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.
The Blue Stoops
On a cold and rainy evening, we met at the Blue Stoops, a pub owned by Midlands brewery Allsopp's, near Notting Hill Gate station, on the way to Kensington High Street. We arrived a little early, so started off with a half. I tried a Double Diamond, a beer that has recently come back after having been gone for 30 years.
While we were enjoying our cheeky half, our table became ready, and we sat down to investigate the menu. With our food we ordered a large glass of wine, but they only did small measures. So instead of a single large glass each, we ended up with four small ones! We combined the glasses to end up with two large glasses. A little curious, and to be fair, I would have been happy with just a small glass instead.
Back to the meal — To start, we had an oyster each. They were nice and plump, and were served with the usual accompaniments: a slice of lemon and an onion vinaigrette. We also choose the same main course, and onglet steak served with chunky chips, and a fried egg. The chips were crispy and fluffy, the steak well cooked, and the egg added some moisture. We saw other plates coming out of the kitchen, and I think we missed our mark here by not picking two different dishes.
The dining room had a typical gastropub feeling to it, and the bar was quite busy. It's a good spot, and I'm glad to see it has opened. Maybe next time we need a better look at their menu.
The Vincent Rooms: Escoffier Room
Having dinner at the Escoffier Room in the Vincent Rooms is one of our pre-Christmas traditions. This year that did not work out though, and instead we went in January. The Escoffier is the smaller, slightly fancier dining room which offers tables for up to four people, there is also the larger Brasserie, which is also well worth going to, which will do tables for larger groups.
The Vincent Rooms is a restaurant of the Capital City College — where they train chefs. The meals and service are all done by the students (with suitable supervision). This has little effect on the dishes, but it does sometimes make for a more haphazard service. That is okay though, as we are now used to this, and students learn by doing these things.
The set menu comes in a normal and a meat-free version. Our menu was "A Taste of Italy". Neither of us chose the matching wine menu, it was a school night after all, and my companion was doing “dry January”. I did enjoy a glass with my starter and mains, whilst she opted for some sparkling water.
Our dinner started with beetroot gnocchi — which were nicely fried, slightly red, and had a hint of beetroot flavour. Then followed a minestrone, which was served with Parmesan cheese crumbs. This was my least favourite dish. I thought it was a little too sour, and the Parmesan did not add much, if at all.
After the starters, a piece of moist, but firm, roast Monkfish followed. This was served on a bed of creamed porcini mushrooms. I thought it worked well together, but my wife was less keen as she thought the mushrooms were overpowering. This was followed by the main course, a porchetta served with artichoke purée, crispy crackling, and some kale. I think this also fit well together, and I thought this was my favourite course of the meal.
For pudding, a Sicilian Cassata was served with biscotti, and some poached pears. The cassata was a bit odd, as we hadn't expected a savoury flavour as filling in-between the two sponge layers. A selection of six petit fours finished our dinner, which we enjoyed with a coffee for my wife, and a glass of port for myself.
Although we normally enjoy our meals in the Escoffier, this one was a little underwhelming, but it doesn’t put us off returning.
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