The Artichoke

Our first visit today on a bust Saturday lunch to this rather small modern European restaurant right in the middle of Amershams Old Town.

The food was pretty good, though a little variable. I thought my amuse bouche of celeriac soup and first course of quail breast and a ravioli of quail were very good- and in this context that means Michelin star quality. By comparison my duck main course and white chocolate parfait were by comparison mundane- not that you could fault the cooking or presentation- more the conception of the dishes really. My wife , having made different choices, thought that her dessert was really very good and that her starter of celery soup was weak. Summarising we each ate some very good food and some which was just ok. If they created everything to the standard of their best dishes, a Michelin star shouldn't be far away IMO.

Service was good- polite and timely, if perhaps a little serious.

A word on value for money. This isn't a cheap place to eat by any means- their menu and set lunch are as expensive as you'd find in a rated restaurant in London. But its the wine list where value is really hard to find, with few bottles below £30 and IMO high markups. Coffee and petits fours were not a bargain either considering that there were two small items each as the petits fours. Portion sizes were just a little on the small side too.. Now all this stops well short of highway robbery for me, but put this retaurant in a locality where there are several places at a similar quality level, and it might struggle a little on this dimension.
Comment on this reader review

David Henderson
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Saturday, February 19, 2011