It was B’s birthday and we finally get around to going to see the Late Turner exhibition at the Tate. So for lunch we decided to try the Rex Whistler restaurant there. Understated it isn’t. The semi-underground room is covered with murals – expedition in pursuit of rare meats – making it very dark and forbidding. The place is pretty much full, with the obvious demographic – we’re probably the youngest there.
Our table is down at the back squeezed in near the server’s area, but it is at least near one of the small windows so we do get some natural light. The “award-winning” wine list is extensive but naturally not cheap – we settle for the Klein Konstantia SB at £30. Not “quick wine” though, despite being near to the servers.
The set menu is £25 for two courses, £30 for three – plus a weird £1 per table suggested donation to the Tate! To start I have the Dorset crab with brioche crumb – two small dollops of encrusted crabmeat. The sweet brioche works well with the crab, of which there is plenty, though the fragments of shell I could have done without. B has the crispy duck egg with ham hock and green beans. The egg was cooked just right- slightly runny – and the ham hock a good salty accompaniment.
For mains course I have the chicken breast with mushrooms - here’s not a great choice. That’s fine its way, just a little dry and with not a lot of flavour. B has the sea bass, again with green beans, which is a rather small fillet and again not with a great deal of flavour. I’m tempted into the dessert by the coffee and hazelnut trifle, which comes with a huge layer of whipped cream and very stodgy coffee sponge – I don’t get close to finishing it.
Overall, at £133, not a great success, apart from marvelling at the décor.
The following week, we’re off to Ronnie Scott’s, and decide to go try a place on Shaftesbury Avenue called The Noodle House beforehand. There’s an offer on to include a glass of Prosecco – fine if you like warm wine. But the place is buzzy and interesting and the wine (a Tempranillo) reasonable at £19. We start with some chilli ginger edamame beans, then have crispy calamari – very nicely done, melt in the mouth and light batter – and duck dumplings full of meat. For main course we had black pepper beef with peppers and butter prawns (spicy) with jasmine rice ( no noodles despite the name). All very tasty and pretty good for £60.
G&S are down for a few days, performing at the Jermyn St theatre and then going to conferences etc. So after the show on the Sunday we aim for Cinnamon Soho – only to find it shut. So we wander the nearby streets and happen upon a tapas place called Pix Bar (for pinxtos) in Ganton Street. Apparently there are branches in Bateman St, Covent Garden, Islington and Notting Hill too. It’s just a small bar really, with the pinxtos dishes on the bar in true Basque style. £1.95 for the ones with short sticks in, £2.95 for larger ones with long sticks. The small ones a basically slices of bread with toppings; the larger ones more interesting, some kept warm in a cabinet, chorizo, ham. Between us we manage 11 small ones and 14 larger ones! With a couple of bottles of Rioja at £21 and a whisky that comes to £126. The service has been very friendly and the little place is quite full, including a couple of tables of Spanish people happily chatting to each other. A find.
The next day (Monday) we’ve signed up for the 4 of us to go for a 10-plate dinner at Crazy Bear in Whitfield St, “Fitzrovia” (is that really a place?) at a special offer price of £29.95 (normally £39.95). Crazy is the word for it! The ground floor is not too extreme I guess, but downstairs is a louche bar, all dark and seductive. The loos are weird – you arrive at what seems to be a brick wall and wander up and down looking for door or sign. Eventually someone comes to help you and presses a magic brick and, “open sesame”, a door appears. Inside the loo, it’s all black and sparkles. I give up trying to find the urinals (which I guess must be somewhere in the darkness) and use a cubicle which is at least visible. Washing your hands is an experience too - as hands from the ladies suddenly appear the other side. Very odd!
This ten-plate dinner turns out be roughly three courses. There’s a sushi course – salmon and tuna – then a dim sum course (har gau and pork dumplings), with some edamame beans appearing on the, and then for mains duck, seabass, beef curry, pak choi and rice. It’s all very good indeed.
Wine is not cheap £27 for a Spanish white and £29 for a Malbec, but at £233 for 4 people overall it felt like good value.
Staying down in Hove with M&G, we go out for dinner at a lovely little fish restaurant – The Little Fish Market. It is little – perhaps ten tables – and when we arrive there is one couple already there. The waiter is absolutely charming and friendly and chats away with us throughout - no sales pitch just a straightforward discussion.
The main topic of that conversation was why they moved from an a la carte menu to a five course set menu for £50 a head. Basically it came down to the fact that with just one chef and one front of house it was hard to sustain a full a la carte.
So we settle down to the meal - trout terrine with crispy quail’s egg to begin – excellent, full of flavour; butternut squash ravioli – not quite my thing; for the central course there is a choice: I have the beef short rib with cabbage - B has the lemon sole; this is followed by sea bass fillet with crab mousse; and then mango and chocolate with coconut.
For taste none of these courses could be faulted. But you would have thought that perhaps the central course might have been a bit more substantial – as it was it seemed like 5 amuse bouches. A quick kebab on the way home seemed an attractive prospect!
M&G generously treated us, so I don’t recall the wines we had or the total bill. So would I recommend it? If you’re not that hungry and want some great flavours, then yes; if you’re starving, try the local curry house.
The following day after a bracing walk along the seafront into Brighton, we head to M&G’s favourite lunch spot – Plateau, by the Town Hall. Another small, intimate and friendly place, this also has a limited menu. The eponymous platters – meat, fish or veggie – and a few specials on the board. B and M share the meat platter – a fine selection of cold charcuterie, more than they could cope with; G has the special option of two small plates – a boudin noir and ox cheeks; I go for the bavette steak with fries and chimchurri – a seriously hot sauce.
With a couple bottles of wine this comes to just £140 for the 4 of us. Friendly service too. Go!
G&S are down again and have a late train back to the North on a Sunday. So what better than a dim sum in Chinatown? Lots of options, but we settle on Harbour City, a slightly smarter than average place. It’s pretty busy so we get sent upstairs – this is busy too, so they give us a table for 8 by the window. We order wine and tea, then settle down to examining the dim sum menu. We end up with Vietnamese spring rolls (good), paper wrapped prawn (excellent), prawn dumplings (two types, both OK), beef dumplings (so-so), prawn dumpling in spicy soup (certainly spicy), grilled dumplings (fine) followed by a half crispy duck and pancakes. At £124 for 4 (only B and I were drinking) that was a pretty good deal.
