Chef Gavin Young seems to be settling in nicely at this “formal” but “friendly” town-centre restaurant, and his Gallic cuisine is generally (if not quite invariably) held to be “something special”; the “great-value market menu” attracts particular praise.
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While the elevated prices suggest that this Reading restaurant should be “mind-blowingly good”, the critic can’t help but feel that “everything came up as ‘nearly’”. Instead of a tomato compote, the critic is served “three tasteless and variably cooked cherry tomatoes”; a confit of duck would have benefited from “[l]ess sticky balsamic covering on the duck and more cream in the potato gratin”, and a crème brûlée feels “a bit bipolar, as if there wasn't quite the right balance between sweet and sour.” A similar sentiment applies to the dining room itself: “nearly convincing in its transformation into a plush restaurant, but fighting the inkling that it might once have been a conference venue.”
Pasal Wyse (4th May 2010)
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