Tinto Taperia - A Spanish Gem In The Heart of Brighton

 

Kudos and thanks to the good people of: 

 
Tinto Taperia
7 New Road
Brighton
BN1 1UF

01273 727766 

Three of us went for dinner there last night, and had an excellent evening. The food was sumptuous, tasty and freshly prepared on the premises. The service was professional, friendly and welcoming.

Tinto Taperia is our favourite Tapas and Paella restaurant in Brighton, and is well worth a visit. We will most certainly be returning!

Toreros Tapas Restaurant & Bar - Eastbourne

 

Those of you looking for good quality, authentic tapas in Eastbourne should visit:

Toreros Tapas Restaurant & Bar 

193 Terminus road

Eastbourne 

BN21 3DH 

01323 351475

It has over 60 dishes, including paella; and a good selection of Spanish wines.

We thoroughly enjoyed the dishes we chose, I was particularly impressed with the tortilla which had a nice peppery twang to it. 

The welcome was warm and the service was very friendly and efficient, and we were even allowed to borrow an umbrella at the end of the meal to get back to our hotel as it was tipping down (we duly returned it the next morning).

The Greys

The Greys (105 Southover Street, Brighton) has had something of a torrid time over the last two years, with numerous changes of landlord and even more changes of chefs and types of cuisines.

However, Chris and Ben have now taken over the pub and promise that this is for the long term. Chris is now chef in residence, and offers tapas/meze style dishes (at £2.90 each or £9.90 for four) during the week and on Saturday. However, on Sunday there are a selection of roasts on offer.

Eva and I went there last night and sampled eight of the dishes (including meatballs, sliced meats, prawns and potatoes in olive oil) from the menu above. They were all great, good flavour, well presented and sufficiently filling.

However, I would make two modest requests:

1 Please add Padrón peppers and a tortilla to the menu.

2 Bread needs to be served with the sliced meat dishes.

All in all we very much enjoyed the food, and wish Ben and Chris every success in The Greys.

Chef Rich Moves To The Dover Castle

Fans, such as myself, of Chef Rich's cooking (especially his chili) will be pleased to know that having left The Pub With No Name he is now in residence at The Dover Castle.

Bodega D Tapa

Restaurant

Bodega D Tapa
111 Church Street
Brighton

Phone 01273 674 116

Overview

Eva, myself and a friend dined at Bodega D Tapa last night, a regular haunt of ours when we have a hankering for some good quality Tapas.

Bodega D Tapa is a small wine-cum-grocery store and Tapas bar, which seats (at a guess) about 15 people inside and another 15 or so outside in the courtyard.

Ambience

Bodega D Tapa is intimate and rustic, small wooden tables and wobbly wooden benches add to its charm.

Given the size of the place you will be hard pressed to find a table on a busy Friday or Saturday. However, an option that we use is to pop in and ask for one to be kept for us in say 30 minutes, whilst we have a drink in the Waggon and Horses next door.

Menu

The menu offers a variety of Tapas including; pate, Spanish omelette, anchovies on bread, chorizo, chorizo casserole, a selection of Iberian meats (served on a wooden paddle) and fabada.

Service

The service is always enthusiastic and friendly. One person looks after the entire operation wrt service of food and drink, in a relaxed yet professional manner.

Food

We took a large number of dishes to share, which were all delightful. My particular favourites being the omelette and the fabada.

The meal, which included two bottles of wine and brandy coffees came in at well under £40.

Overall Opinion

A splendid establishment, which we are happy to frequent on a regular basis.

Sedna

Sedna
Paseo Colon 5
Barcelona
Spain

Phone 93 268 9372

Website www.restaurantesedna.com

Overview

As noted earlier, Eva and I spent our summer vacation in Barcelona this year. Here is another place that we dined in during our time there in July.

We were ambling around late one evening and came across Sedna, which afforded us the opportunity to eat outside.

Restaurante Sedna is located on the ground floor of an 18th century building, that has been catalogued by UNESCO as Gothic Catalan art heritage. It is in front of Port Vell (Old Port) in the oldest part of the Barcelona sea facade, and is surrounded by monuments and historical buildings eg; the Colon's Monument (1888), the Church of La Merced (XII centure), the Duke of Medinaceli Place (1851), the Militar Government (1847), the Post Office Building (1927), the Via Layetana Street and the Palau Place.

It is, according to the restaurant website, the place where Don Miguel de Cervantes author of the novel Don Quijote de la Mancha went to write when he lived in Paseo Colon.

Sedna has both inside dining, for 45 persons, and outside dining for 52 persons in the terrace.

Ambience

Sedna was lively and busy, both in the terrace and inside, even though it was quite late (around 23:00).

The atmosphere was friendly, the terrace comfortable, pleasant and the tables laid with linen clothes.

Despite the fact that it was quite late, and that it was busy, there was no problem in finding a table and ordering a meal at a leisurely unhurried pace.

Menu

The menu offered a variety of Spanish dishes ranging from Tapas to main courses of meat, fish and paella. I would note that in contrast to some of the other restaurants that we visited the food, although Spanish, had been given more of an "international" twist in its presentation/style (ie more attention to presentation, and slightly less hearty than some other establishments).

The menu included such dishes as; goat's milk cheese & lettuce salad with honey and pine nuts vinaigrette, salad of mozarella bufala and pesto with tomatoes and small lettuces, Iberico cured ham, Magret of duck roasted with apples and Calvados, entrecote with small vegetables, ham croquettes, mussels vinaigrette style and grilled small blood sausages with onions etc.

Service

The service was very friendly, attentive and efficient; I could not fault it. Our waiter was happy to have chat with us about Barcelona and the food.

Food

I started with the Gazpacho soup, which was refreshing and piquant.

I chose the lamb for my main course. This consisted of four lamb cutlets served with vegetables and potatoes. The lamb was perfect, tender and succulent cooked just right. However, since I had been spoilt on my holiday, and had enjoyed some rather hearty portions of meat in other establishments, I couldn't help but feel that another couple of cutlets would have been in order. That, of course, is just me being greedy!

Eva opted for a selection of Tapas dishes that evening; croquettes, hams, chorizos and cheese. All of which were of good quality and fresh.

The meal, including a bottle of Vinasol, came to 91Euros.

Overall Opinion

Sedna is a good quality restaurant, located in a nice part of town. It is worth a visit should you happen to be in the area.

El Cafe D'en Victor

Restaurant El Cafe D'en Victor
Tapineria 12
Barcelona
Spain

Phone 93 310 2872

Overview

One particularly fine and warm evening in Barcelona Eva and I decided to dine alfresco, and descended upon El Cafe D'en Victor.

El Cafe D'en Victor is a restaurant with outside terrace, near the old town.

El Cafe D'en Victor serves a mixture of traditional Spanish dishes and Tapas, using local ingredients.

Ambience

El Cafe D'en Victor is a pleasant lively restaurant near the old town. The outside area, where we sat, was busy but we were able to find a table that afforded us a decent view without being "plonked" in the middle of the passing tourists or wandering musicians.

Menu

The menu provided a good selection of Spanish dishes ranging from Tapas to main courses of meat, fish and paella.

Service

The service was very friendly, good humoured, efficient and courteous.

Food

I started with the Gazpacho soup. This was a most excellent dish, chilled to perfection, it was generous in portion and in body. The taste of tomatoes was stimulating but not overbearing.

Eva started with a tortilla potatas (potato omelet), which was firm and well stuffed with potato. The taste and texture was just right.

We accompanied our starters with bread rubbed with tomatoes, garlic and drizzled in olive oil.

We both chose paella for our main courses. I had the chicken paella and Eva the fish.

My paella was absolutely first class, a very generous portion served in an iron paella pan. There was a more than ample portion of tender chicken pieces in the rice, which itself was cooked in chicken stock and was unctuous and delightfully claggy.

I was thoroughly delighted with my choice.

Eva's seafood paella was equally good, again served in an iron paella pan. The rice had been cooked in a seafood stock that was flavoursome, but not overpowering. The paella itself contained a variety of fish; prawns, squid, mussels etc.

An excellent meal!

The meal, which included a bottle of local wine, came to 68Euros.

Overall Opinion

A very pleasant meal and restaurant, it is ideal for lunch or dinner alfresco.

Ramsay May Float

Ramsay May Float

Gordon Ramsay is reportedly considering floating his restaurant empire on the London Stock Exchange, in order to obtain funding to market Maze internationally.

Maze is a tapas style restaurant in Mayfair, London, which Ramsay wants to turn into an international chain.

Ramsay is quoted as saying:

"We'd be very stupid not to think about it. The level of interest we got on the back of publishing our accounts last year was phenomenal, so of course I'm interested in the idea of floating."

Gordon Ramsay Holdings consists of eight restaurants in London, and earned profits in 2004 of approximately £4M.

Ramsay made it clear that he won't give up control of his group, in order to ensure that standards are maintained.

Restaurant

Bistro Mania
28 South End
Croydon

Phone:- 0208 688 3839

Website www.bistromaniacroydon.co.uk

Overview

It was an unseasonably wet August evening in Croydon. Eva and I were in the pub, and did not fancy wandering around too far to find a place to eat; so we dashed to the nearby Bistro Mania.

A continental café and restaurant, with live music.

Ambience

Bistro Mania was a small restaurant; cheerfully decorated with white walls, pine floors and a yellow ceiling with rotating fans.

The green clothed tables were decorated with fresh flowers, and the walls with paintings and a small alcove housing a large plant.

The live music on offer was a robust one-man act, harking back to the 1960’s and 70’s. I suspect that it appealed to a certain generation, who enjoy listening to songs such as “My way” being belted out.

Although the restaurant was not very busy, the atmosphere was jolly.

Menu

The menu was an eclectic mixture of Tapas, Italian and French.

Service

The staff were friendly and efficient. We were offered a bowl of excellent garlic olives to munch on, whilst we perused the menu.

Food

I chose the potato tortilla to start with. This was a good sized omelette, which had been freshly cooked, containing potato and onion. It was very pleasant, and a good start to the meal.

I then opted for the lamb cutlets in rich red wine and herb sauce for my main course. Although the three cutlets were tender, and properly cooked, I felt that they were a somewhat miniscule size. I could have eaten six of that size, easily; that being said, maybe I am just too greedy!

The sauce was full bodied and pleasant, not overpowering.

The dish came with sauté potatoes and vegetables, which were agreeable; but nothing special.

Eva started with tiger prawns in a tomato and garlic sauce. Both the prawns and the sauce had an excellent flavour.

However, the prawns were served in their shells in the hot sauce. This made them very difficult and messy to eat.

Eva then opted for the veal in a white wine and sage sauce for her main course. The veal was cut thin, and served with ham and a very fresh piquant white wine sauce with fresh sage. It was a well made and presented dish.

The meal, which included a bottle of Pinot Grigio and liqueurs, came to £57 before service.

Overall Opinion

If you like live music, then pop along; it’s a laugh.

Restaurant

Ozer
5 Langham Place
London

Phone:- 0207 323 0505

Website www.sofra.co.uk

Overview

Eva has spent time working with Turkish immigrants in Sweden, and has picked up a taste for Turkish cuisine.

We therefore decided to check out Ozer, one of London’s top Turkish restaurants, on Friday.

Ozer is a lively, bright and stimulating Turkish restaurant near Oxford Circus. It is open 7 days a week, 10:00am to midnight.

Ambience

Ozer consists of a large bar where you can sit and just have a drink, or have a bite to eat as well from an extensive menu of bar snacks (akin to having tapas).

Ozer was absolutely packed with people; the buzz and atmosphere rather resembling some of the New York restaurants we have dined in.

We were warmly greeted, and although we had not booked and it was busy, we were asked to have a drink at the bar and told that a table would be ready for us in 10 minutes. They were as good as their word!

The décor was chic and modern, there were no “Hubble bubble” pipes or rugs anywhere. The walls of Ozer on one side were white marble, whilst on the other side they were red marble. The lighting was a combination of discrete lights, and an ornate central spiral light fitting; recessed into the ceiling.

The tables were laid with linen cloths and napkins, decorated with a bowl containing a red rose floating in water. Additionally, placed on each table, was a small sign that promised starters would be served in 5 minutes; if this did not happen you were invited to phone the owner, David Ozer, who helpfully displayed his phone number on the sign. There’s a brave man!

The table also had bowls of freshly prepared humus, olives and warmed flat bread. All of which were alarmingly tempting and tasty.

Menu

The menu was extensive, offering an effusion of hot and cold meze, steaks, chicken, lamb and fish dishes.

Service

There was an army of black shirted waiting staff on duty to cater to everyone’s whim. Despite the fact that Ozer was full, the service was very efficient, prompt and friendly.

Even though they had worked a long day, there was no attempt by the staff to rush us out despite the fact that we stayed long past the midnight closing time.

Food

Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be having the mixed meze as a starter. Following the principle “when in Rome” we followed suit.

We were not disappointed. We were each served nine “tastes” of Turkey on a glass plate. These included cheese, bulgur, meatballs, squid and chicken.

With the exception of the cheese, which in consistency resembled a pencil rubber, these were delightful; and afforded us an excellent way to sample a range of the cuisine on offer.

I chose the mixed grill (known as Vincent’s Style) for my main course. This was not the usual burnt, tough offerings so readily served by other establishments. Rather this was a medley of gently cooked, flavoursome 3 inch cuts of meat including; chicken, lamb, steak and meatballs.

The meat, and I make no exaggeration, was as tender and as tasty as I have ever eaten in a restaurant; or indeed cooked myself at home. Absolutely superb.

The dish was accompanied by a bowl of rice, which pleasantly complimented it. Those preferring more traditional accompaniments could opt for French fries.

Eva chose purely kebab, stewed lamb in a tomato based sauce, for her main course. This was served on a bed of mashed potatoes, and tasted (in our view) unctuous.

I chose the baklava for my desert. This was a perfect combination of sweetness and pistachio nuts, complimented by a scoop of ice cream. Fantastic!

The meal, which included a good bottle of Chablis, cocktails and numerous liqueurs, came to £118 including service.

Overall Opinion

A splendid establishment, make sure you go there; we will definitely be back again.

Restaurant

Galicia
269 High St
Croydon

Phone:- 0208 686 0043

Overview

It was one of the hotter evenings of the year (31 degrees), and an old chum of mine from university was paying a social call.

Duly fortified with Pimms; we strolled into central Croydon for a meal at Galicia, a Spanish restaurant.

Ambience

Galicia is a large, bright, cheerful and lively tapas bar and family friendly Spanish restaurant; it is always busy.

The walls and floors are tiled, giving it an unfussy appearance; but the tiles reflect, rather than absorb, sound making it seem quite noisy. Particularly welcome on a hot day is the air conditioning; set, I am pleased to say, at a sensible level (ie not New York arctic!).

The tapas bar accommodates a large number of people on the neatly arranged wooden tables and chairs. The restaurant is equally spacious, with the tables being laid with white and blue linen.

Menu

Galicia offers an excellent selection of dishes and tapas including; fabada, king prawns, kidneys in cream, veal, paella and Dover sole.

Service

The restaurant is “stuffed to the gunnels” with staff, it gets very busy and so do the staff. All of whom are friendly, cheerful and efficient. We had not booked, but a table in the restaurant was quickly set up for us without any fuss.

Food

I chose the fabada (beans, Chorizo and pork) for my starter. Piquant and tasty, a fine way to start the meal.

I had the chicken breast in a cream and mushroom sauce for my main course. The chicken was succulent, and was complemented by the sauce; which did not overpower it.

David kicked off with a very generous portion of prawns, served with a fan tailed cut avocado and salad.

He chose the lamb cutlets for his main course; these were plump and succulent, and were served with a sauce boat of creamy garlic sauce.

Our main courses were accompanied by a very generous silver platter of sauté potatoes, battered courgettes and haricot vert.

The meal, which included; cocktails, a bottle of Chardonnay and brandy, came to £60 including service.

Overall Opinion

A great place to go for good food, a lively atmosphere and value for money.

Restaurant

Andalucia
Döbelnsgatan 79
Stockholm
Sweden

Phone:- 08 15 6660

Website www.andalucia.se

Overview

Eva and I went to Andalucia, a Spanish restaurant in Stockholm, for Valentine’s day.

Ambience

Andalucia is a warm, friendly family run restaurant. It has brick faced interior walls and a polished wooden floor; which gives a Spanish feel to the restaurant, no mean feat given the heavy snowfall on the streets outside.

Menu

The menu has a large variety of dishes. Traditional tapas, such as fried goats cheese and stuffed artichoke. Appetisers, such as Spanish air dried ham, sizzled king prawns and main courses such as chicken in honey and paella.

Service

The service was friendly and very prompt. The owner took the time to talk to the diners during the evening; making them feel welcome.

Indeed, when one of the other diners (for reasons that escaped me) threw a wine glass across the room hitting another diner, then running out of the restaurant and down the street; the staff were very calm. They arranged some first aid for the hapless victim, and ensured that the police who arrived a few minutes later were properly briefed. Splendid entertainment! I don’t think that happens every night.

Food

I started with the Spanish potato omelette, which was a nice size and an ideal starter.

I chose the tournedos steak in brandy and rose pepper sauce for my main course. I was very pleased with this, the meat was very tender and cooked rare as requested. The sauce was very piquant and flavoursome. The dish was accompanied by a large bowl of potatoes gratin.

Eva had three different tapas dishes for her meal; paella with prawns, scallops in white wine and skewered chicken with chipped potatoes. She enjoyed all three. However, the chipped potatoes were a little undercooked.

We finished with brandy and coffee.

The meal, which included a bottle of Chardonnay, came to around 1500SEK.

Overall Opinion

In my opinion, this is worth a visit if you are passing through Stockholm.

Restaurant

La Rueda
102 Wigmore Street
London
W1U 3RL

Phone:- 0207 486 1718

Overview

La Rueda is a Spanish restaurant, situated just a few minutes walk from Selfridges. It comprises a wine bar, tapas bar and Spanish restaurant on the ground floor.

Eva and I visited it on Thursday, having spent the day shopping on Oxford Street. The summary of our evening is set out below.

Ambience

The restaurant is divided into two distinct “zones”. The front part comprises the wine and tapas bar, the back part comprises the restaurant. Both parts are quite large and offer seating for a good number of people, being the West End both the tapas bar and restaurant rapidly filled up during the course of the evening.

When we arrived, at about 6:30PM, we had initially only intended to come in for a bottle of wine. Therefore, we sat at the bar situated on the right hand side of the tapas bar. The bar had sufficient stools, and space, to accommodate around 6-8 people; there were bowls of olives placed at intervals on the counter.

Menus for tapas were readily to hand, and it was possible to have the tapas at the bar or sitting at a table. The atmosphere was friendly and sociable; consequently we decided to stay for dinner. I asked if it would be possible to book a table for 7:30PM, no problem. Had we come later we would have had to wait, as the place was packed by 9:00PM.

The décor to the tapas bar had rustic Spanish feel with an emphasis on wood, the ceiling was lined with rows and rows of wine bottles. This contrasted to the light yellow walls and tiled floor of the restaurant.

Whilst the tables in the tapas bar were not covered, the restaurant tables were more formally laid with white tablecloths and yellow napkins. Our table was ready for us at 7:30PM, with butter and bread rolls already in position.

The main lighting to the restaurant was provided by lights set on wagon wheels suspended from the ceiling. The wall lights were shaded by upturned wicker baskets.

The restaurant was airy and had a family atmosphere, very Mediterranean!

The restaurant is very well staffed, given how busy it became, it needed to be. We were greeted in a professional and friendly manner.

Menu

The menu offered an extensive selection of Spanish cuisine, including; three different types of paella, lamb, veal, kidneys, chicken in garlic, stuffed poussin, frogs legs and numerous fish dishes. The tapas menu, by the way, was also very large and included; omelette, chicken, chopped liver, potatoes and prawns. I asked if I could have a tapas dish for a starter and our waiter was happy to oblige.

Service

The service is friendly, efficient and prompt. As soon as we were seated we were offered our menus, and our orders swiftly taken. The busy atmosphere of the restaurant does not afford the staff time to engage in idle banter with the customers; they concentrated on diligently carrying out their duties with commendable efficiency.

We were thanked for our custom by the owner when we left, a nice touch.

Food

I took a tapas dish, fabada, as a starter. This is a mixture of cannellini beans and pork. It contained a good quantity of pork but would, in my opinion, have benefited from being seasoned a little more adventurously (ie it needed a little bit of a “kick”); I have a preference for spice. Nonetheless very enjoyable, and worth having.

I followed on with the cochinillo (roast suckling pig), served with a very generous portion of home made sauté potatoes, broccoli and carrots. This consisted of three good sized cuts of pork on the backbone. It was well cooked and succulent. My only criticism would be that the crackling didn’t crackle. Maybe a little more salt rubbed into the skin before cooking would have helped this process, but speaking from personal experience crackling can be temperamental. On a personal level I think that apple sauce would make a good accompaniment to this dish, but everyone has different tastes.

Eva decided that she would just have a main course, and so had the seafood paella. A very large portion was served, and the dish contained an extensive array of seafood including; prawns, scallops, mussels and clams. The rice had been cooked, as it should have been, in fish stock; and was very well flavoured. Eva was delighted with her choice.

One slip of her fork during the meal, rather bizarrely, caused a scallop to fly across into the pocket of a gentleman sitting at the next table. We, to our shame, decided discretion would be the better part of valour; and did not tell him. I hope that the piece of seafood has been found and removed, apologies for any inconvenience.

We finished our meal off with a couple of Irish coffees, these were properly made and were piping hot.

The overall meal, which included two bottles of good quality Chardonnay, came to £75 including the suggested 10% service charge.

Overall Opinion

Very enjoyable, definitely a pleasant surprise given the location and the propensity of some establishments in the West End to be no more than tourist “rip offs”. I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Restaurant

Le Bien Manger
103-105 High Street
Croydon
UK

Phone:- 0208 680 7755

Overview

Le Bien Manger opened in the second half of 2002. It comprises a bar and restaurant specialising in continental cuisine.

Eva and I tried it out for the first time one Saturday evening in September 2002.

Ambience

The restaurant and bar, being newly opened, have been decorated in a modern (almost Scandinavian) style. Comfortable blue upholstered wooden chairs are complemented by blue tablecloths which suit the stylish polished wooden floors and blue and white walls.

The restaurant is very brightly lit, by halogen spot lights, both Eva and I thought that the lighting was excessively bright; more akin to the neighbouring pizza restaurant than what one would wish for on a romantic meal for two.

The restaurant has large windows facing out onto the street, and offers (as an estate agent would say) “unparalleled vistas” of the street life outside. This unfortunately being Croydon High Street on a Saturday night it is not necessarily an asset in its favour.

The restaurant and bar are well proportioned, and sufficiently well ventilated to allow people to smoke without it annoying other diners. The temperature, something which so often some restaurants seem unable/unwilling to control, was just right.

The modestly sized bar is situated in the left hand corner of the restaurant, I did not see any bar stools around it and it was not clear as to whether people can just come in for a drink.

Menu

The restaurant offers an eclectic mixture of tapas, French and pasta dishes; ranging from meatballs, mussels to pork shank. I was tempted to try selections from each, but that would have been too greedy! There’s always next time.

The wine list offered a decent selection of European and New World wines, priced on average between £14-£25.

One eccentricity, which I suggest the management address, is that there is a 70p per head charge for bread rolls. Our waitress asked if we would like some, and as these are just a normal part of the overheads in most restaurants I said yes. A small matter of quirky principle on my part, maybe, but I do not order bread rolls if they are charged for separately.



Service

When we arrived we had not booked a table, but we were shown to one instantaneously without any pretentious fuss about checking bookings.

The staff were attentive and friendly, the service prompt and accurate. We asked for a doggy bag (I being the doggy) at the end, for the remnants of Eva’s pork shank, and our waitress happily obliged.

Food

I started with a Spanish omelette from the tapas selection, this consisted of two good sized slices of a well presented tasty egg and potato omelette. I followed on with a sirloin steak (cooked rare) in pepper sauce with French fries. The steak was a decent size (I believe about 10oz) and had a good layer of fat around it, I do not like places where the fat is removed as the steak is often dry and tasteless. The steak had been properly cooked to my specification and was tender; the fat had some sinew but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the meat. I would say that the sauce was a little bland and thin. I would recommend more peppercorn, brandy and double cream (my forthcoming recipe book will contain a pepper sauce recipe). The french-fries were of good quality, and clearly superior to the fat injected muck served by the ever encroaching fast food outlets.

I rounded the meal off with crepes in Grand Marnier. The portion was generous, four crepes in a good layer of sauce. I was a little disappointed that they were not flambéed, but you can’t have everything!

Eva had the smoked salmon and capers for her starter. This was well presented, ie it was served as salmon should be “plain and simple”; a generous plate of salmon garnished with capers, lemon and a little side salad.

Eva then had the pork shank in apple sauce as a main course, with a medley of carrots cauliflower and haricot vert accompaniment. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and I must compliment the chef. This was a generous shank which had been well cooked so that the meat, which was very tender, literally fell off the bone. I must confess that I am munching on the remains, that we took home in the doggy bag, as I write this. The apple sauce was thin (not the chunky English kind that needs to be spooned from a jar) and complimented the pork. The vegetables were not overcooked, nor were they undercooked, and were well presented with a light dusting of parmesan.

The overall meal, which included two gin and tonics and a good £20 bottle of Chablis, came to a reasonable £74 before tip.

Suggestions

I present below a few, well intentioned, suggestions; which I hope are taken by the management in the spirit in which they are intended:

 Don’t charge for the bread, this only serves to annoy.

 Install wooden slatted blinds on the windows, this will serve to keep out the sights of Croydon on a Friday/Saturday night.

 Turn the lighting down, this will add a romantic ambience to the restaurant.

 Place larger, and more, candles on the tables. The small night lights placed in the elegant blue glass holders are nice, but not enough to create atmosphere.

Overall Opinion

We both agree that we will most definitely visit the restaurant again in the near future, and are happy to recommend it.