Jan 15

Jan 15 28°-50°

Anne-Marie Minhall, Restaurant Reviews, Musings, Winter

I'm out for the first weekend lunch of 2023.

It's a long-awaited reunion with an old friend who has a great knack of finding restaurants with money-saving deals.

Her choice for both of us on this occasion is here: https://2850oxfordcircus.co.uk It's their A La Carte menu at 50% off.

I'm a couple of minutes late and my companion is already in place. I'm a bit grumpy because of my delayed arrival due to others overrunning, not me. Anyhow, our table is a little too near the draughty entrance & the head of staff admits that she hasn't turned on the heating yet. I check with the friend to see if she's okay for us to move to another table further within the restaurant. She agrees.

Once ensconced & warmed up, drinks are ordered & menus viewed.

For my friend it's the Wild Mushroom & Ham Hock to begin whilst for me it was three Grilled Prawns with Aioli.

Bread & Butter to mop everything.

The main event sees the compadre choosing the Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Crushed New Potato, Mushroom & Lamb Jus accompanied by Swiss Chard & Garlic Butter.

For me, the Grilled Octopus was joined by Urid Lentils & Piquillo Peppers plus a side of Truffled Endive Salad.

Our plates were cleared. Very tasty food, all of it, including an Apple & Rhubarb Crumble.

The service was enthusiastic & attentive.

Mind you, if I had been paying the full whack for all of the above instead of half the price, I'm not sure that I would've been quite as happy. I'm being honest. Including drinks we would have been looking at a bill of £130.00 each. Hmmm. There are better, (warmer), venues in London Town with equally good food on offer & probably slightly cheaper, too.

This is not to take away from what was a lovely afternoon spent in the company of a cherished friend. One, who like me, adores eating & drinking & chatting away on a blustery & rainy January day.

The restaurant became slightly busier as the light began to fade but I do wonder how these places can survive when they're charging so much. The food that we tasted - excellent. The prices of the portions served - disappointing.

One of the many unfettered delights of life for me is eating out & being in great company. I hope that will never change but, in these economically challenging times, I'll be picking venues more carefully in the future.

AMM