September to November

Round up – September  to November.

Hutong @ Shard:  As a party of 6, we were sat away from window – go in a smaller group. The set meal was disappointing – good monkfish and sweetcorn soup, followed by fair dims um; but badly let down by the main course. The deal was 9 dishes - a con, as that included the rice and it seemed the lettuce wrap.  And they were pretty ordinary – chicken and cashew nuts in the lettuce wrap, duck with rice.  We ordered 2 desserts between us, including weird black sesame dumpling. Others report the a la carte as good, so maybe give that a go. The wine list had suitably sky-high prices, so we had 4 bottles of rose @ £45, taking the £35 set lunch up to £80 a head

Senor Ceviche, in Kingly Court, off Regent Street: our second visit, was as good as the first but we had an almost identical choice of 6 dishes, as we wouldn’t have wanted the others. Free vegetarian slider (“sanguchitos”)  to begin (as they were new to the menu),  pork belly and mixed fried squid, prawn and cod; two ceviches, one salmon, the other sea bream and king prawn; chicken skewer and flat-iron steak.  First time we had black beans too,  All good, and very filling. With 2 bottles and 2 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc plus 12.5% service this comes to £122 for the two of us.

Da Mario, Endell St, Covent Garden: second visit to this homely Italian. All the classics done well, with fish specials. £300 for six including just 10% service added.

Bacco, Holborn. A more sophisticated Italian, but still very friendly service.  I had the tuna carpaccio and the pork belly, which were both good. 3 bottles of house wine at £19 between four of us took the bill to £200 including 12.5% - good value.

Riverside Cantonese, Cardiff:  it’s match day, and we’ve left it late to book, so we end up at this Chinese in a less than salubrious area.  I was very pleased and surprised to find it was a buzzing and smartish.  We had a selection of starters (missed the dim sum menu) and a couple of mains. £93 for two, with own choice of tip added.

Ben Thanh, Twickenham. Another match day but this time have booked early - only to find no-one else there when we arrive.  This small Vietnamese restaurant is fairly basic, but the staff were friendly and obliging. The four of us shared the platter to start – Vietnamese rolls, fried squid, pork and chicken satay.  The ladies had noodles with beef or chicken, while the chaps both went for Phô, the noodle soup – meatballs or king prawn.  The meatballs were not a hit, but the rest of the meal was good.  Three bottles of quite a nice NZ SB @ £17.80 took the total for 4 to just £110 before tip.

House of Hô, Old Compton St (website is the Percy St branch). Another Vietnamese and four of us again, but different friends this time.  Starters include soft shell crab and seafood ceviche; mains lemongrass chicken and shaking beef. Also two desserts and 3 bottles of SB at £24. With 12.5% this comes to £205 for four.  Much more sophisticated place, in centre of Soho, so maybe that’s fair enough.

 

Ceviche at Ceviche

On our way to the theatre we stop for an early dinner at Ceviche, a Peruvian restaurant on Frith Street.  We’ve always liked ceviche and I’d heard of this place a while ago, so it seemed a good chance to try it out. 

Arriving at 5pm, we found the place unsurprisingly pretty quiet. There’s a front bar area and a more usual room behind it, where we were seated. For some reason they insisted on sitting us near the only other people in the place, and as others arrived continued to fill up one side of the room first.  The tables were a reasonable distance apart and it did mean you could rubber-neck what others were having, but it did seem strange – just as well it wasn’t on board a boat!

We started with two Pisco Sours – a traditional Peruvian cocktail – and asked about the size of dishes (sharing plates mean different things to different people) and it was suggested that three each would be reasonable. In the end we ordered two ceviche,  one skewer, a salad and a couple of  “nibbles”. It was fairly modest and there are few carbs on the menu, so it’s probably not the place for hearty eaters.

But what we had was lovely.  The “Don Ceviche” house dish was seabass  in a sharp, lightly chilli sauce  with sweet potatoes and onion.  “Sakura Maru” was cured salmon with satsumas, so a much sweeter dish, but still light and fresh.  The skewer was chicken thighs, always a tasty part of the bird and very moist, served with a pepper jam.

These were complemented well by the quinoa salad with tomatoes (which dominated), avocado and butter beans.  Also good was the asparagus “nibble” in Huancaina sauce – a golden, creamy, slightly spicy sauce, apparently usually used to accompany potatoes, according to Wikipedia – with the asparagus having been griddled and with a good bite.  We also had the wonton fritters stuffed with chicken – nice in themselves but not really a good choice with the rest.

Service was very friendly and helpful, despite the odd seating policy (which didn’t matter so much by the time the place filled up).  With a bottle of unusual white Rioja, the bill came to £90. Certainly worth going to for a light pre-theatre meal – probably less successful as an evening in itself, unless you’re in a group.