Ida
This was our second trip to Ida. We first visited in summer 2023, and although we wrote a review, we never posted it. Ida has achieved something of a reputation in the last couple of years, but remains at its heart a local neighbourhood restaurant.
When you walk past Ida during the day, you wouldn't pay it any notice. It sits on a busy road at the edge of a residential neighbourhood, with a convenience store across the road. It's an unlikely spot for a restaurant, situated pretty close to both Salusbury Road in Queens Park, and the restaurants on Chamberlayne Road close to Kensal Rise. In the daytime it looks slightly unwelcoming, which is probably why it took us so long to visit the first time.
In the evening however, the place livens up. We arrived at Ida at a quarter past six, and we were nearly the first ones in. By the time we were ready to order fifteen minutes later it was full. When we were here last time, on a lovely warm summer evening, there were also a few tables outside. With one set of doors open, even our inside table felt part of the streetscape.
To start, we ordered a crostone to share. The sourdough toast was covered in flavourful (and aromatic) melted taleggio cheese, with grapes and a little syrupy honey.
As his main meal, Derick ordered the wild funghi papperdelle, and as hers, Morag ordered the little ears — orecchiette — which was served with a creamy velouté of cauliflower, and more of the tasty taleggio cheese.
The home-made pasta was nicely al dente, and the sauces thick, slightly sticky, and delicious. We only got (and needed) a fork as utensils, which made the meal more authentic.
With our meal, we also enjoyed their house white wine, which was, fresh with a good flavour that worked well with all our dishes.
After our pasta we were still a bit peckish, and fancied a tiramisu to finish our evening. This was light and fluffy, and we debated whether this was as good as the tiramisu offered by another local restaurant. We think the jury is out on that one though.
The Mayfair Chippy
When we arrived, there was a long queue outside waiting to get in. Luckily, my wife had booked, so we got to skip the queue. Inside, we were seated in a backroom, with space for about a dozen people.
The menu isn't extensive, which makes sense, as it's a chippy. We both therefore had Fish and Chips, but not quite the same ones. My wife had the cod, while I had the haddock. There wasn't really much between them though. Both of them came in beautifully light batter. For those who don’t like fish, or who are vegetarian, they also offer a battered rare breed sausage, or a battered halloumi as alternatives.
A reasonable amount of reasonable chips were served with the fish. They were the classic style of chips you get with a fish and chip supper, a little chewy, and quite far away from the triple cooked Belgian fries that are so very good (but not traditional for fish and chips). There were also three accompaniments: tartare sauce, with crunchy gherkins, mushy peas to cover the vegetable section, and a nice and spicy curry sauce. My wife being a traditionalist also went in for the malt vinegar and salt.
With our meal, we shared a bottle of a white Vinho Verde, from Portugal. It's not something you often find in a chippy, but it was date night after all.
We didn't have any dessert, as the Fish and Chips were quite filling. It's a good chippy, but I believe it was quite pricey for what it was. You don't typically pay £25 per person for food at a chippy. Maybe we should try out our local chippy…
We did come home with a paper party bag of fruit salad sweets and black jacks though!
The Grove Tavern
We walked to the Grove Tavern, situated on the corner of a street with a few other shops, cafés, and another restaurant. When we arrived there were a few people having a pint, and a few other people eating. We were shown to our seats in a near-empty part of the dining room.
It being a pub, it does pub food. And it does it rather well.
While waiting for our mains, we first enjoyed some crispy halloumi, dressed in honey and chilli. They were a little crunchy and sweet. My wife had the Onglet steak, which she said was better than the steak at Rail House Victoria. It came with some good chips, a mushroom, and a peppercorn sauce. I enjoyed the Fish & Chips. It was a good portion with a light, but not whimsical, batter. Besides it were the usual accompaniments: tartare sauce, chunky chips, and some mushy peas. The latter I thought were a little too watery.
With our meal, we also shared a bottle of a Paraíso Sur viognier from Chile.
We didn't fancy any of the desserts, and instead we ended up for some dessert wine at The Brackenbury Wine Rooms at the other side of the terrace. Their menu looked good too, so that might become a further review.
The Grove was cosy and welcoming, and it fits in well as a neighbourhood pub with decent food.
Rail House Victoria
We went to the Rail House Victoria on a rainy Friday evening. We were seated right next to a big group with children generally acting up, on a table which if I’m honest was a little undersized.
We started our meal with five aged Gouda croquettes. We've seen portions of two, three, and four before, but five is slightly bizarre. I don't get it when restaurants serve sharing items in prime number portions. It makes it harder to divide properly to share. They were however, quite tasty.
As her main, my wife selected the minute sirloin stack, which was served with a fried egg with a running yolk, and a caper salsa. It was well cooked. I chose the roast lamb, which was served with a fried rice with peppers and onions. The lamb was spot on as well, and lovely pink in the middle. It however did come in a very hot pan which I subsequently burned my hand on. With the meal, we shared a bottle of a Cantina di Gambellare merlot.
The dishes were fine, but the setting was more like an industrial gastropub, than a date-night establishment.
We were finished pretty quickly,, but didn't fancy any of their puddings. Instead, we popped over the road to Stoke House to enjoy a lovely cocktail.
The Surprise
We were determined not to do a "Valentine's Meal", you know, the ones that are cringe, start with a welcome glass of cheap fizz, have a special overpriced set menu, and are just a bit cheesy all round. Instead of that, my wife had booked a table at The Surprise, a gastropub in Chelsea that decidedly did not have a Valentine's Day Menu.
We were set in a small back room, and getting there meant wrestling through a throng of people hanging out at the busy bar.
As our starter, we shared chicken and blue cheese croquets, which came with a delicious thyme mayonnaise. We ordered a bottle of Riesling, partly because my wife didn't want to pronounce Gruner Veltliner to the waiter. It was nice and crisp, and we enjoyed it while waiting for our mains to arrive.
I chose the pan-fried cod. Unfortunately they no longer had that, but after going back-and-forth with the kitchen, it turned out they could do the same dish with monk fish, which I indeed had. It came served with mussels and prawns, some smoked tomatoes and risotto. The ingredients worked well together.
My wife picked the butternut squash gnocchi, which was a little crunchy on the outside offering a nice texture, and was served with kale and pine nuts. It also was a dish that was well put together.
We were still a little peckish, and henceforth decided we wanted some pudding. Our wine had run out though, so with our desserts — the affogato for her, an orange cake with chocolate sorbet for me — we also enjoyed a glass of dessert wine: A sauternes to go with the affogato, and for me a tokaji to go with the cake and sorbet.
The food was excellent, although the service was a little slow. The staff did apologise for this, while commenting that this was due to it being Valentine's Day. It's a great vibrant place for a meal, so we'd go again.
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