with the package of three courses and a glass of wine for £29.50.

The prior arrangement had been for house wine at £16 per bottle, but the restaurant actually charged us £16.50 per bottle. Perhaps I misunderstood the arrangement. In any case we only had 6 bottles on top of the glass included in the deal.

Braised cabbage was £3.50, Spinach was £4.75, Gratin Dauphinois was £3.75, Steamed Broccolli was £4, as were French Beans.

Latte at £2.75, ditto Cappucino, Decaf, Filter, Tea. and double Espresso.

I’m going back tomorrow to argue about 1 diet cola at £16.50. It’s an error but still puts me to the inconvenience of sorting it out which makes me grumpy.

Service charge was 12.5% and service was good. Any delays were my fault as I held back early on to give latecomers time to arrive. This impacts on the early arrivals but I’m not sure if there’s a better way to handle this.

There were a good number of new faces and I hope they enjoyed the evening.

The Forge is a good restaurant; extremely competent. Best value on a Sunday or Monday evening when they offer three courses and half a bottle of wine for £20.12

Afterwards I went for a few drinks with Bill, so now I’m merry, typing away in the middle of the night.

Ali commented that the vegetarian dish was a little bitter, though his dessert was very good.

Attendees

Ali H., Andy Y., Bill R., Colin I., Daniel R., David H., David W., Donal M., Gary T., Ian S., Jack L., Jeremy P., John H., John R., Kevin C., Mark B., Mark J., Martin T., Matt S., Philip S., Ricardo B., Richard J., Tim A.

Simurgh

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Simurgh
17 Garrick Street
WC2E 9BL

Actual price per head: £38

Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).

Remarks

Interesting food.

Attendees

Andreas B., Andy Y., Bala T., Bill R., Chris D., Chris S., 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

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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 get 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

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Guglee 7 New College Parade NW3 5EP

Actual price per head: £35

Nearest tube: Swiss Cottage (Jubilee Line and Metropolitan Line).

Remarks

Plenty of food and very willing service. The house Merlot is very drinkable.

Attendees

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

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Palm Court Brasserie
39 King Street
WC2E 8JS

Actual price per head: £40

Nearest tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line).

Remarks

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.

Attendees

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

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Whits
21 Abingdon Road,
W8 6AH

Actual price per head: £45

Nearest tube: High Street Kensington (Circle Line and District Line).

Remarks

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.