The Clarendon

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - The Clarendon is in a lovely space. It's all exposed wood and brick, cosy and with high ceilings and enormous windows. Upstairs is a pair of lounges and then a roof terrace...There was a very nice ham hock terrine with a piquant 'paprika caramel' sauce, and some heavy duty giant pan-fried prawns that were good but predictably a hassle to eat and therefore a bit out of place. The aforementioned steak was enormous - the width of a frisbee - but juicy and good. The amber chips on the sidecompleted the value-for-money feel of the plate.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - What was AWT's Notting Grill is now The Clarendon...The ground floor has a bare brick wall, open kitchen and reverberating acoustics. The front of house staff seemed not to have a clue. This bunch couldn't run a bath but the chefs produced decent if fairly run-of-the-mill cooking. Mostly it is grills, with fine rib-eye steak and calf's liver, but our burger was much too salty and roast Middle White pork was unavailable at point of service - the order had nevertheless blithely been taken.