All reader reviews by timfg

Theo Randall @The InterContinental

Ate here with my partner as a late celebration of my 40th birthday in the post-Christmas lull, having read Jay Rayner's assessment in the Observer - he considered it the best meal he'd eaten this year.

And I'd agree - the food is just phenomenal, the ingredients clearly the best the restaurant can source on the day. The service was faultless and friendly, without being overbearing - which can be the case when a restaurant is relatively empty, as it was on this Thursday lunchtime after the excess of Christmas. Nicest touch was the offer to give us four half-desserts for the price of two, as we clearly couldn't decide when confronted with an array of all-too-tempting dishes. Even better was that this turned up as a large platter of samplers of pretty much the whole dessert menu. We gorged and gorged again, just fantastic.

The lunch menu is very reasonably priced at £23 for starter-mid-main and £4.50 for dessert, but this can quickly double if you select a la carte, as one of us did. Neither is this the sort of venue where you'll want to be too heavy on the aperitifs, at £9 for a G&T, albeit a perfectly mixed hefty double. Four courses each, a couple of G&Ts, a bottle of Barolo and a glass of Chardonnay - oh, and coffee - came to £180, incl service. But I think this this the best value meal we've eaten for some time, perhaps ever: It was really that good.

Saturday, January 06, 2007
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10