Cloth, near Bart's

 We are planning to meet up with G, so having recently read a Grace Dent review we decide to book in at Cloth in Cloth Fair,  right by St Bartholomew's the Great, the church used in the last wedding of Four Weddings and a Funeral.  I remember it as a restaurant called Betjeman's and I do overhear someone at another table say that it used to be Betjeman's house. 

The day before, G texts to say she can't come, there'd been a mix-up in dates. We decide to go ahead anyway, though we don't bother to alter the booking.  When we get there, a little early shortly after 1pm, the place is heaving - this is on a Tuesday.  There are a couple of cramped tables for 2 available in the first room - we get shown through to the second room where we get a nice table in the window, overlooking the church. It is laid for 3 people as per the booking, so we then have a lot of space (effectively a table for 4) rather than being squeezed in - a neat trick!

First impressions - everyone seems to be having lentils; the demographic is completely white and very grey; and it is extremely loud. G is rather hard of hearing so it might well have been very difficult for her - as it is, the two of us have enough trouble talking across the table. The volume is simply down to the voices of people crammed into the small rooms and hard surfaces all round, including marble-top tables. 

When we look at the menu it seems that lentils come with the set lunch, where lamb shoulder has been replaced with pork belly. We decide to go a la carte and choose the Iberico ham at £24 to share to start, which rather meanly doesn't come with bread so we have to order that extra. It takes a while to flag down a waitress (as we are in the furthest reaches of the restaurant)  We order the Zeuger Sauvignon Blanc which turns out to come from Austria. It's the second cheapest on the list at £43 - this clearly isn't going to be a cheap meal. The set menu is just £29 for three courses - hence all the lentils.

There are two types of bread - both delicious. The ham itself is slightly warm, glistening, and presented beautifully, with small slices positioned in circles on the plate. Crockery is eclectic, like being at your gran's.  The decor is eclectic too, walls packed with an odd collection of stylised "old" pictures and drawings with no apparent theme or logic. 

For main course B orders the crab risotto (£26). This comes as one mass on another odd plate. It's a plate of luxury - rich, warming, full of flavour. Although it looks a big portion, with every mouthful the same, B polishes it off with enthusiasm.  I have chosen the monkfish and langoustine, the most expensive item on the menu at £35. This too is a largish portion with plenty of firm monkfish and some less interesting seafood. The lobster bisque it comes in is excellent. 

Despite the size of the dishes, I decide to have dessert as I had seen a very pretty one on the neighbouring table. It's honey custard with lemon curd and honey and pistachio parfait biscuits - good biscuits, sharp lemon. 

Although some tables have been vacated, there are still people coming in at 2.30pm or later. At the end of the meal we ask the friendly waitress if it's always this busy. It seems that as well as the Guardian review, there had been a very good one in the Times, so it may be a slightly temporary situation. There was also someone at another table taking detailed notes, and being treated to wine selections by the owners, so probably another review to come.

We get the bill, but notice they had only charged us for one bottle of wine. Being honest souls we point this out. Service charge is the insidious 13.5%. Total, just over £200, which to be fair is about what Grace indicated (by the time you add in pricey wine).  It's been a very enjoyable, well-paced lunch, good to have experienced, but I think one only for special occasions with people able to cope with the noise. 

Busy February

February was a very busy month for eating out, as we went to 10 different restaurants during the month. They were mostly old favourites that I’ve reviewed before, like Chez Bruce (featuring devilled lamb’s tongues), The French Table for Valentine’s Day and Italian Taste (mussels) in Surbiton, The Good Earth, Esher (sizzling lamb) and El Pirata tapas off Piccadilly (very tasty rib-eye).

First up was a fairly new branch of Sticks n Sushi in Kingston, though it has much the same menu as the others.  It is a big place, but was pretty full so we ended up with seats in the window, watching the world go by John Lewis. Wine service was a little slow because of that, though it hadn’t been rapid when we went last time. We had the spicy edamame beans while we considered the order – one of the better examples. Then we had salmon carpaccio (as opposed to tataki, quite thick, very tasty), hot and gooey crab croquettes, seaweed  salad, deep fried prawn bites and tuna tartare bites with avocado.  These were followed at a sensible pace by the iberico pork, duck meatball, and scallop and bacon sticks. Total bill including two bottles of SA Chenin Blanc (at £30) was £150 – pretty good value.

We planned to meet up with A, K and K’s new squeeze C. They suggested Café Rouge upstairs at Victoria station, so we trot along arriving as they do to find that Café Rouge no longer exists. In its place is a take-away with just a couple of basic tables. They negotiate a table and we were just getting our heads round the menu when it transpires they don’t serve alcohol!  So we head off to the Nova complex across the road and fetch up at RailHouse Cafe. The menu here is a little unusual – mainly bowls with add-on skewers plus a few “plates”. I have the chicken schnitzel with mushrooms – a good, sized piece, still moist inside – plus some chips. B has skewers: prawn and chicken skewers with a mixed salad. Our share of the bill was £140 – not cheap for what we had.

J,D and I had a bet on revolution in China – and I lost. So after buying them drinks in Wetherspoons, we head to a Uyghur restaurant for lunch - Karamay Uyghur near Fenchurch St station. It’s an odd little place upstairs, with a stage for a band – presumably a social space for the community. People were leaving as we arrived, so we ended up the only ones in there for most of the time. The dishes feature noodles – described as linguine or spaghetti – and several have serious chilli. I have lamb ribs with noodles and some grilled vegetable dumplings on the side. Very good slightly spicy; J has lamb skewers and D spicy (3 chilli) tenderloin. We each have a couple of bottles of the national beer – Wusu. All this comes to a very reasonable £44 a head.

Although we’ve been there a few times, I haven’t reviewed Giggling Squid in Kingston before. There are branches in Esher, Wimbledon and many others too. We’re meeting D and her new pal J. We order some Chenin Blanc – J is driving so doesn’t have anything – and some of their very good prawn crackers while we consider the menu. They specialise in Thai “tapas”, but we generally also order some dishes from the starters and mains lists too. D and J order curries which come with rice and salad. We have one bite salmon, pork dumplings duck spring rolls followed by soft shell prawns and caramelised pork with rice. Our share including wine comes to a very modest £100. Definitely on the regular visit list.  

Taking advantage of the leap day, we meet up with G at the Ivy City Garden, off Old Broad Street. It’s a huge place, and at 1.30pm is very busy (and noisy) with several work groups. There are loads of plants around and a very odd wall sculpture featuring a lizard eating its tail. We arrive first and order Chilean Viognier (£38). G arrives 5 minutes or so later – and we still haven’t got our wine. After quite a long chat a waiter arrives asking if we’re ready to order, so I ask about the wine and G orders a gin (Monkey 47) and tonic.

The menu has several sections to it – a February specials list, and also an Ivy Asia list, that I focus on. B’s starter is very dramatic: it’s a crab, brown shrimp and avocado tian from the specials list. It arrives served in a silver plated crab-shaped platter, complete with a spicy sauce poured over it, and for some reason a jug of dry ice!  It tastes good too. G has the cheese souffle off the “Ivy Classics” list served in a bronzed pan which she polishes off with relish. My starter is chicken skewers (three) with bang bang peanut sauce, which has loads of nuts and a good chilli kick (effectively an above average satay).

Topping us up with drinks has been erratic, with some empty glasses. But when we order the second bottle the senior waiter seems to get the idea. Or maybe it’s because now, around 2.30pm, the place is starting to thin out a bit.

For main course I have the Keralan duck curry with sweet potato. It’s quite a light, sweet curry, not that hot. But the duck is tasty. B has Mexican-style Flat-iron Chicken (again a February special). This comes with a nice salsa, and quite spicy guacamole.  This is a rather large portion. G simply has a Sirloin steak.

We don’t have room for dessert, finishing our wine while G has a cappuccino. The dessert list does look good though. Service charge is an annoying 13.5% taking the bill up to over £270.  That’s pretty pricey, but the food has been good.