The River Cafe

Had waited for some time to visit the River Cafe and finally made it last week (Tues) with a girlfriend for lunch as my employer had asked me to check it out with a view to him taking some clients. Will not return in a hurry as we were met with rudeness when we arrived, rudeness in particular by an aggressive gentleman who approached the table and had a 'rant' at the fact that we hadn't expressed we might choose to eat from the winter special offer menu and from that point on everyone lost interest. No-one enquired whether we had enjoyed the meal or not. The restaurant was half empty with endless staff busying themselves with cleaning glasses etc but no one found the time to offer us a drink whilst we waited for 15 mins at an unattended bar - we had to ask an extremely busy girl rushing by whether it would be possible to be served. Ruth Rogers visited the gentlemen at the table next to us on her way in - how I wished she had made a nod towards our table when I would have confirmed that the food was excellent but the staff extremely lacking in any warmth or manner - such a disappointment and atmosphere less as we were made to feel an inconvenience.
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Mrs N MacKenzie
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 8
Friday, January 22, 2010

i went to the river cafe as part of a wedding gift. it was a lovely day and so we decided to sit outside. However, they have a play area in the middle of the dining area which isn't a great idea and one of the kids kicked a football towards our table, which had our wine, water and starters on there, and the ball hit me in the head, wasn't best pleased! The food was quite bland but well made, I wouldn't say it was a great Italian restaurant if thats what you are looking for. the mains are around £28-34 which is quite pricey, for this price i would expect a lot more.
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- View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, November 26, 2009

A feast of Mediterranean culinary perfection at The River Cafe in Hammersmith would be all that one could wish for on the eve of their one year anniversary into coupledom. Ideally, the evening would be a synthesis of sparkling perfection; overindulgent melting into translucence of frothy warmth, seamlessness, angst-free and with an abundance of lip colour longevity. It may be that the symptom of society -that we are conditioned to expect idyllic airbrushed snapshots of our contrasting and occasionally brutal reality – is to blame for my folly. Needless-to-say, our evening was far from picture perfect idealism.

What I failed to consider is that life would not cease to occur around us; however special, a trip to savour the delights of two of Great Britian’s most influential chefs Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers – who, together trained and inspired Jamie Oliver – at their beautiful restaurant in Hammersmith, sadly did not ensure that the day was stress-free. A new job, long working hours, a grumpy parent causing –petty and pointless- emotional distress and sheer exhaustion collided between my companion and I as we openly shared our burdens of toil and frustration on the circuitous train journey to our heavenly destination. I am sure it is not surprising that train tedium did not do much to soothe our frazzled nerves.

Still, we finally arrived in good time and typically, I felt a lot less like Keira Knightly –sweeping effortlessly through the doors in Chanel Rouge – and related slightly more to the social awkwardness of a real-life Bridget Jones, surrounded by ‘upper-middle class twits’ as she herself delicately phrases it. In retrospect of this moment, my feelings of ridiculousness act almost as a forewarning –that I did not heed- instead, I reconciled myself to my social absurdity and focused on lubricating my palette.

The fruit of the season; a delightfully floral and nectar-honeyed pear coupled with frosted prosecco warmed the cockles of my soul and endeared my heart to The River Cafe- were I not already enchanted by many a recommendation and rumour, it would have been love at first sight. The beau was rapturously contented from the minute he got his mitts around a bottle of beer – simple pleasures for a simple fellow.

A quick glance down the length of this vibrantly bustling space and a large projected clock brought me up to speed as I realised that time had evaded me throughout our wearying travels. Despite the 9.15pm booking, we are speedily whisked through the suburban canteen of a restaurant and seemingly relocated at a humble table for two opposite the bar; time for wine. A careful scour of the menu and I saw nothing of familiarity and had not got a clue which wine to choose; I am so accustomed to choosing a Chardonnay Semillon that I was utterly flummoxed and felt a Bridget moment coming on. Opting for a stab-in-the-dark-lucky-dip approach, I pointed and picked a...Sardinian Vermentino 'Crabilis'

Lucky-dip wine No1 had an overpowering gooseberry sourness that followed my pear aperitif and made me want to cry acid. I was then recommended the Riesling of Trentino (south of the Tyrolean alps, which was still not quite what I was after, but frankly it complimented my companions antipasti of tender chargrilled squid with subtle chillies; the fusion of gentle aromatic warmth, softly smoky flesh and peppery rocket met with the citric syrup of the Riesling and the equilibrium was quite perfect.

Anticipating his gamey grouse, the beau was drinking a sharp and crimson-rich red, which I can’t believe met with his squid quite as harmoniously as my white; Oh the pleasure that can be sought through anti-analytical simplicity –if you happen to be of that breed.

Honestly, the squid could have stood alone; I could have polished it off easily with water- yes, tap water- and skipped straight to the cheque. No doubt I would be missing an important poetic romance of the experience – the myriad of elegant profundities of squid and chillies as enhanced by a buono vino. Believe me, Passion Pants (our saucy waiter) who was no doubt soused with frosty nectar himself, did much to educate me in the subtleties of authentic Italian cuisine; he was clearly motivated by the taste and experience of food, driven to share and inspire others with the joys of Italian food and not by the jingle-jangle-denim-pockets of regular clientele and investment bankers.

He proudly presented -the absurdly simple and yet majestically perfect- crusty warm ciabatta with the River Cafe’s florally Tuscan extra virgin olive oil as if it were a bottle of Moët & Chandon Cuvée. Quite rightly, the complexities of the oil were staggering, much like sampling a fine wine.

It was the Bagna Cauda di Nebbiolo that Passion Pants recommended that blew me away; truly I could have cried right there on my plate, it was so heavenly. Ever the figure of poise and elegance, I waited and...well, cried in my secondi –oh, I shall explain shortly. Originally a Piedmontese dip of anchovies, garlic, olive oil and butter, served as an accompaniment to autumnal vegetables, this Bagna Cauda was enriched with a rubied Piedmontese Nebbiolo. The river cafe’s seductively sensuous ‘hot bath’ sauce – in translation- was drizzled over boiled seasonal vegetables, pumpkin, Florence fennel, spinach and chard stalks.

The anchovy and Nebbiolo red wine sauce was a smooth, dark hue some degree between mahogany and burgundy. It was chocolaty-rich, yet with saline savouriness, it was vaguely reminiscent of Sunday’s roast gravy – and no not Bisto gravy, I mean pan-scraping gravy with rump beef juices, sweet roasted garlic and red onion. This sauce inescapably and evocatively transported me back to autumnal Sunday’s of my childhood and summoned sensory –semi-kinaesthetic- memories of background acoustic folk, crackling hearth lulls and aromatic wisps of my Dad’s amazing roast dinners. It was just too bad that he happened to be the irritable cause of my upset. And, it was around the point when Passion Pants brought me my beautiful secondi of wood-roasted Dover sole –silkily delicate and soft- with barky marjoram, intense capers, trevise and Italian spinach. Once again, the flavours gently balanced to perfection, however, my heart ruled over my head.

Unfortunately, as the beau casually and softly referred to a gruff lecture that I had received earlier that evening from my father – whom I have always thought that I could never please anyway- I cried. I did not burst into a fit of tears – no, at this point, nobody would have noticed the guiltily-quiet, salty tear slowly stroke my cheek and drop tragically from my chin into my beautiful dinner, nobody but the terrified man seated opposite, who loves me. Yes, a heart-rules-over-head moment indeed, the tears fell prior to any warning and without any cerebral consent what-so-ever.

It was only natural – undeniably human- of me to react as I did, especially when the upset was stimulated by exhaustion, an abundance of alcoholic fuel and sparked by an asinine reminder from a lovely- however innately dim creature- a man.

Despite, my emotional emancipation and puffy-eyed-weariness the next morning, I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at the River Cafe and would definitely advocate a second visit. I, however, will endeavour to leave my tissues behind next time and will be moved to cry a river for no man, rather I will shed a tear exclusively for the decadent deliciousness of The River Cafe’s variety of peasant-grub-luxury.
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EF
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Sunday, November 15, 2009

Have to agree with lots of previous comments - the food ingredients are top quality but the prices make you feel you're being milked. I'm sure they'll keep packing in the punters, but around thirty quid for most mains is OTT relative to what arrives on the plate. So there comes a point where you start comparing with excellent establishments that provide good or better food for half to three quarters of the price.

The service is among the best I have ever experienced. Which is a great shame, because we won't be going back.
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Trevor
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Sunday, September 13, 2009

the food is excellent, they give you good sizeable portions for the main course and have a wide variety of choices. The bread is delicous usually ciabbatta. The service is excellent and the atmosphere when sitting outside is lovely. They have a delicious almond tart for desert and straciatella ice cream which i would recommend.
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alexandra
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, September 06, 2009

We ate on a summer lunchtime as a couple.

Food was good. Portions larger than some reviews had led me to expect. Cooking was spot on, and ingredients good, though I struggled to detect, in a restaurant famed for sourcing the very best of produce, a noticeable difference in quality from many other decent London restaurants. Proscuitto and black figs - beautifully textured and flavoured antipasti, with the addition of mint inspired: sweet, salty, fragrant. Squid less interesting, but OK. Primi: seafood risotto very pelasant, generous scallops, langoustines etc...I added more black pepper but I do like my pepper. Secondi: beef, beautiful piece of beef, have not had better, and beautifully cooked. Horseradish could have been firier, for me. Summer pudding desert was the highlight of the meal: texture and taste superb: fresh and comforting.

Service OK...found the extremely casual and (for the girls) fairly provocative style of dress a distraction. In no sense did the service, which was laidback and friendly, add to a sense of occasion or convey a sense that the guest's presence was welcome. Service was prompt but unmemorable.

Atmosphere, relaxed, European, casual. Personally, I prefer a little more sense of occasion and though decor was fun and modern, it lacked for me those details that add to the enjoyment of good food.

Wine list great value.

Overall, my opinion is that whilst all elements are good, they do not live up to the price being charged. Simply: the price puts this place in the 'special occasion' category for most people, but the service, ambience and presentation of dishes lacks the flourish, attention to detail and sense of occasion that diners want for anniversaries birthdays (I think, but then this place is such an institution that I know some will agree).

If I was wealthy I would consider this place a perfect 'let's do lunch' spot....being of more modest means next time I have money of this kind to spend I think I would prefer Tom Aikens, York and Albany etc where I have eaten food that is as good and a cheaper price.
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6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, August 16, 2009

Pretty disappointed. Went there with my friend I often cook together with, and probably had too high expectations.

Starter of vegetables was o.k., but really nothing spectacular I wouldn't do myself few times a week. The same about my pasta dish. My friend sent back her pasta dish, becasue it was a discusting looking thing, swimming in oil, with zucchini cooked to mash. The reaction of the sevice was top, however : she take it away, brought the other choice quickly and didn't charged the old one.

Chocolate nemesis was perfect. Panna cotta was one good p.c., nothing more or less.

The atmosphere is like in a canteen, and I wouldn't want to go there in the evening. Respectively, I have no reason to go back there.
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choekyi nyima - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Saturday, June 13, 2009