Almeida

Last year, at the Wine Show in Islington’s Business Design Centre, I got a little “carried away” and purchased a yearly subscription to Taste London for £40 (reduced from £70 @ the Show). The membership card gives you 50% off the food bill (or 2 for 1) in all participating restaurants.

The catch is that the majority of restaurants will not take the card on Fridays and Saturdays, and I suspect that some of the restaurants are only there because they are struggling to find custom (with all the risks that entails).

This year, I decided to try and recoup my initial investment by visiting the restaurants which I know are reputedly good like The Almeida, Gay Hussar and The Admiralty. So last week, Dr G and I returned to our local French restaurant, The Almeida.

I had dined at this restaurant before but had always gone for their pre/post theatre menus. I remember having the most delicious Cassoulet there and so I was craving for another helping.

On arrival, I was gutted to find that their legendary Cassoulet was no longer on the menu. The menu had been substantially trimmed (not a bad thing) and included 8 choices each for starters, main and desserts. The menus were priced @ £27.50 and £32.50 for 2 and 3 courses respectively.

To start, I ordered the “Terrine of duck foie gras, apple and walnuts with toasted fig bread”. I was impressed by the generous portion of duck foie gras served, and pleased with the quality – it was beautifully marbled and tasted buttery and totally divine.

Dr G decided to go for the “Trolley of Charcuterie” which included saucisson sec, rosette, coppa and Bayonne ham, chicken liver parfait and rillette maison (made of pork).

This was unfortunately disappointing – the cold meats tasted good but were nothing to write home about, the chicken liver parfait had a liquid consistency and did not taste particularly nice, and the pork rillete, although well seasoned, was a tad dry.

For main, I had the “Grilled aged British rib-eye, pommes Pont Neuf (chunky chips basically) & sauce Bearnaise”.

Considering the additional £3.50 charge for this option, I was surprised to find a rather small and thin steak on my plate. The meat however tasted very good and was perfectly cooked, rare as I had ordered. The Bearnaise sauce was also excellent but again, there wasn’t much of it.

The other main was the “Slow roast belly of suckling pig, confit root vegetables, creamed Savoy cabbage, and sauce aux epices (spicy sauce). This was also excellent, the meat was incredibly tender and the crackling was beautifully caramelised, crisp and very thin. The accompanying sauce was complex and mildly spicy with delicate flavours of saffron and curry.

Unfortunately, the waitress carelessly tilted the plate as she placed it on our table which didn’t help with the presentation of the dish. I felt that service was overall polite but impersonal, and inattentive at times.

For pudding, we shared a “Valrhona extra bitter chocolate soufflé, with salt caramel ice cream” and “Creme Brulee with warm Madeleine”.

The soufflé was a tad sweet for an extra bitter chocolate variety, but it was very light and tasted good accompanied by the salt caramel ice cream. In fact, I enjoyed the ice cream more than I did the soufflé itself.

The crème brulee was utterly delicious – it had a delicate vanilla flavour and perfect consistency (neither too hard nor too liquid).

We ordered one of the least expensive bottles of wine @ £21 which we felt was overpriced. After Taste London’s 50% reduction on the food, the total bill came to £61. Service is not added to the bill but left at customers’ discretion which is praiseworthy for a restaurant of this calibre.

As with any other D&D restaurant (former Conran), I feel prices are inflated and I would have been annoyed had I paid the full whack, around £100, for this meal. This might explain the countless newspaper offers, the more affordable pre/post theatre menus, and their Taste London participation.

Verdict – Good quality French food and wine at inflated prices. Polite but inattentive service. A good and affordable choice for pre or post theatre dining in Islington.
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The London Foodie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Saturday, January 16, 2010

Took my parents and family to Almeida restaurant last night. Thoroughly enjoyable meal with everyone having fantasticly flavoured and seasoned food. Pleasant atmosphere. Good restaurant for a treat.
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Si eats too much - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, November 29, 2009

Food excellent, service bordeing on comedic.

One starter arrived, then a 20 minute wait for the other. The maitre d noticed so wisked mine away "to keep it fresh", apologised for the delay in bringing my husband's soup saying that the delay was caused becaused the soup had to be served very hot (!). Both then appeared 90 seconds later.

The wine was put on ice to one side but then no one kept an eye on our glasses so we had to pinch it back and sort ourselves out. Request for salt was met with blind disbelief and a sneer.

Same maitre D offered bread but it never arrived, bottles of water and wine were both finished, bottles and glasses taken away but we actually wanted some more! No one asked and we couldn't be bothered. Favourite bit was when the bill arrived and my husband gave them his credit card and a £100 voucher (thank you work) the waitress said "Oh my god" as if he'd given her a poo on a plate.

The food IS really good but only as good as a dozen other places, where you're not ignored and treated slightly shabbily. The restaurant wasn't even particularly busy.
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Jane
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Sunday, August 30, 2009

I went to Almeida on Wednesday 3,

the food was superb and the service impressive,

nothing to add, this is my favourite place in Islington
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eric
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, June 05, 2009

Eight of us went for dinner here last night, really looking forward to a lovely night. Terrible service, just really awful and put a dampner on the night. We were sitted 45 minutes later than the booking, they then didnt take our order for another 30 minutes, the starters came before our wine and soft drinks, the staff completely ignored us, then they tried to make it up to us at the end with a complementary dessert - but we just wanted to go home. The food was average, and the meal was £400 without service charge - as obviously we were not going to pay it! They asked us why we were not paying the service charge, at which point we all laughed in their face. I wouldnt mind if we had just turned up on the evening and they couldnt cope with us, but I had booked the table a week in advance. They explained that service would be slow as the restaurant was busy, but it wasnt full all night. I really wished we had left after our drinks and gone for a pizza around the corner. London restaurants have alot to learn about service!
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Thursday, June 04, 2009

Went there with the wife, after winning some vouchers for a meal for two. Chose Almeida of the 5 possible restaurants (all ex-Conran), as it got the best write up.

We had a nice time, and nice food. We were not sure how smart the restaurant would be, so made a bit of an effort (smart trousers and shirt). We were glad that we did, as it seemed quite an up-market place as we walked in, but we also noticed a couple of people in jeans, t shirts, etc, so it's not strict about dress code. But the general vibe was slightly up-market, and semi-formal. But not stuffy. Nice spacious large room, with big tables and plenty of space. Unlike other places where one can feel a bit hemmed-in.

The food was nice, but we had a rather limited choice on the set menu. Main course was either mushroom risotto, lamb, or salmon. So you basically had one choice if you wanted meat. And my wife doesn't eat lamb, so had the salmon, but would have preferred more choice, e.g. chicken or pork.

That said, the food was really nice, if somewhat small portions, but that's possibly to be expected of this sort of restaurant. I had the mixed charcuterie starter, which was very nice, and my wife had soup, which she loved. The lamb main was very nice, but was just once rather small piece of lamb (off the bone), and slightly greasy. It needed a decent sauce to "cut through" the fattiness but it wasn't there. Pretty nice though. But 4 bites and it was gone. My wife really liked her salmon, but said it needed more veg. My ice cream and sorbet desert was very nice (and took away the oiliness of the lamb!). Best mint ice cream I've ever had. My wife loved her passion fruit tart + frozen yoghurt.

Good wine list, with a decent range. We had a nice Primativo for about £18. Wines ranged from £15 upwards. Complimentary table water.

The service was very good - very friendly and attentive, and not at all stuffy. And we were not made to feel like 2nd class customers at all, which I had feared due to our having a voucher. The voucher was discreetly taken from us in the lobby as we entered (mention it when you book), and the set menu was waiting for us on the table. I had feared I might be embarrassed at having to get the voucher out when paying the bill, but no worries there. The bill simply said £0 for everything (apart from the wine, service, and bread). So I think we paid £22.50 total.

P.S. I score it 7 value for money on the assumption that I'd probably have paid £50 extra if I hadn't had a voucher.
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Ian C
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, May 11, 2009

Due to the wonderfully sunny weather yesterday we managed to score an outside table. Crisp white linen and superb and attentive service. My only real issue is over portions and in particular the additional side dishes! The pomme puree (mash potato) was possibly just that 'one' potato mashed and the curly kale serving could have been consumed in one mouthfull!

Overall an enjoyable experience but leant to closely to stinginess. I woke up this morning starving!

Will have to think twice before returning...
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Tony
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, April 23, 2009

I wanted to find a 'special occasion' restaurant for my 30th birthday and was pleasantly surprised by this place.

The food was excellent - I had a beautiful butternut squash soup, beef rib eye and creme brulee. Very tasty and was served quickly - we didn't have to wait too long for our next course. I enjoyed the fact that we didn't feel rushed to leave as soon as we'd finished our meal - we still had some wine left so just sat back and relaxed!

The atmosphere wasn't too noisy, with romantic lighting to set the mood.

They charge a discretionary 12.5% but their service was excellent - very impressive - so I didn't mind.

I definitely recommend this restaurant if you are looking for a more upmarket place to eat for a special occasion. The price isn't even too expensive - for the two of us to have a beautiful 3 course meal, including wine it was only about £50 each which is pretty good for a fancy restaurant.
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Laura Connor
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, April 20, 2009

Surprised by this restaurant in a good way.

On entering I felt the place was a little ponsy but the service was nice and so was the food. The venison was particularly succulent.

I like the open kitchen too.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Great restaurant, best Sunday roast in North London by a mile!
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Mark Gavin
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, February 14, 2009