Address: 78 Upper Village Road, Sunninghill, Berkshire SL5 7AQ

Telephone number: 01344 622763

Website: N/A. Try http://www.ascotmatters.co.uk/component/content/article/108-advertisers/1557-la-cloche-at-the-carpenters-arms-sunninghill but the menu is out of date.

Date of visit: 24 June 2011

Approximate cost per head: A la Carte – around £20 for 2 courses . Good value set lunch.

Comments on wine list/beer: Sharp Doom Bar on tap. Decent “French” list with some good value carafes (500ml). A few decent “cru” class wines and their seconds. There are some good value wines.

Special note: no food on Mondays

Cuisine: French

Likes and dislikes: all good!

Summary:

The Lion in Teddington has finally got planning permission to re-vamp the interior.

I thought that I should visit the mother ship to see what the Lion might become.

The Carpenters Arms is down a windy road with car parked on both sides.

The pub itself is divided into two halves. One half is set up for dining whilst the other half is for drinking. There is a well laid out garden outside. Within the dining room, it is bare top with paper napkin – no linen.

The room is full of pictures that can only be describe as French – escargots, cheese pantry etc. There are brown lacquered tables and red cushion chairs – much smarter than your normal bare tables in a pub.

For lunch they offered a two course lunch for £10.95 and a three course version for £13.95. They also do sandwiches, croque monsieur or madam, escargots and a fish soup etc.

The set lunch was quite inviting with several salads and the mains include steak au proive, hache etc.

I started off with the chicory salad with croutons and walnuts. It was near perfect with an excellent dressing. I then had Lyon sausage with haricot beans. The sausage was coarse cut with a strong after taste of pepper. Throughout the meal, there was plenty of pan.

I felt greedy and went for a third course of formage. I had a slice of tomme, some ripe camembert and something like a morbier but there was no charcoal inside the cheese. It was served with walnuts, quince paste and bread. Pleasant but nothing special – I was expecting some unusual French cheese.

The wine list was interesting and hopefully, when The Lion re-opens, it will have the same list.

E

Address: 27 Wick Road, Teddington, TW11 9DN

Telephone number: 0208 977 4779

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 29 May 2011

Approximate cost per head: £20 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: basic wine list with most wines around £20 a bottle. London Pride on tap.

Special note: No food served on Mondays and Sunday evenings

Likes and dislikes: proper “French” food – not an imitation – at very reasonable prices.  Wine list could be improved.

Previous review :  7 June 2010 (different ownership!)

Summary:

The Lion has been taken over by “French” owners. It is in the middle of a refurbishment. I was invited to a Sunday Lunch by friends who live near the Pub.

The “French” owners has previously taken over The Carpenter’s Arms in Sunninghill and turned it in to a successful dining pub.

The inside of The Lion is still the same – wall paper stained yellow by nearly 100 years of smoking – it doesn’t smell of smoke anymore after several years of no smoking imposed by the Goverment. However, the pool table has gone and sofas now occupy the space. The garden already has had a make over with new furniture and I understand that the interior will change once planning permission has been granted.

My friends were warmly greeted by “Julian” the new owner as we entered.

My pint of London Pride is as good as ever (£3.20 – I think as I didn’t pay).

The menu is completely “ French”. Where as The Lion used to offer ham egg and chips, pies etc, it is now Croque Monsieur/Madam, charcuterie, confit de canard, steak et  frits, steak hache,  tartiflette etc.

We started off with a plate of charcuterie et formages (£12.95). It came with pickled onions and olives. The charcuterie consisted of Serrano Jamon , French Salami and Chorizo. The chesses were brie, Reblechon and goats cheese. There were also some duck rillette. The platter came with garlic bread but we were also offered baguette on the side.

For main course, the others had roast of the day – lamb or beef – at £12.95 a portion. The beef was cooked medium and was well received. It came with roast potatoes, vegetables and a large Yorkshire pudding.

I had the confit de canard (£14.95) which was a crispy leg of duck served in a small frying pan with sauté potatoes at the bottom and a rocket salad on top. The leg of duck was slightly salty, crisp outside, moist inside and had all the fat baked way – perfect!

For desserts my friends had the tarte tatin de peche (£5.95) and crumble aux pommes, ananas et rhubarb (is there a french word for rhubarb?) (£5.95). The table next to us had the Gourmand which was a selection of various desserts at £6.95 included coffee – amazing value.

If you like French food served in the small restaurants/café near hypermarkets in Calais, this is the place for you. I will certainly be going back.

E

Address: 22 Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London EC1m 6DX

Telephone number: 020 7608 1609

Website: http://www.cafedumarche.co.uk/

Date of visit: 12 May 2011

Approximate cost per head: Fix price menu: 2 courses £28.50, 3 courses £34.85

Comments on wine list/beer: Reasonable mark-up for Central London at 4X. Plenty of decent bottles from £20. There are wines under £20

Cuisine: French Bistro

Like and dislike: Pretty decent food at a reasonable price for Central London, good service. Can’t fault it except for the spinach (see below)

Summary:

I went with my cousin K and my son O for lunch. They both work in the city and the area around the Barbican is a good rendezvous place.

This is supposed to be a French Bistro. Certainly, there are people going round with a “French” accent.

The place (upstairs) was nearly full by 1pm.

To be honest, I don’t recall too much – and it’s not the influence of alcohol – as to what O and K ate.

I had asparagus to start with – 4 strands of medium size with the bottom shaven and a good dollop of hollandaise sauce – pretty respectable.

Next, I had the kidneys in an intense gravy on a bed of spinach. The kidneys were great and some of it was still pink. They have also taken the membrane off. We were served with a big pile of pommes frites. The frites were excellent – crisp and not greasy. My only complaint is the bed of spinach that the kidneys were served on – it was sort of stringy and mushy. Spinach need to be served under cooked – best example is the raw spinach salad at Nobu – or chopped.

We washed down the meal with a bottle of Bouilly (Beaujolais) which was just over £20 – it does not appear on their site.

The bottom line was that this is a pretty good attempt at a French Bistro at London  price. By the way, K paid.

E

Address: Danesbury House, Sidbury, Worcester, WR1 2HU

Telephone number: 01905 611 120

Website: www.theglasshouse.co.uk

Date of visit: February 201124  

Approximate cost per head: £20 plus for 2 courses

Cuisine: modern British/French

Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly basic wine list at low prices. Quite a few under £20 a bottle.

Summary:

There are 3 restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide for Worcester and the surrounding areas. They were all rated as 2 knives and forks. I have been to the Venture In several times (last reviewed on 24 July 2010). It is fairly “old fashion French” which means lots of heavily reduced sauces and heavy use of cream and butter. It was Margaret Thatcher’s favourite restaurant when she visited the area. The other one is Browns (24 Sept 2009).

Glasshouse Brasserie is the third place recommended in the Michelin Guide. Similar to Browns, they serve modern British cuisine and French food.

I took my friend M along on a Thursday night and the place was over half full. There is a sort of bar/dining area downstairs and there is a  dining room upstairs that can take 40 covers plus a private dining room for about 12. The whole place is very modern.

We had a table upstairs. We started off with a rustic bread  (£3.95) which were large chunks of grilled buttered bread with a pot of tomato chunky sauce and a whole head of baked garlic which was original and nice.

M then had the roast rump of lamb (£15.95) and I had the ribeye steak with triple cooked  chips (£17.95) . I was told that the rump was good. It was served with a pesto sauce but this version of pesto sauce had mint in it.  I thought that pesto was basil and pine nuts chopped together.

Now, let me tell you about my steak and chips. The chips came as huge cubes and the best way to describe it is that it is mashed potato with a crispy skin.

As far as I am aware, triple cooked chips were invented by Heston Blumenthal. It is now copied all over the place. The Hind Head (owned by Heston), Riverside Brassiere, The Royal Oak (Paley Street) and The Hand and Flower all do triple cooked chips well.

According to Heston’s book – In Search of Perfection, Triple Cooked Chips (page 229) should be simmered until the chips are nearly broken up (it is the fissures that form as the potato breaks up that trap the fat creating a crunchy crust)………

The so called triple cooked chips had no fissures. I can’t understand why if they went to all the trouble of declaring that they do triple cooked chips, they then can’t get it right. You may recall that The Three Horseshoes in Radnage, another pub recommended by the Michelin Guide also try to palm of their rubic cube chips as triple cooked (24 November 2010).

Back to the steak. It was cooked medium and was perfectly all right. It was declared as 10 ounces on the menu and I would have preferred a thicker cut than the 1cm cut that I had and the steak trimmed. They did that at the Blacxk Cow in Launceston.

By the way, we also shared a bottle of  2008 Ch Bellefontaine which was quite drinkable at £24 – the second most expansive red wine on the list.

To be honest, it was a pretty good meal and you do get veg with your main course, but, I get annoyed when people try to copy Heston and can’t get it right.

E

Address: 2-4 London Street, Reading RG1 4SE

Telephone number: 01189 505036

Website: http://www.londonstbrasserie.co.uk/

Date of visit: 6 February 2011

Approximate cost per head: £20 plus in the evening

Comments on wine list/beer: Medium size list at around 300% markup. They also offer a 50 year old and a 100 year old cognac at £50 and £100 a glass

Cuisine: bit of everything – Med, French, British.

Summary:

This is a popular place on the edge of The Oracle shopping centre. It used to be a newsagent 20 years ago. It is essentially 2 buildings, one old and one new. The main restaurant downstairs has lots of windows which offer plenty of natural lights.

The Place is owned by Paul Clerehugh. He also owned the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. The menus are slightly different.

On the night we (5) went, the downstairs restaurant was full but the upstairs part empty.

The menu here is quite strange and the food in my view is very fusion. I had the onion and Jerusalem Artichoke tart with mushroom, pumpkins, butternut squash and beurre blanc (£12.50) Others had the Moroccan lamb (£18.90), seabass (£17.95)  and duck (£18.95). One of us had the starter of beetroot cured salmon which was proclaimed as good. I was informed by the manager that they cured their own salmon and it was not bought in.

Re the main course, everyone remarked how good their main courses were. However I was not that impressed. On the whole, the dishes came with too many bits and I am not sure that there is synergy between the bits. My own tart was a bit smallish but it came with  loads of pumpkin and very little sauce. I ended up with a load of pumpkin that I did not eat. I had a side order of chips which was very good.

The desserts of lemon tart (£5.70), chocolate fondant (£6.70) and cookies (£6.20) were also well received.

For drinks we had a couple bottles of 2009 Pinotage (£21). I don’t like Pinotage because it has a mineral taste and the wine we had was a bit young. It was also one of those modern wine that has never seen an oak barrel – it was just alcoholic fruit juice with a mineral taste.

The saving grace for me was that I was a guest and someone else paid. I have been to The London Street Brassiere before and enjoyed the food.

E

Address:  37 Montpelier Retreat, Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Telephone number: (03) 6223 2511

Website: www.montys.com.au

Date of visit: 29 January 2011

Price guide: A$50 plus for 2 courses.

Comments on wine and beer: Very expensive list. Be prepared to pay $100 minimum for a bottle.

Cuisine: Modern Australian

Exchange rate: A$1 = £0.65

Summary:

This is another restaurant that is in several food guides.

The restaurant is housed in a bungalow on Montpelier Retreat – off Salamanca Place. They have bare wooden tables, strange paintings and dark ceiling with soft lights.

The menu is pseudo French using local ingredients.

Starters are all priced at $22 except the mussels at $28 and the mains around $35 plus.

I had the mussels to start with. It was 1kg of huge mussels – much bigger than the green lip mussels from New Zealand. It was cooked very nicely with dill, lemon, parsley and chardonnay wine. The bread that came with it was hot  ciabatta rolls.

I then had the narvin of lamb ($35) which was ok but in my view a con. It was lamb cooked 3 ways with a baby carrot, one new potato and one broccoli floret. The shoulder tasted of  slow cooked meat, the chop medium and the rolled loin also medium. The sauce a bit weak.

Narvin is supposed to be a stew cooked with spring vegetable.

I had a bottle of Parker 2004 Cabinet Sauvignon ($100) which was very good. However, it came as a screw top and had no sediment.

The cheese list was amazing but all the cheeses were kept in a cool cabinet which put me off – in my view, cheeses should be kept just below room temperature. There were over 30 types of cheeses, mainly local but they also had stilton, brie etc. It was $11 a portion and $30 if paired with wine.

This is the most expensive restaurant that I have eaten in – in Tasmania. The mussels were as good as I have ever eaten anywhere. The main course (for the price they charge ) was poor – only saved by the top ingredients that the chef used. By the way, service was excellent.

E

Location: 2 Highgate High Street, Highgate, N6 5JL

Web site: http://www.cote-restaurants.co.uk/Cote_Highgate.html

Telephone number: 020 8348 9107

Date of visit: 4/12/2010

Approx. cost per head: £20 including service

Comments on wine list/beer: Good choice of wines

Cuisine: French

Review:

Located at one end of Highgate village, the Cote Brasserie is the third restaurant to be run on this premises in the last 2 years.

Unlike its predecessors, it has been doing very good business and is likely to be there for many years to come.

As you would expect from the name, the restaurant serves traditional French food. The cooking is of a high quality, and the portions are generous.

I started my meal with the moules (£5.75), while my guest had the calamari (£5.95). Both dishes were cooked well and very enjoyable.

For my main, I had the steak frites (£9.95). The steak was served pink with parsley butter, and the chips were thin and crisp. My guest had the lamb rump, served with roast vegetables and potatoes (£13.50). Everything was well cooked, and the large portion (for the lamb) offered particularly good value for money.

Finally we both opted for the chocolate fondant (£4.95) for dessert. A potential stumbling block for any restaurant, we were pleased to see it was cooked to perfection with the centre still runny.

Service was prompt throughout, and the restaurant is clean and inviting.

I would be happy to recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to eat in the area, comparing well with the other restaurants (all big chains), or the pubs serving food in Highgate village. If you are interested in visiting I would advise you to book as they tend to be full every evening, as well as weekend lunchtimes.

Olly

Web site: www.joelrobuchon.co.uk

Approx. cost per head: 70 pounds

Comments on wine list/beer:

Media link:

Review:

Disappointing.
The four of us had a selection of small tasting dishes to share as a starter; they were competently done but failed to deliver in terms of flavour.
The fresh mackerel on thin tart didn’t taste too fresh; the aubergine canelloni was bland though the red mullet and scallops were good.
Our mains included the sirloin steak, veal paillard and the lobster salad – all OK but not great.
We found our desserts lacking. La Perle de Chou would have been trumped by a Wall’s Magnum. Les Fruit Rouges was only just that with a multivitamin sorbet which may have been long on vitamins but was short on anything else.
Any shortcomings with the food was certainly enhanced by the poor service. Our waitress communicated poorly and frankly seemed disinterested. The sommelier lacked experience and was not able to advise.
Confidence with the staff was lost by the end.
Overall, the food and particularly the service failed to justify the premium that was paid and meet the expectations associated with Joel Robuchon.

Address: High Street, Ombersley, Worcester W9 0EW

Telephone number: 01905 620552

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 17 July 2010

Approximate cost per head: Fixed price set meals only. Evening £36 for 3 courses, coffee and petit fours. Lunch £26 for 3 courses. No added service charge.

Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly extensive list well served by the New Worlds. Wines from around £20 to over £100. Mark up around 300%

Summary:

This is my first visit in the evening.

As usual, the place is packed and even managed to get 2 sittings on certain tables.

The Venture In describes itself as a French restaurant and it’s old school cooking. There is a lot of heavily reduced sauces and  cream. This is not a place to come if you are on a diet. The cooking is very similar to The Forbury Restaurant in Reading but at about £20 per head cheaper.

Two stories about the Venture In. Firstly, this is apparently one of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite restaurant. She now visits it about twice a year with her police escort. Her picture is fondly displayed in the bar. The other story is that the chef used to be at the Worcester Golf Club but his cooking was considered too “intricate” for the members taste.

On the night we went, we had the twice baked soufflé, soup and gravadlax. The soufflé which appears regularly was deemed as good as ever. My “home” cured gravadlax was what you expect – no more, no less. On the plus side – it was not heavily dilled and over sugared.

My main course of loin of lamb was served as noisette with a kidney tart – chopped and fried lamb’s kidneys in a pastry bottom. The lamb in my view had too much fat rolled around it. As it was served pink, the fat had not been rendered. Maybe the fat was unnecessary.

What I like about this place is that although you plate comes well decorated, vegetables are provided on the side, so you do not end up with two peas and a centimetre of carrot. They usually provide a generous helping of some vegetables deep fried with a coating of breadcrumb and a green vegetable. We had courgettes and carrots with breadcrumbs and green beans.

My friends had confit of duck and sole in a narge enriched with cream. The plates were clean at the end – a testament to the cooking?

For deserts we had chocolate mousse and crème boulee.

We had two bottles of wine. A Montagne 2005 at £30 was light and refreshing. We then had a Lebanese red at £24 which was on the acid side.

E

Address: 57 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9DS

Telephone number: 0207 796 0600

Website: www.clubgascon.com/index2.php 

Date of visit: 5 March 2010

Approximate cost per head: £30

Comments on wine list/beer: Very up market and extensive and expensive list. Mark up at top end approx 300%

Summary:

Around Smithfield Market, Pascal Aussignac has set up several outlets for his Gascony cooking. Club Gascon is his flagship with one Michelin star.

Upon entry, I noticed that the place was decorated in black and white (art deco?) and fairly small. There is reasonable space between the tables.

They offered a set lunch as well as a la carte.

We had the set meal – 2 courses at £22, 3 courses £28

As soon as we sat down, a block of butter and a dollop of tapenade appeared on the table – the bread never came. We had to ask for it and it was served bread after the starters arrived and they did not offer seconds.

The food we had is best described as possibly  “Nuevo Atkins” – very highly decorated but low on carb and vegetables.

For starters we had duck served several ways. This turned out to be a large morsel of medium cooked breast, a heart and some duck pate. The three bits came on an oblong plate with a “brown” intensive sauce off set by “waves” of green which turned out to be pea puree. It was very visual and tasty – I just about had enough bread (my single roll) with my “pate”. My cousin had the ravioli with salsify and truffle juice. This came on a large white plate with a “indent” in the middle which contained the food. He liked it.

For the main course, we all had the onglet steak. This is the piece of muscle that “squeezes” the bladder. Its lean, has good texture and is very tasty – I always go for it when it is available. Note, there should be no fat on this steak. If you see any fat dispersed within the muscle, then they are serving skirt steak disguised as onglet . The taste is the same but the texture is different. This was served with a red cabbage mash.

Overall the dining experience was excellent except for the smallish portions – you will need to fill yourself with bread. But, they are reluctant to serve bead.

We also had a bottle of Ch de Pez 2005 at £51. It was one of the cheaper reds. You could probably buy one at around £15 from a wine merchant.

They also have an a la caret menu (with few choices) and a gastronomic set meal at £88.

M Aussignac also offer signed copies of his cookbook – Cuisinier Gascon – at his restaurants. All I can say is that most of his cooking are highly complex and is not easy to reproduce for a dinner party. It’s great fun if you have a free afternoon to experiment.

Eddie