Cantaloupe review by Savage Pink
The ambience is great : respectably dim lighting, big wooden bench seating and nooks and crannies full of leather settees, with low-key and unobtrusive music burbling away in the background. Mainly a vast bar with a restaurant tucked away in the back.
On the Monday we visited it was virtually deserted, and we headed straight for the restaurant section as we were famished. Immediately put off by the waitress' off-hand manner and the fact that although there were only 3 couple dining, she opted to sit all of us bunched up on "doubles" rather than spreading us around in the lovely banquet boothes. (I would understand if they were expecting a rush, but when we left 2 hours later no other diners had presented themselves.) We felt so uncomfortable that we decided to move to the spacious front bar and eat there.
We ordered a hot tapas platter to share, which comprised skewered kitchen and lamb, abondigos, and various other meat savouries along with flatbread and dips. Well prepared but not remarkable. The portions were good (two of us were quite full afterwards) but it was a little overpriced at £18. The Weissbeer on tap was fresh and well kept, although the other tap beers offered were uninspirational, there was a decent selection of bottled beers from around the world. The staff and service at the bar were far more welcoming than in the restaurant. I would absolutely recommend it for a quiet drink or a bite early in the week, but I'm sure it's a completely different planet on Friday or Saturday, when all the bars and restaurants in Shoreditch and Hoxton are rammed and noisey.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
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