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. 

A couple of places in Lymington

It's B's uncle E's 94th birthday so something special had to be planned. We had a recommendation from local wine club friends to try Elderflower, a Michelin-starred place down near the front in Lymington. They only do tasting menus (4,5 or 7 courses) which led to some heart-searching as E and son-in-law B like a nice steak. But it was duly booked and we arrived expectanlty.

The table is booked for 6.30pm - apparently only this time and 9.30pm were on offer. Which seems odd, as people did drift in over the course of the evening.  When we arrived there was only one other table occupied, but the restaurant was nearly full by the time we left.   We are shown to a nice table for 6 in the window, and feel a good welcoming vibe.

We order a bottle of French Viognier (£40), a glass of rosé and some sparkling water. We have settled on the 5-course menu at £75 a head.  Prior to the courses themselves, we are served with bread and a salmon butter, which is lovely. 

The first course arrives quite quickly - crab and potato mousse topped with caviar nestling in a Jersey Royal. The crab flavour comes through well, not dulled by the potato. Oddly our waiters are wearing gloves, not something I've seen before.

Next up is pea mousse and ham. That description doesn't really capture it. The pea mousse is squiggles across the plate, with a few peas thrown in. The ham, only small pieces, is strongly smoked with a good flavour.  A smallish course.

The fish course is unusual - skate cheeks. It comes with brown shrimps in a lovely lobster velouté. Skate cheeks were new on me, but they had plenty of flavour and not the challenge of an oversized wing that you often get. 

For the meat course, there is Black Sheep lamb - a goodly sized portion. Served in a rich wine sauce, with some potato and spinach. Mine is slightly on the tough side, but everyone else really enjoys theirs.

Finally there is a trio of desserts. There is a blueberry sorbet, melting in the heat, a strawberry mousse with a very tasty wrapping, and a rather complicated assembly of chocolate mousse and pieces. 

Throughout, the service has been excellent - friendly and informative. And the whole thing was well-paced, neither rushed nor leaving you waiting. We had three bottles of the Viognier and a Vega Douro (also £40) to go with the lamb, so with coffee and water the drinks come to £220 between 6 of us including service

The steak eaters seemed satisfied, and the rest of us were really pleased.

The following day after cruising the market, B and I have lunch at Koh Thai on the High Street. It's a lovely sunny day, so we sit outside in the garden. There's no-one else there when we arrive but soon after two ladies arrive - choosing for some reason to sit at the nearest table to us. 

It's an intriguing menu, so we have some steamed edamame beans while we make our choice. A £26 False Bay SA Chenin goes well. 

In the end we go for 5 starters and one noodle dish, served in two waves. First we had "Thai-namite" battered prawns in a Sriracha mayonnaise - nothing like as spicy as implied, but good prawns. With that came duck rolls, which were excellent - crispy wrapping stuffed full of shredded duck served with Hoisin dipping sauce (which it didn't really need). The third was the crispy beef. I fall for this every time and it is always disappointing, a bit claggy and tough. 

The noodles were spicy seafood udon - prawns and squid. Lovely sauce, good prawns, chewy squid. Some good prawn dim sum and minced chicken in lettuce leaf wraps came with that.  

We had substantially over-ordered, but they were happy enough to decant the remainder into take-away boxes.  The lonely waiter was good enough with the service, if rather distant. Total £123 with two bottles and just 10% service.