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
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.

Wednesday 1^th September, 2010

8 Horner Square, Old Spitalfield Market,
E1 6EW

Actual price per head: £39

Nearest tube: Shoreditch (East London Line) or Liverpool Street (Central Line, Circle Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Metropolitan Line).

Remarks

This was a BYO evening, so the actual price covers food and service (12.5 %) only; we provided our own wine. The food did not really justify such high pricing. The menu had many strange wrong spellings of French words. There was a complaint from one of the diners about the quality of the meat in a Steak Frites and the management removed the cost of the Steak Frites from our bill. Even so, note the overall high price. The evening worked anyway; the Gusto crowd had a good time. I’m not sure the Hungarian waiter did.
Charging an extra £1.50 for a sauce on a £32 steak is a rip off!

Attendees

Ali H., Anthony F., Bill R., Brian M., Colin I., Gilles C., Ian S., Jeremy P., John H., John H. (2), Mark J., Mark T., Martin H., Martin T., Michael N., Paul R., Peter J., Royston G., Scott T., Steven V.

Wednesday 4^th November, 2009

140 Newington Butts,
SE11 4RN

Actual price per head: £39

Nearest tube: Kennington (Northern Line).

Remarks

Good meal in a nice restaurant. Very French. Happy to recommend it, especially the lamb.

Attendees

Ali H., Andy Y., Brian M., Colin I., Ian S., Gerard B., Keith B., Laurence S., Matt S., Paul R., Peter J., Phil W., Richard U., Rob W., Steven V.

Wednesday 8^th January, 2003

Waldorf Hotel,
Aldwych,
WC2B 4DD

Actual price per head: £35

Nearest tube: Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line) or Temple (Circle Line, District Line).

Remarks

A very pleasant venue with plenty of room for those dining. When the staff complete their training I’m sure that they’ll be fine.

Attendees

Adrian S., David E., David L., Doug R., Everett B., Ian S., Jeremy P., John H., Karl, Keith M., Richard G., Richard W., Robert J., Trevor