The Little Square

I gladly stumbled across this restaurant late last Saturday night; the staff welcomed us in wholeheartedly and we were seated straight away on the one remaining table. I loved the feel of the place from the moment I walked in; it's very intimate but there is enough space in between tables to make sure you can have your very own party without fear of being eavesdropped on. the bustle in the background was perfect for dinner conversation and the small brasserie dark brown decor added to the cosiness.

There was quite a wide variety of dishes to choose from: starters, pastas, main courses and desserts; but given the late night start, my dinner companion and I stuck to one course – both choosing from the pasta range. I went for a saffron and asparagus risotto with parmesan; my friend chose a penne dish with asparagus, pesto, parmesan and a grilled chicken breast. The food arrived promptly and was presented inoffensively. However the culinary experience was far from amazing, in particular my own dish. I tend to cook quite a lot of risottos myself and this one I felt was totally undercooked, so much so that after a few mouthfuls I gave up on the rock hard rice and just picked out the asparagus; it was also an incredibly arid dish which made the wine we'd ordered come in handy. The penne dish was of far superior quality (in relative terms) – nothing out of this world but cooked well, flavoured nicely – resulting in one cleared plate.

The waiter on clearing up the table did ask if everything had been ok; I wasn't in the mood for causing a fuss so I said everything had been fine; he didn't press the matter. That made me chuckle inside; he must have thought I was on one hell of a diet given the amount of rice I'd left…

I did find that the service was good throughout the meal; we stayed until very late and were not asked to leave before we were ready – despite the fact that it was way past closing time.

We'd been looked after, I'd definitely return…I'd just choose something else on the menu…