Frocks

Ate at Frocks last night with my husband. Not the first time, but felt compelled to write a review. Both had the same starter - the special of duck spring rolls - which was amazing. My main of swordfish was cooked to perfection, as good as any I've had in specialist seafood restaurants. Husband had the special main of slow cooked belly of pork which he thoroughly enjoyed. I couldn't face a dessert of my own, as was more than full enough, but managed a spoon full of husband's sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce, which was a delight.

The restaurant was reasonably quiet - although it was the 2nd to last Saturday before Christmas so not really surprised - however, this didn't take anything away from the atmosphere. To all at Frocks - keep up the good work!
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Lisa
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, December 16, 2007

I eat regualy at some very famous restaurants in London and Cornwall some which are owned by TV famous Chefs. I have to say that Frocks is as good as all of them, maybe Rick Steins at Padstow is hard vto compare as its all local causght fish, however i use frocks regulaly and its a superb restaurant all round. anyone who says different is not an experinced diner and should stick to Pizza Express..
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cliff
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, August 17, 2007

After our last poor experience here on New Years eve (see review below) but wanting to like Frocks we went back for breakfast this weekend...

We had a look at the menu and asked the waitress what the "eggs royale" were. She had to check but came back telling us it was the eggs with smoked salmon.

We didn't fancy that so ordered eggs florentine, full english and bangers and mash (someone was hungry).

We also ordered 2 fresh orange juice, coffees etc.

3 minutes later 2 glasses of 'Just Juice' orange juice arrived at the table - with ice. The waitress looked like she was on her first day and so we let it slip and waited for our food.

The eggs royale arrived...which of course no-one ordered. Not wanting to wait any longer I decided to eat these instead of the Florentine. The eggs, poached were extremely vinegary and the salmon was fatty. The hollandaise sauce was overwhelming and it just wasn't very good.

The other food was fine. The service was slow but as mentioned in reviews before, the owner is charming.

After we ordered the bill we waited 15 minutes and still didn't get anything so we walked up to the bar and paid there.

As mentioned before I want to love this place, but there's not enough reason to do so.

With the competition accross the road and cafe Booze closing (offering them a chunk of the breakfast crowd) I had expected they'd really go for it but they are not delivering and unfortunatelly I have given up on Frocks and have been won over by the better food and service at the Empress...
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LM
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Monday, June 18, 2007

This week we paid our third visit to Frocks - and as once again the food was excellent and the service was attentive but not overpowering. I though it was only fair I put finger to keyboard and comment on this excellent restaurant.

The place has a great atmosphere - both welcoming and initmate.

The menu appears to change on a regular basis - there have been new and interesting dishes each time we have eaten there. The food is very well cooked and presented and I would suggest by the taste that the highest quality ingredients are sourced. lat night I had haddock and was informed by my approachable and informed waiter that it had been sourced from Billingsgate that morning.

The owner clearly has an interest in wine as the list is pretty comprehensive.

I also like the fact that we were in no way rushed and were left to enjoy the meal and surroundings.

I would strongly suggest you seek this little gem out.

Clive & Sarah
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Clive Smith
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 24, 2007

I had dinner at Frocks last Saturay and it was my first time back in over six months and the owner remembered me. So we were off to a good start....I decided to have the Goats cheese even though I went off it during my pregnancy, anyway so glad I did the broccli was perfect and the dressing brought out the flavour in the cheese. I then went for the special, roast vennison which was very special in all the right ways, so delicate and tasty. After lots of great wine and conversation I made space for the sticky toffee pudding well worth that extra inch.

Finally when leaving I remembered why I enjoyed this place so much, apart from the fantastic food the owner Andrew works the floor checking on every table, catching up with the locals and ensuring you are totally comfortable. A very personal experience that you very rarely get in restaraunts these days.

Well worth every penny a really good night.
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Maria Brown
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, March 09, 2007

Maybe Saturday afternoon wasn't the time to visit Frocks. all the other reviews here seem to be very positive, yet we had a terrible experience. After being turned away from The Empress, a new restaurant across the street, we decided to have lunch at Frocks. I was surprised to find that the menu was breakfast food only (eggs benedict) plus sausage and mash, fish and chips. This wasn't a problem, but somewhat restricting. After the food arrived, I was shocked at the presentation. The sausage and mash looked unappetising - but I gave it a go. after tasting it, I couldn't eat the sausages anymmore. They were venison sausage and I love the strong taste of venison, but these sausages had clearly gone bad. My partner's linguine was swimming in the sauce. Though he ate it as he was hungry, it was definitely not a good plate of pasta.

What surprised me the most was that when the waitress came to clear the table, she looked at the sausages which were barely touched but didn't bother asking if there had been anything wrong with it.

Perhaps I should have been direct and complained about the food, but I couldn't be bothered - the second I saw the food arrive, I had decided never to go back to Frocks.
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jo
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Saturday, February 17, 2007

Let me start by saying that I have been coming here for years (even before the fire) and love this place but today I had a dissapointing experience!

We went for a new years evening meal and were looking forward to it!

We had booked some while ago and had requested a table for 8PM.

When we got to our table te waitress told us that that evening they would be serving a set menu to all and that we would start at 8:30. Okay, fine we thought. Bit odd they failed to mention this before or if it was a recent decision that they never called us to let us know.

We ordered a wonderful bottle of wine and relaxed until 8:30.

The first course came, prawn bisque. It was wonderful. Simple flavours. Couldn't be better.

Second course: now hold on for this.... A sharing platter which consisted of: Prawn and vegetable (cucumber) tempura, chicken liver pate, parma ham, olives with feta cheese, prawn and spring onion spring rolls....o and a half dozen cherry tomatoes scattered around the plate.

errrrrr.... did this come from someone's Christmas leftover fridge?

Next course, steak and lamb. Steak was very good, lamb okay.

Chocolate fondant pudding - AA Gil tells me in this morning's Times he is sick of it and even though it is a very nice chocolate fondant pudding, I had to agree with the critic as I though the desert lacked creativity.

Then the bill came.... For the food alone £60 per person!

I don't mind paying for a meal - even if this is Hackney.... if the food's good, the food's good - but it wasn't and I can't help but feel cheated! This was a £40 meal - at best!

I hope the lovely owner of this restaurant is not getting too comfortable - what with everyone loving this place and the yummie mummies with the creative director husbands who seem to be moving into the area... he can't afford to rest because he is the only decent restaurant in the area - as he is not anymore now the newly opened empress of india doing so well across the road!

We love Frocks - please try harder next time?
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LM
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Monday, January 01, 2007

Another year, another birthday: had to be another visit to Frocks. Once again we received the usual warm greeting as we stepped through the door, fabulous service throughout and a complimentary glass of prosecco! Once again my partner and I could not force ourselves to try something other than the beef wellington, and once again we melted with delight as did the meat! We happily broke our repeptavie cycle though when it came to the starters: my french onion soup with gruyere crostini was to die for, and along with my boyfirend's crab salad meant that we had to do the dance of the plates to get the benefit of both. Pudding: Chocolate Fonant for me! - what else? - forget that M & S advert with that stodgy choc pud pouring all over the plate: this was the real deal, light crisp and warm pudding with slightly warmer (but not microwave burn-your-tongue) real chocolate sauce oozing from inside. Mmmmmmm. Washed down with another great bottle of wine - an extremely reasonably priced Argentinian red, and topped off with Drambuies and happy, sated chats with the chef and owner.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
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louise north
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, December 08, 2006

my flat mate & i have recently moved to the area and heard a lot of great stuff about Frocks, so we had to give it a go. All I can say is that we were not disappointed at all. Frocks lives up to the hype that surrounds it and I will definately be venturing back in the very near future. In fact, I have booked my office Christmas party there for 25 people in December so be warned all regulars & new comers you may want to stay away on that night!!!!
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jessie
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

My partner and I recently went for a spur-of-the-moment dinner at Frocks, and may I say that the experience was absolutely divine. It's very deceiving small-fronted appearance does not belie the huge downstairs cellar room (which was sadly shut on our visit) or the outdoor seating area, which was being wholly taken advantage of on the mild summer's evening. We arrived for around 7pm, and were very glad that we did so, after seeing the steady stream of people start pouring in for the next hour and a half. The service appeared to be a sole waiter who was charming and knowledgeable, and whose demeanour was in my opinion, perfect - not too attentive but we never felt like we needed to grab anyone's attention.

The food was absolutely divine - I had the duck confit with red cabbage and jus, and being something of an obsessive when it comes to duck, I was most impressed with the tenderness and juicy texture of a cut that can err on the side of stringy if not prepared carefully. My partner has the veal escalope which although I wasn't fast enough to grab a bit of, I am assured was equally as lovely.

My partner then opted for a dessert, which from memory was some sort of amazing-looking chocolate and vanilla cheesecake-esque concotion which looked to be rich enough to make your belly hurt just looking at it. This didn't stop his dessert from disappearing in the time it took me to visit the bathroom however.

I very rarely get this excited about a restaurant on the first visit, but Frocks is by far and large the best little find I've had the pleasure of experiencing dining at for a very long time. I almost wish I wasn't raving about it so much, so as to keep it for myself! Well done to all at Frocks.
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Courtney
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 23, 2006