The Devonshire
After trying to get a table for a long while, we finally managed to snag one. We have been to this location before (when it was a Jamie's Italian), and it's situated right next to Piccadilly Circus. The downstairs is a pub, and upstairs there are a dozen of tables and a large roaring grill.
The menu is handwritten, and has sections on starters, grilled items, mains, sauces, and sides. While we were looking at it, some bread and butter appeared. And a few minutes later our wine. After our waiter poured a glass, she took it away to keep it cool in a fridge. Both of us are not keen on this practise — we'd really rather see our wine so that we can pour our own, at time of choosing.
From the starters section, I selected a white crab salad, which came with slices of crisp apple, and crunchy chicory leaves. The crab meat was nicely seasoned and slightly sweet. My wife had three juicy scallops with a crispy topping, served with malt vinegar and some lardons. The scallops were cooked just right.
At this point it was time to top up our glasses, and we convinced our new waiter to leave the bottle on our table, even though that meant it wasn't cooled.
For her main, my wife had the fillet of halibut, while I opted for the lamb cutlets. The mains don't come with anything, so we also had duck fat crisps, and a pea, onion, and bacon dish to go with our meal. That did mean we had to assemble our plates ourselves, as they all came separately. My lamb cutlets were great. Perfectly cooked, and still moist. My wife's halibut was well seasoned and also splendid.
It was still early, and sometimes it just feels right for pudding. After some discussion we decided to share the sticky toffee pudding, with a side of some dessert wine. I am usually not too keen on sticky toffee pudding, but I was really getting my fork into this one. I secretly wished we hadn't shared it!
It was a great meal out, and I now understand why it is so hard to get a table, especially earlier in the evening.
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