Tags
Bond Street, brasserie, buzzy, casual, Central London, cocktails, Date Night, marylebone, tapas, W1
30 Tuesday Sep 2014
Posted Eat Me
inTags
Bond Street, brasserie, buzzy, casual, Central London, cocktails, Date Night, marylebone, tapas, W1
04 Saturday May 2013
Tags
Light Bite
Forget Colbert and go to The Botanist next door instead.
Tasting Menu
I am aware that my less than glowing review of Colbert is unusual, but I think there is an element of other reviewers being impressed by the “smart new brasserie at Sloane Square”. Well I live here and it takes more than my own postcode to impress me. This restaurant is sufficiently close to my house, in fact, that in the time it took the kitchen to prepare an edible bacon sandwich I could have walked to Partridge’s, picked up my favourite American bacon, cooked it at home and been back at Colbert for another cup of their fabulous coffee. I wish I had. Yes, the coffee was awesome but no one knew where it was from or what the brand was. If the waiters here don’t know any more than those at Café Rouge, what exactly am I paying for?
But let’s start at the beginning. As the restaurant was much anticipated and newly opened we made sure to book a table in advance to avoid the inevitable 45 minute wait for a walk in. We were ready on time but our table was not. The general manager tried to soothe our increasingly frustrated brows and offered a seat at the bar, but at 11.00 on a Sunday I really do prefer breakfast over hard liquor. Eventually our banquette was ready and we were seated in a light and bright corner of this cavernous brasserie. The aforementioned delectable coffee was delivered in an elegant silver pot and we settled down to read the papers and await the supposedly wondrous croque grand-monsieur and bacon sandwich. Well the croque was indeed as good as everyone says it is, but the bacon sandwich was a disgrace. I sent it back before it even reached the table and specified that I prefer my bacon a little less blackened. The hard sell of chips to accompany the croque also became a point of contention as they turned up 20 minutes after the main course and were stone cold. A second bacon sandwich of doom arrived to enrage me and we were half way out the door when an observant manager took us under her wing. She was as appalled as I was about the decimated sandwich and vowed that she would stand by the chef until he cooked one I could eat. And so she did. I eventually received a passable dish but by this time I was more than a little tipsy due to the stress-relieving wine I had used to stop me killing myself or someone else. Needless to say the meal was comped due this comedy of errors but to be frank it was not money that was the issue but inedible food served by largely disinterested staff. Due to the proximity of this venue to my house I might visit again, but only if Nathalie was working. It would not be safe for me or the staff otherwise.
Cuisine: Inspired by the great boulevard cafés of Paris
Address: 50-52 Sloane Square, Chelsea, SW1W 8AX
Telephone: 020 7730 2804
Website: http://www.colbertchelsea.com
Price: £0 but should have been about £40 for brunch for 2 people including booze
Nearest station: Sloane Square
03 Friday May 2013
Tags
brasserie, brunch, buzzy, casual, child friendly, fitzrovia, goodge street, Modern, oxford circus, quirky, w1w
Light Bite
A quirky brunch venue in a foodie wasteland.
Tasting Menu
I am a fan of brunch. It is a meal that welcomes me no matter how late I lay in at the weekend and it allows me to pick and choose from the best that breakfast and lunch have to offer. This is a venue that is known for its brunch appeal and I can see why. It is a culinary utopia for those living in this pocket of London and those with small children. I am both childless and firmly embedded in SW3 so do not benefit from these attractions, and as a diner sans famille I have a limited patience for screaming toddlers and thrown food. I also have an appreciation for the kitsch, however, and was delighted to see the eccentric lamp decoration. One can never have too many electrocuted squirrels dotted about the place.
The menu offered the usual suspects of pastries, cereals etc. with a comprehensive selection of juices and smoothies. I had a deliciously refreshing “Rickshaw” followed by an enjoyable bacon sandwich with welcome slices of tomato and avocado, whilst Hubbit continued his quest to find the best full English in London. He did not necessarily find it here but he did not need to eat again until suppertime, such were the generous proportions of the dish. The miniature milk bottle accompanying my Americano amused me, which was just as well as we were forced to wait for a table we had already booked and found that the staff were not at all on the ball. We also suffered from language problems, as is so often the case in London restaurants. I don’t need my waiters to be able to recite seventeenth century poetry to me but I do feel they should be able to communicate about the food on their menus. Overall this was an agreeable enough way to ease myself into a Sunday and I would pop in again if I were ever in the vicinity. If the excellent Scandinavian Kitchen next door was shut anyway.
Cuisine: Modern all-day brasserie
Address: 43-51 Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia, W1W 7PQ
Telephone: 020 7927 0840
Website: http://www.ridinghousecafe.co.uk
Price: £35 for brunch for 2 people without booze
Nearest station: Oxford Circus or Goodge Street