Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Reviews and Food Musings

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Fed up with celebrity chefs drizzling sauces over undercooked pieces of meat? I am!

I regularly dine out and am happy to share my restaurant experiences, and musings on food with you.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Organic Food No Better For You

Organic Food No Better For You

Despite sky high prices, and the perception by the gullible that it is better for you, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has stated that organic food is no more healthy and provides no significant nutritional benefit compared with conventionally produced food.

Needless to say, those organisations that make a nice living out of selling overpriced organic food dispute the findings.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Croydon Park Hotel

Croydon Park Hotel

Full marks to the Croydon Park Hotel for mixing the best Mojito I have had in long time, and for a most excellent lunch of roast pork carved on the trolley.

Keep it up!

Though, given that it is still July, I do consider that the animated 1 foot high Santa Claus in the entrance lobby to be a tad early!

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Hanover Pub (Brighton)

The Hanover Pub (Brighton)

Eva and I tried out the Hanover pub yesterday for Sunday lunch. Sadly it was rather disappointing.

The starters (leek and potato soup and chili on nachos) were very good.

However, the roast beef took 1.5 hours to arrive from the time when we placed our order at 1PM.

Additionally, the beef was somewhat tasteless and overcooked, neither was it particularly tender.

It is unlikely we will return, as there are many other pubs in the Hanover area that serve Sunday lunch.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Sofia's Italian Restaurant (Brighton)

Sofia's Italian Restaurant (Brighton)

Sofia's Italian Restaurant, 24 Ship Street, Brighton, rather let themselves down last night.

They had run out of brandy, aside from this failure in restocking depriving me of my post meal quaffing it also buggered up my main course.

They failed to point out that my steak (allegedly cooked in a brandy and cream sauce) would be bereft of one of the key ingredients (ie the brandy).

Unsurprisingly the sauce was bland, the reason becoming clear only after I passed comment on it.

Why didn't someone just go out and buy another bottle?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Cobblers!

Cobblers!

The Times warns that some less than honest fish and chip shops are passing off Vietnamese Cobblers (a flaky variety of Catfish) as Cod.

The Cobbler is less than half the price of Cod, so a dishonest chippie can make a very nice margin on falsely labelled fish.

You have been warned!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Pre Boiled Eggs

Pre Boiled Eggs

The Times reports that a pre hard boiled egg will soon be available in Asda and Waitrose.

Each egg will cost a staggering 45p!

What a complete rip off, in the same category as bottled water!

Only a fool would waste 45p on a pre boiled egg.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

The Terraces

Restaurant

The Terraces Bar and Grill
Madeira Drive
Brighton
BN2 1PS

Phone: 01273 545 250

Website www.the-terraces.co.uk

Overview

Eva and I decided to treat ourselves to an alfresco lunch on the seafront last week, and chose The Terraces.

The Terraces is an art deco bar and grill that serves Mediterranean and British food.

Ambience

The Terraces is a glass fronted two storey art deco rotund bar and grill, facing the seafront.

The decoration is modern, minimalist and cheerful, with an open fire inside for the winter, and decking outside for dining and drinking alfresco in the summer months.

We dined outside facing the sea, superb weather and superb views!

Menu

The Terraces offers a selection of Mediterranean and British dishes; eg bruschetta, fishcakes, Chorizo on sweet potato, Mezze, steak, pasta and fish and chips. On Sundays they also offer traditional roasts.

Service

The service was very friendly, cheerful and efficient. Nothing was too much trouble, and the jug of Pimms prepared by the staff was by far the best (wrt generosity of fresh fruit etc) that I have had when dining out.

Food

I opted for the rib eye steak, eschewing the pepper sauce for two fried eggs instead.

The steak was a decent piece of meat (cooked medium rare), and was tender and succulent. Ideally complemented by my two eggs and fries.

Eva opted for the rope grown mussels in white wine sauce. These were superb, and were served in an amusing large earthenware pot that resembled a flower pot.

A great lunch!

The bill (including a jug of Pimms, a pint and two Irish coffees) came to around £60.

Overall Opinion

We really enjoyed the lunch and liked The Terraces very much. I guarantee that we will return.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Ramsay On The Rocks

Ramsay On The Rocks

The accounts for Gordon Ramsay Holdings, for the year to August 2008, show a fall in pre-tax profits from £3M to £383K (a fall of 87%), and a fall in turnover of £6M to £35.6M.

The loan owed to RBS has quadrupled from £2M to £8M, despite a cash injection of £5M during the year.