In the same week I tried the fantastic creations of Ben Spalding, I felt on a roll and booked a table at much talked about newly re-cheffed Quo Vadis. I really thought my husband would enjoy some British fare with a modern take. So we went.
The entrance is quite grand. I was immediately reminded of those posh restaurants I would visit with my family when I could not afford to eat out on my own expense. Apron and tie clad waiting staff buzzing around, mirrors, leather sofas and a large number of chrysanthemums and oranges and lemons by the door. Beautiful stained glass windows overlook Dean Street.
Soup
We were taken to our table. While we pondered on the food choices, I ordered a Pomegranate, Blood Orange Campari which I thoroughly enjoyed. The menu is a one pager, without any particular arrangement. Daily cocktail top middle, sandwich top right, snacks top left, sides bottom, pies middle left.. You get the gist.
Corn bread
It’s a daily menu so not sure what we would have picked on another day. A number of items featuring mallard and ox meant a lot of dishes weren’t going to be our preferred choice. I opted for the very conveniently priced theatre menu (£20 for 3 courses) and choose a Jerusalem artichoke soup which did not leave any lingering memory (yet I am still thinking of the marvelous one I had at Sartoria two years ago). His starter of Herring and potato salad was decent but the staff never replaced our single slice of bread so a bit of a missed opportunity here.
My main of Corn bread, sweet potato and goat’s curd was pleasant but the roasted onions were overpowering and a little bit too much. I liked the touch of fried fresh sage leaves.
Grilled Mackerel
His main was a Grilled mackerel which came whole with no offer of de-boning. I guess I am thinking too much of Italian restaurants here…
It was heavily peppered on one side, but hardly at all on the other. The cucumbers that came with it could burn a hole in a nuclear reactor, so heavily drowned in mustard they were!
As part of my set menu, we shared a Chocolate brownie with fudge sauce… It was ok but again, nothing to talk about. Even I can make a good brownie.
In record time (1 hour and 10 mins) we had paid our bill and left.
Of course this was helped by the rushed service…our main plates were taken off our table before we even actually finished them and a second bottle of water was brought to us without us even asking for it.
To top it all, the ‘Soho crazy’ clientele… There to be seen, and heard. I think I am getting too old for this sort of Saturday night environment.
The bill came to £79 inc service so it’s not actually too expensive for Soho but overall a disappointing night out.
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