[Food] Restaurant 2018

[Guinness Boy]

Lunch at Michael Bremner (64 degrees)'s beachfront gaff Murmur last week was, well, uninspiring.

Set menu of three courses for 20 quid is decent value on he face of. Started with fishcakes, then onto whole plaice and chips and then what was called a cream puff or summat.

The starter was small and the fishcakes could well have had no fish in them to be honest, as I certainly couldn't taste it. Underseasoned.
Whole plaice was alright, but it should be. Chips alright, salad pointless.
Now the worst of it. If you're going to call something a 'puff' you've got to ensure it's light, not dried our dodgy pastrywork.

There are MUCH better set menus/lunches in this town to spend a score on at Salt Room, Coal Shed, Chilli Pickle, Cin Cin, any of the new pizzerias and many others. Disappointing. Having a value menu does not mean standards should slip. I'm sure there's better cooking to be had at the place but I won't rush back to try it.

Service is decent and the house white (20 quid a bottle) is okay mind you.

5/10, just.

Family lunch for 7 of us today at Murmur. No set menu and a couple of Chenin Blancs from the main list so it wasn’t as cheap but our 2 kids ate free so it was good value. Starter of beef carpaccio for me was bloody excellent, full of flavour and could have cut it with a spoon. Trout dish for main was well balanced with a great butter sauce. If you’re going to call it seared, though, don’t cook it so much. TBH it was really nicely cooked and flaked off the fork but it wasn’t seared.

Maybe it was because we had a very long lunch in the sun after I’d done a 10k race or maybe it was just because we’ve been a few times and they really looked after us, but I found it pretty good, more of an 8 than a 5.

I’d say order off the main menu though. And it’s much more set up for families than couples.


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[The Clamp]

Really, this is a 28th Wedding Anniversary meal, I hope I still don't need to impress

Ha! I'm being harsh, I'm sure it will be good and a memorable evening. Or...have you won the lottery? Happy Anniversary and enjoy!

 

[Beach Hut]

The Ivy In The Lanes

Pre-booked (required I believe) and a latent wedding anniversary meal as we were away that week.

Nicely set up restaurant, bit Arty Deco type theme but nice ambience, huge bar in the middle and for Mrs Hut a first ever return to where she worked originally when at post office counters no less.

Starters - me Crispy Duck Salad and the better half Asparagus with truffle holandaise, duck a tad crispy but nice salad and well presented and the review on the asparagus was very good, nice sauce etc.

Mains - Mrs had steak, eggs and chips and myself munkfish and prawn curry. Again both well cooked, seasoned etc very presentable and all washed down with a very decent red.

12.5% service charge added, more than usually pay but it was good, well presented food.

Some comments, to me a little to pretentious and trying too hard to be a top class service but the food is definitely not matching the service. Now this is not to demean the meals in anyway - they were good and very tasty but not sure why the requirement for the impression of total top class dining when the food is not that standard. Put it this way that restaurant I reviewed earlier on the sea front is around the same price but infinitely better by a country mile.

 

[dazzer6666]

Went to House a couple of weeks ago for the first time

-service a bit slow and slapdash but improved when what appeared to be the manger came in.....maybe we were a bit early
-inside tables a bit uninspiring
-menu good, but 2 of the limited starters and 2 mains were already ‘sold out’ (we were there at 6pm and it wasn’t busy)
- the food we did get was really very good. Starters of either terrine or salmon and crab fishcakes were nicely presented and very tasty
-mains were all good - bouillabaisse, fillet steak with black pudding, ribeye steak and fish and chips. All very well cooked and well presented.
-wine list is ok, some good value choices by the glass
-no desserts as we were stuffed, frankly

Worked out around £50/head, pretty decent value given the quality of food.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Really, this is a 28th Wedding Anniversary meal, I hope I still don't need to impress

Congratulations!

 

[Beach Hut]

Congratulations!

Thanks, read the review

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

The Ivy In The Lanes

Pre-booked (required I believe) and a latent wedding anniversary meal as we were away that week.

Nicely set up restaurant, bit Arty Deco type theme but nice ambience, huge bar in the middle and for Mrs Hut a first ever return to where she worked originally when at post office counters no less.

Starters - me Crispy Duck Salad and the better half Asparagus with truffle holandaise, duck a tad crispy but nice salad and well presented and the review on the asparagus was very good, nice sauce etc.

Mains - Mrs had steak, eggs and chips and myself munkfish and prawn curry. Again both well cooked, seasoned etc very presentable and all washed down with a very decent red.

12.5% service charge added, more than usually pay but it was good, well presented food.

Some comments, to me a little to pretentious and trying too hard to be a top class service but the food is definitely not matching the service. Now this is not to demean the meals in anyway - they were good and very tasty but not sure why the requirement for the impression of total top class dining when the food is not that standard. Put it this way that restaurant I reviewed earlier on the sea front is around the same price but infinitely better by a country mile.

However good a restaurant may be, (and your review of the Ivy does look very good), the sheer mention of the establishment imposing a 12.5% service charge. is enough to put me off completely.

Why oh why do restaurants feel the need to do this? In my case at least, if the service really is very good then l will willingly pay extra for it, and probably more than 12.5%!

They really are shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion.

 

[BensGrandad]

What I do not agree with is places that state 10% services added to parties of 6 or more, or similar do they not earn more from 8 covers than 4.

 

[dazzer6666]

What I do not agreewith is places that state 10% services added to parties of 6 or more, or similar do they not earn more from 8 covers than 4.

Why would a table of 8 spend more than two tables of 4 necessarily?

 

[BensGrandad]

I fully accept that but on many instances most tables will be couples so a table of 8 or 10 is a bonus. Obviously not every time but i am sure on many.

 

[dazzer6666]

I fully accept that but on many instances most tables will be couples so a table of 8 or 10 is a bonus. Obviously not every time but i am sure on many.

Why is one 8 better than four couples ?

 

[The Clamp]

However good a restaurant may be, (and your review of the Ivy does look very good), the sheer mention of the establishment imposing a 12.5% service charge. is enough to put me off completely.

Why oh why do restaurants feel the need to do this? In my case at least, if the service really is very good then l will willingly pay extra for it, and probably more than 12.5%!

They really are shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion.

Coupled with the fact the staff don't get the tips, it's pretty crass.

 

[amexer]

Agree about tips. Will not return to any restaurant that adds 121/2 %

 

[CHAPPERS]

Quick bite in Cury Leaf Cafe's Kemptown Kitchen on Saturday evening.

It was pretty good to be fair. Highlights were an excellent paneer curry and some really good and spicy chicken wings. Lots of street food style dishes and you can order all the curries in large or small so you can have a variety if you like. We had five dishes, a rice and a naan and a bottle of the house white, which was Indian, and it was plenty of food. 60 quid including tip. Worth a visit of you are in the area for sure.

7/10

 

[BensGrandad]

Why is one 8 better than four couples ?

It isnt so why add 10% service to the bill for that party which is my argument against the practice

 

[McTavish]

It isnt so why add 10% service to the bill for that party which is my argument against the practice

Because in places without a service charge the waiters depend on tips for a good part of their income. If a waiter serves 4 couples it is unlikely that more than one or two will leave very low tips or not tip at all and there is a good chance that one or two tables will leave a larger tip than expected so the risk is spread. With a party of eight, the waiter will have done the same amount of work but there is much more risk that he/she will get nothing or a derisory amount so the service charge is there to remove this risk.

 

[JJ McClure]

It isnt so why add 10% service to the bill for that party which is my argument against the practice

Because it is that much more difficult and time consuming to cook, plate and serve 8 plates of food at one time than it is to do 2, and whilst doing that you are also potentially negatively impacting the service provided to others. Not saying that I agree with it and all service charges should be discretionary anyway but I can understand why its done.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I’m not overly bothered about restaurants adding a discretionary tip, you can always decline. I am bothered by restaurants abusing tips by either including them in wages or whatever. I’ll avoid any places I know this happens.

 

[Rugrat]

Be interested to hear your thoughts on The Ivy. It looks a bit fur-coat-no-knickers.

I went yesterday and the highlight by a mile was sitting next to GM getting the obligatory photo's and a brief chat

It's a place to see and be seen for sure. Very nifty decor and they (attempt to) treat you as a bit special but it all falls very flat. In saying that our waiter was terrific and very attentive. But the rest of front house were miserable, consumed by their own importance and trying to look busy when they weren't.

Trying to fill a wine glass with half a bottle is a big 'no no' in my book ... also having ordered 2 G&T's to get going why start pouring the white wine at the same time?

Me: Tempura Prawns (very nice) fish and chips (poncy presentation and soggy batter)
Mrs: Mozzarella and Peach (OK) Crab Linguine (with virtually no crab)

Prices OK (ish) ... bottle of £14 NZ Sauvignon for £40 is at limit though

Nice touch at end being given a small tart with Happy Birthday on it ... except it was our anniversary

I wont be rushing back but see why it will do well

 

[BigGully]

Because it is that much more difficult and time consuming to cook, plate and serve 8 plates of food at one time than it is to do 2, and whilst doing that you are also potentially negatively impacting the service provided to others. Not saying that I agree with it and all service charges should be discretionary anyway but I can understand why its done.

I dont entirely agree.

If your business is to serve food then you have a duty to have appropriate numbers of staff and the necessary procedures in place to reasonably fulfill that demand, it seems a strange mentality to 'pre-tax' a more profitable group of customers ahead of a lesser group, surely the aim would be to just serve them both equally without highliting your inability or unwillingness to be serving a slightly larger group.

If you have a restaurant with thirty covers and that capacity is regularly used then deal with it and celebrate your popularity and its likely profitability, if you are running below capacity then be pleased a group of eight has chosen to significantly increase your usual customer count.

It suggest to me a culture where someone somewhere implemented the charge and offered a pretty damn weak reason for it and it has somehow stuck.