Silk

A superb venue!!! Me and my friends had a great time. Menu was great and so was the ambience. Food is a lovely fusion of thai and indian food. Service was exceptionally well. The Head waiter presented the menu in a wonderful fashion and explained us about the sharing concept, which we willingly agreed to. We were served a combination of four different starters on our platters, something very unique. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Good food marked with a superb service makes this place a great venue. We highly recommend it.
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simon
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 28, 2006

I had an omen of bad things to come when after booking I was unable to get any replies to the emails I sent asking a couple of questions. I booked through this site for the Valentines day deal which combined an all inclusive meal with a romantic film showing in the attached hotels private cinema for £150 for two.

Having not been to this restaurant before I wasn't sure what to expect but the reviews here were great and the photos made it look intimate and romantic.

You enter through the hotel lobby, which is not impressive. The restaurant itself is unconventional though, being an old court. It is only small with wood panelling and a very high ceiling, slightly let down by the decor. We had booked for the first sitting at 7pm and were the first to arrive. We were given a choice of four tables nearest the door but after sitting down my partner was feeling cold from the draught coming in the door (flickering candles and moving flower arrangements added to the wind tunnel ambience!) I say candles - they were actually metal painted white to look a bit like a candle with a gas supply to save them the obviously laborious job of replacing them. They shut the door for us to try to reduce the draught but refused to move us to a table laid for three in a more sheltered position saying that it was booked.

We were brought a bottle of water (£5.50) and a little glass of spicey 'amuse bouche' which was tasty. The valentines menu was brought in a presentation case. It did however feel more cheesy than romantic. My partner was still feeling cold so we asked if we could possibly be moved further away from the door - ideally to a three person table on the raised area where the 'candles' seemed to be flickering less furiously. Again they refused with the ready booked excuse but they did say they would turn the heating up.

The champagne was brought (I was served before my partner) and while waiting for the starter gave up on suffering the gale and called the manager saying that we really did need to move. My partner was wearing her full length coat by this stage. He allowed us to move to the raised table almost immediately which was a definite improvement although both of us had to contend with straddling a table leg.

The food started well with interesting crab cake with avocado surrounded by soup for my partner and mozarella and avocodo surrounded by soup for me. Not very asian but tasty nonetheless.

While waiting for the second course we were put off by the loud piped dance music (Kylie, Rachel Stevens, Beyonce) which seemed somewhat out of keeping with the romantic theme of what we had paid for. It wasn't helped by the waiter who kept displaying his dance moves and singing along to the tracks while standing about 4 feet from us. I wanted to say something but was restrained by my partner as she was feeling that we had made enough fuss already and we should just laugh at the situation, thumbprints on cuttlery and dodgy tablecloth, rather than trying to resurrect any romance from it!

The remainder of the food was very nicely presented with some interesting tastes amongst it. I enjoyed most of it although definitely nothing to write home about. My partner didn't enjoy the mix of cuisines and neither of us finished everything (very unusual for us).

By the time the dessert came we were just ready to leave and the surly nature of a couple of the waiters together with the musical accompaniment had almost certainly affected how we viewed the food.

The final bill came to £175.50 - and that was with no extra wine. We gave the film a miss (they considered 'The Wedding Crashers' a suitably romantic valentine days film) and went home with a decidedly bitter taste in our mouth. it wasn't helped when we looked on this site and realised that a meal at Gordon Ramsays would not have been a lot more!

Unfortunately what I had hoped would be a romantic and special evening turned into the worst dining experience I have had. I have never left a review on here before but we felt we owed it to anyone assessing this place for a romantic meal.

If it had been half this price, and the music, waiter and draught hadn't been a problem then this would have made for a reasonable night out.

Oh - and the supposed trio who had booked the table never appeared - the restaurant remained less than a quarter full the whole time we were there.
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parksy
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 12, 2006

A must visit - set in the very new and trendy Courthouse Hotel opposite Carnaby Street - we very much liked the idea that the restaurant was hard to find - even when we were in the Hotel. It is tucked away as it is in the former Court. We felt intimidated at first but then realised how special we were - excellent service. The food was divine - a blend of Indian and Thai cuisine with emphasis on the falvours and spices explained the waiter and that is exactly what we got. The presentation made us feel even more special and all in all it was a great experience and now a regular dining venue for our group. The bat is also great - original prison cells!!!!!! We evensaw A-ha (remember them) in the lobby!
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Kanika Doshi
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, January 28, 2006

What a wonderful evening we have had. I went with my girlfriend to celebrate her b'day and now i can say for sure that we couldnt have found a better restaurant. Lovely ambience, food was great and service exceptionally well!! We got a 2 for 1 deal but wouldnt have mind paying full price as the place rightfully deserves it. Highly recommended
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paul p
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, January 20, 2006

A nice restaurant, pleasant atmosphere but a little on the small side. me and my friends felt a little intimidated as it was so small and the waiters could hear every word we were saying!

food was nice however the portions were way too small for the price. would never have gone there if it had not been for the 50% discount.
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Ruby
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, January 18, 2006

We had dinner there tonight for my husband's birthday. I forgot to take directions with me on finding the place so we missed the restaurant along the street initially. Perhaps they need a larger sign or something to point it out?

The restaurant environment and cutlery is pretty cool, menu presentation and the staff seemed nice and attentive as mentioned by other reviewers. I'm glad we did the dinner deal cos I would never have paid full price for the food cos it's not worth it.

I ordered a small serving of the King scallops starter. The server brought out a massive plate with 2 small-medium sized scallops on tiny scallop shape dish. If I was to have paid 7 quid I'd be thinking wtf? The sauce and scallop had only tasted like water. Nice texture though but didn't do anything for me.

We ordered garlic naan - v. yummy and crispy. We also got 3 regular sized mains - the lamb shank and Makhmali murgh tikka (chicken) and prik thai (tofu). I'll start from the best of the 3. The chicken was a decent serving and the sauce was sweet and nice texture but nothing really distinguished about the flavour. The tofu dish was only 4 triangles of tofu ( come on for 9 quid full price??) . We eat alot of tofu and 4 squares was a bit strange for 9 quid. I wouldn't have minded if the tofu and sauce were delicious, the chilli was so overpowering that the rest of the ingredients in the dish were weak in comparison. Lastly, the lamb shank. It was a medium sized lamb shank. I'm not quite sure how it's meant to be cooked for asian dishes, but I only know of the method where the meat should easily be cut off or fall off the bone from european dishes (??) The meat was difficult to get off the bone with the cutlery we were given and I was tempted to ask for a steak knife. On top of that the meat seemed a bit tough and chewy. we tried to be optimistic and asked the waiter about the lamb shanks about it's texture and he said if the meat fell of it would have been overcooked. Dont' know but this meat was definitely not going to fall off the bone on this side of christmas. This kind of put us off this dish altogether and the sauce was average. One of the other waiters asked us what we thought of the meal.. We told him we thought the shanks were overcooked and the chilli overpowered the tofu dish as a note but not as a real complaint. In response to this the waiter's attentive attitude soured and he did not seem to like us saying it.

I expected the meal to be nice and tasty based on other reviews and was looking fwd to this for my husband's birthday but the food was only average. The hotel's nice and all and so is the restaurant but the food would never bring me back. It's just ok.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Me and a couple of my girlfriends went to this resturant for my birthday, and i can now say it is my favourite restaurant. The food was very tasty, well presented and VERY reasonably priced. i'm forgeting the really nice staff, the chef even came out when we had finished our meal. I felt like a minor celeb!!! overall a great place to eat out.
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Lorraine
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Used this site's offer of 50% off and tried Silk. it was SO worth it! We started with two aperitifs (later forgotten on the bill). All served nicely, accompanied by their homemade crispy crackers and three different lovely dips (sultanas, spicy pumpkin and tomato sauce). We then ordered our food from the interesting and varied menu. The menu itself is very creative, in bamboo and with explanation of the restaurant concept (the silk route and the spices). We ordered prawns with coriander and lime (tasty and generous portion) and spicy corn cakes (with chilli sauce). Then our mains: chicken similar to Tikka, lamb, and 24 days aged marinated beef. All tasty and original. Everything in this restaurant is really well presented. The cutlery and glass ware are beautiful, dishes are arranged in nice ways with loads of garnish, the service is attentive enough (they got one order wrong, and not only we ate it, but also the right dish was promptly re-served). We then ordered desserts and my coconut and lemongrass creme brulee was fantastic, really light considering it was a creme brulee. My husband opted for hazelnut coated chocolate cake with rapsberry and schezuan pepper. Lovely combination. We had abottle of white (yes wines arent' cheap! This was £28 and one of the cheapest) plus two waters, and including service we paid £47 for two!All portions can be in regular or small size and we all went for small but they were pretty normal size and filling enough. A real bargain in central London in a beautiful setting and relaxed athmosphere.
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Fried Egg Fred
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 19, 2005

What fantastic food but what a shame that such an appealing looking offer was spoiled by an extrelemy expensive drinks list. House white wine at £42 a bottle and water at £5.50 a bottle, combined with "snooty" service when we made a point of asking the price took the edge off what would otherwise have been a super evening. The quality of the food is super - and even at full price, is good value. We will return -with tee-total friends.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Fabulous - service is superb. The restaurant has a fusion of Thai and Indian dishes. We had the chicken thai green curry with fried rice and the srout salad. Very fresh and tasty. My husband tried the scallops in a mint/cocnut broth and the jumbo prawns. Excellent. The desserts we fabulous especially the chocolate hazelnut fondant. The wine selection was very good and complimented the food well. Full marks to the team as I believe they have just opened with a new menu.
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Rachel Symmonds
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, November 25, 2005