Restaurant Recommendations Please

[Dick Knights Mumm]

My son is 18 this weekend - my how time flies (when I started posting here he was knee-high to a grasshopper) .................. anyway we would like to take him out somewhere a bit special. I appreciate this topic has sometimes been done to death - but suggestions as to current places to go would be much appreciated.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Not Due South!!!!!!

 

[Monkster]

Seven Dials restaurant

 

[REDLAND]

Not Due South!!!!!!

I love Due South, its proper nice and the food is wick'erd ..

 

[ridda]

Went to Oki - Nami in new road the other week, best Japanese meal i have ever had.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

I love Due South, its proper nice and the food is wick'erd ..

I did all this on an earlier thread... do believe that the awful wanker chef who was there when we went there 2.5 years ago has now gone so it may be better.

 

[webbyson]

The Mill at Elstead.(the Surrey one)................long way i know but lovely setting and food great too!

 

[Buttinhams]

Not local I know, but only 5 mins walk from Waterloo Station is the UK's No 1 Gastro Pub. It's not poncy but I think your lad would love it. We always go on a Saturday, with friends and grab a table at 12pm, we're usually still there at 7pm as the wine list is extensive and superb value for money. We then usually stagger across the road to The Ring in Blackfriars Road for a nightcap or three before heading back to Waterloo and the train home.


Anchor & Hope

Taking the top spot for the third year is the Anchor & Hope, which has become the epitome in many eyes of what pub food should be all about.


Located in less-than-glamorous Waterloo, it’s tucked underneath an unprepossessing council block. But the Anchor & Hope offers oustanding food quality in warm, but unfussy surroundings. There’s a strict no-booking policy, with the exception of Sundays, to ram home that this is, defiantly, a pub, not restaurant, environment.

The pub, a Charles Wells tenancy, opened in August 2003, and despite the continual plethora of hot new gastropub openings in London, the quality of cooking, sexy seasonal ingredients and honest rustic atmosphere of the pub remains hard to beat. This is British food in a very British setting – and the Anchor & Hope’s continuing success is a object lesson along the lines of not needing frills to thrill.

Earlier this year the Anchor & Hope team decided to extend their success into a venture: new Great Queen Street, a brasserie opposite Freemasons Hall, in Covent Garden, with a similarly rustic, no-frills menu and Bohemian decor. Robert Shaw (ex-Anchor & Hope) runs front of house; the Anchor & Hope’s Jonathon Jones is a partner (while still cooking at Anchor & Hope) and Michael Belben is an investor.

The menu at the Anchor & Hope changes twice daily with the seasons, with the chefs constantly embracing new ideas and produce for dishes. Among recently-featured ingredients are Spanish-style tripe, pig’s head, cuttlefish, lop (rabbit) and hare.

Sharing dishes are another big feature of the menu and have included cassoulet for two (£27.80); steak pie for two (£29.00); rib of beef, chips and Béarnaise for two (£48), and slow-cooked lamb neck and gratin dauphinoise for four (£48).

On Sundays a set menu is offered at £30 for three courses. Menus have included potato soup and foie gras; pot-roast pheasant, bacon, cider and winter vegetables, chocolate ice cream and macaroons. Food is served at 2pm, so everybody eats the same food at the same time, creating a buzzy home feel to the proceedings.

Anchor & Hope co-owner Rob Shaw believes the pub’s continued success is down to the hard work and dedication of the entire team. He says: “It’s because of real passion, intelligence and skill from the kitchen in their determination to source and cook the best seasonal ingredients, led by the brilliant, uncompromising Jonathon Jones.”

In Matthew Fort’s Guardian column he made no apology for quoting the entire Anchor & Hope menu: there was not one dish that he would not have eaten cheerfully, returning for second helpings. Our Top Gastropub voters certainly seem to agree.

Anchor & Hope 36 The Cut, Waterloo, SE1 8LP - 020 7928 9898

Pub facts:

Owner/licensees: Robert Shaw, Jonathon Jones, Harry Lester, Michael Belben

Head chef: Jonathon Jones

Average covers per week: 800 to 1,000

Wet:dry split: 55:65

Best-selling dishes: Slow-roast lamb shoulder and gratin dauphinoise for four.

Chef’s favourite ingredients: Seasonal ingredients keeps it exciting – you’re always pleased when, say, asparagus, for example, comes around again.

Best-selling beer: Bombardier

Three reasons why the pub stands out: High standards, friendly service and love.

On the menu:

Sample dishes include:

Lunch menu: Acorn-fed Spanish ham, rocket and pears (£7.80); chicken broth (£4.80); potted shrimps (£5.80); rabbit rillettes (£5); warm snail and bacon salad (£6.80); fish stew, saffron potato and aïoli (£14); roast beef rump, duck fat potato cake and Béarnaise (£16).

Dinner menu: Pig’s head in vinaigrette (£4.80); smoked herring and lentils (£5.80); grilled plaice, salsify and anchovy butter (£13); cassoulet for two (£27.80).

Desserts: Treacle tart (£5); Muscat caramel custard (£4.60); Clementine jelly, whipped cream and macaroons (£4.20).

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Due South is on the possible list ..... I will have a look at the old threads on Due South Sully.

Is the SevenDials restaurant a "special" place for a meal ?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

thanks for that Buttinhams - I hadn't thought about going up to town - but we could easily do that.

 

[Storer68]

Jeremy's near Haywards Heath is one of my faves. Gets popular tho round this time of year

http://www.jeremysrestaurant.co.uk/

 

[REDLAND]

Jeremy's near Haywards Heath is one of my faves. Gets popular tho round this time of year

http://www.jeremysrestaurant.co.uk/

well its got a great name

 

[SeagullEd]

I have 2 recommendations:

Donatello's

You'll see Okocha, Zamora and if you don't see Rooney you're possibly the most unlucky person I've ever met.

A serious suggestion:

The Old Toll Gate

It is absolutely gorgeous (perhaps nearer Shoreham) It is a sort of 'all you can eat' but minus the usual tackiness associated with this sort of place. It has a fantastic carvery which you go up to and pick your meat, and everything else. It is great value for money, very filling, we went there for my Brothers 18th -I cant recommend it highly enough!!!!

The staff are great, the place itself looks lovely and the food is just fantastic.

 

[Monkster]

Is the SevenDials restaurant a "special" place for a meal ?

Well, you won't find window lickers in there...

 

[Titanic]

...A serious suggestion:

The Old Toll Gate

It is absolutely gorgeous (perhaps nearer Shoreham) It is a sort of 'all you can eat' but minus the usual tackiness associated with this sort of place. It has a fantastic carvery which you go up to and pick your meat, and everything else. It is great value for money, very filling, we went there for my Brothers 18th -I cant recommend it highly enough!!!!

The staff are great, the place itself looks lovely and the food is just fantastic.

Our recent experience there was disappointing - the table space was very cramped, the service was very poor, they delivered tepid jugs of water with no ice or glasses, the coffee was weak and scalding hot, and the tea only just lukewarm. On the whole the food was decent but uninspiring, and the desserts seriously disappointing. And despite an overall bill of over £600 they hurried us out to get more people on to our tables.

We'll be looking for an alternative next time.

 

[Titanic]

If you are really pushing the boat out... the restaurant at Amberley Castle is seriously good.

http://www.amberleycastle.co.uk/fine_dining.asp

 

[CHAPPERS]

Bit of a contentious one but Hotel Du Vin really is good. What about the Gingerman at Drakes?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Thanks peeps. My darling has just told me we are booked into MoshiMoshi. Probably a safe bet for people new to Japanese food - but should be interesting. Any thoughts ?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Bit of a contentious one but Hotel Du Vin really is good. What about the Gingerman at Drakes?

We went to Hotel du Vin for our 25th wedding anniversary - and it was excellent. It would have been a good choice. Especially interesting for those that remember Heneky's (sp).

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I have 2 recommendations:

Donatello's

You'll see Okocha, Zamora and if you don't see Rooney you're possibly the most unlucky person I've ever met.

A serious suggestion:

The Old Toll Gate

It is absolutely gorgeous (perhaps nearer Shoreham) It is a sort of 'all you can eat' but minus the usual tackiness associated with this sort of place. It has a fantastic carvery which you go up to and pick your meat, and everything else. It is great value for money, very filling, we went there for my Brothers 18th -I cant recommend it highly enough!!!!

The staff are great, the place itself looks lovely and the food is just fantastic.

We live in Steyning so the Old Toll Gate is a bit close to home. They are bound to know some of the serving staff.