The Hartley review by Maria
This had been a favourite of ours for a year or more, but we went a week ago on Monday and it was an utter disaster. We previously loved the place, it's commitment to excellent quality ingredients, interesting combinations of food, and beautiful cooking.
Things have gone seriously downhill.
First of all, they served us sliced white bread. Not even Hovis, but the nastiest cheapest white bread imaginable. Now I understand it was Monday, and sometimes deliveries don't come on time, but please. Borough Market is 15 mins away, they could have bought bread there. Frankly a good chef will bake his own if he has run out. But there appears to be nothing approaching a good chef left at the Hartley.
The starter of chicken & foie gras terrine was insipid, unimaginative and tasteless. The pork for main course was overcooked to the point of cremation. I'm surprised it didn't come with a tombstone. The burger was also, cooked within an inch of it's life - and smaller than ever before. The chips somehow managed to be both soggy and burnt - a remarkable feat of ineptitude. It was also served on (again) cheap white bun bread - even McDonalds has better burger buns than this. And they don't charge upwards of £8.
We escaped after this. But not without being thrown the dessert menu by the waitress- which was lacking in imagination, panache and anything approaching an interesting dessert.
The chef has changed, and the new one seems to like an understanding of fresh ingredients, any sort of sensitivity of hand in terms of adding spices, and an utter inability to cook things until they were done.
Never ever going again. We've struck it off our regular's list and are now looking for somewhere new to go.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
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