Craft – Short sighted? No, just don’t see the attraction!

Tom Collichio’s Craft restaurant in New York is the epitome of style over substance. Not clever to make the menu font so small, to justify the gimmick of giving out reading glasses to the “short sighted”.

My main problem with the meal was that you are meant to mix and match the elements that you order. Excuse me but surely that is part of the art in preparing a course and one that the chef should take care of.  He or she should be the expert in matching the ingredients on the plate. That’s what I’m paying you for.

This video explains why they choose this mix and match concept:-

Did not work for me, not surprised it lost its Michelin star.

Food  5/10

Service  0 (the man at the next table was choking and was ignored! – eventually with a lot of effort his wife managed to get him a glass of water).

Ambience  !! (not important if everything else is wrong).

 

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Red Cat – very cool!

Really liked the Red Cat, it’s very cool, very New York.

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On the plus side or maybe the negative side, the last time we were there was during the Republican Party Conference, so we had the Secret Service outside and someone from the Bush clan inside. Much to the horror of the dinners at the next table who were obviously Democrats.

Marks out of 10

Food 6

Service 6

Ambience 6.5

 

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The Fat Duck – OTT

The Fat Duck in Bray is the complete opposite of its near neighbour the Waterside Inn, The Waterside goes for old fashioned comfort (old money clientele), the Fat Duck does “flash” (new money clientele).

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The room is minimalist in style and the food is excellent with very over the top presentation.

We visited before the recent alleged food poisoning problems, and experienced all the trade mark gimmicks – Dry Ice, Dragons Breath, IPods and the obligatory Snails Porridge. We also went for a matching flight of wines. There are two price options here, expensive and extortionate.  We restrained ourselves and kept the wine bill under £100 per person.

It was an experience, but I have to admit I missed the warmth of the Waterside Inn as once the meal is finished, there is no way you would want to hang around or indeed be encouraged to hang around in the rather cold room.  Then again I guess that is why Heston Blumenthal’s Hinds Head is only a few yards away.

The Fat Duck is currently number 2 on the S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list.

 

 

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Hibiscus – too much hype!

For a while Hibiscus seemed to be the most talked about place.  Everyone just raved about it. We even had it recommended while in L’Astrance in Paris.

The conclusion from our visit on a Saturday evening when they only do tasting menus (a rather mercenary approach in my view), was that it was over hyped, overpriced rather boring food.

When the best dish in a £175 a head meal (food with matching wines) is the cheese course, then there is something wrong.

This restaurant is currently number 56 on the S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list. It has 2 Michelin stars and 4 AA Rosettes, so it should have been superb or a least very good, as at this level there really should be no off days.

Very disappointing

Marks out of 10

Food 4

Service 4

Ambience 7

 

 

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Dockmasters House – pre cinema treat

Dockmasters House looks very out of place now in the Docklands, surrounded by warehouse style buildings and opposite a multiplex cinema. It is such a stunning building, both inside and out. The modern Indian food is top notch,  they do a pre theatre menu that is ideal if you want to splash out on something a bit special before hitting West India Quay Cineworld, which  is now my cinema of choice for several reasons:-

1 – it’s a modern cinema complex with a good sound system

2 – it’s cheaper than central London

3 – central London cinemas do not have Dockmasters House next door.

Marks out of 10 for Dockmasters House

Food 6.5

Service 6.5

Ambience 7

 

 

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Anchor & Hope – Time & Patience!

When aiming to eat in the Anchor & Hope “gastropub” (36 The Cut, Southwark) you will need time & patience. It is not an ideal venue for pre-theatre, unless you are very lucky.

The tables in the Restaurant section are for sharing.  We found the service was a bit hit and miss but the food certainly hit the mark, with its rustic style and good quality ingredients. My earlier experiences were before the recent change of Chef, however with the kind of reputation the Anchor & Hope has I would expect it to continue to deliver top class gastropub fare.

However if you don’t want the hassle of hanging around the busy bar, you always have the option of Tas on the opposite side of the street.

UPDATE: June 2010 – A recent visit does seem to indicated that the new team are keeping up the good work. I had a beautifully cooked lemon sole with tasty shrimps.

 

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