On the thinly-provided eastern fringe of the City, an airy new business restaurant that’s trying hard – in our view, too hard.
Slate plates need to be approached with great care. We don’t mean that they’re less serviceable than china (which they probably are), but that they send a message that the chef regards himself as an Artist, not a tradesman. Diners’ expectations rise, and with them the risk of disappointment.
Unfortunately, our meal at this friendly, airy and well-spaced newcomer – on the edge of the City – did in fact consistently disappoint. Fishcakes – three, artfully presented – tasted more of spud than anything else, and a main course cheese tart of fairly unremarkable quality was all the more difficult to forgive when presented with what seemed to be apple sauce and chutney – a few dressed leaves would have done the job much better. Only a cheesecake for pudding could really have been said to reach the level of ‘enjoyable’. Even the bread and coffee fell a bit flat.
We were drawn here by a review elsewhere that was something approaching a ‘rave’, and we do hope we were ‘unlucky’, but, on our experience, it’s really only to the local business crowd that we can commend this as a destination of any interest.
The straightforward grills menu – which we didn’t sample – may be the way to go.
