Arbutus

I invited a friend along to join me for lunch at Arbutus this afternoon in celebration of the commencement of 9 week's off work. And it did not disappoint. I dined on the lunch set menu (most of the 9 weeks is unpaid!), which is very good value at around £17 for three courses. Choices are, of course limited, but if you don't want to break the bank the set menu is the way forward. I probably ate the richest three combinations of starter, main and dessert, but didn't come close to being bloated. I just came away feeling nicely full, and very glad that I'd finally tried it out.

Anyway, the meal…

My weakness is always the aperitif (I rarely say no even when having a ‘virgin’ lunch). The £9.95 for the prosecco with clementines and campari was very steep – for that price though you would have thought they should have served it with champagne! Didn't stop me ordering it though, and didn't stop me enjoying it.

For starters I had a divine slow cooked belly of lamb which was very thinly sliced and arranged on the plate in the way that beef carpaccio usually is. The flavour was beautiful – absolutely no mistaking that it was lamb – really tender. It was served with a lightly spiced aubergine and yoghurt concoction described as “Iranian aubergine – kashk bademjan”. If you're into your middle eastern food then you'll love this dish, and if you don't know if you like that type of food or not, then just give it a go as I don't think you'll be disappointed. Incidentally I noticed that this was also on the a la carte lunch menu so thought it was a good option.

For the main I ordered roasted rabbit with savoy cabbage and pancetta. The jus it was served with was delicious, as was everything else on the plate. If you don't like meat on the bone, then this is not the dish for you. The rabbit was also served slightly pink. Clearly, none on this bothered me. It was very, very good.

Dessert was the only disappointment. Bitter chocolate mousse – served with what I think was broken pink sugared pistachios in a metal bowl. It wasn't that it wasn't nice – it was. It just wasn't 'Wow, love this". Just a bitter chocolate mousse, made better because of the texture of the crunchy pistachios.

Ended the meal nicely with a black coffee.

Paid £35 including tip. So I managed to pretty much double the fixed price menu by ordering the apertif! Oh well, no regrets to be honest. Great way to catch up with one of my closest friends – a good excuse for her to take a long lunch.

Smart but casual restaurant. Beautiful space, and very bright, but in a really good way. I could tell it was going to great from the outside looking in. Great place for lunch. Would love to try it for dinner!

Can certainly recommend Arbutus as a great place to get away from the hell that is Oxford Street to enjoy some great food in lovely surroundings. You don't need me to tell you to go there though – it's already got 3 square meal stars!

I have been a fan of Arbutus for years and eat there regularly. The food and service is always good, especially the service – which is personable yet professional.
My visit there yesterday totally destroyed everything I've admired about their staff and ethos. It was a busy evening at about 7pm and we were seated readily. Our waiter was very nice but also very stressed. He was perspiring and sweat was literally dripping off his head. He tried to be calm but he was in a hurry when describing the menu to us. My dinner partner and I felt stressed.
My dish the Fish Boulabaisse arrived and the fish wasn't cooked through. I sent the dish back only for it to return looking like another dish. The chef has decided to fry it rather than poach it. The dish had a layer of oil floating on it. I explained to the waiter that this dish wasn't right and he tried to explain that the dish is cooked this way! I've eaten this dish numerous times and as a chef, I know the difference. The manager then came and he explained that because I had complained the fish wasn't cooked (the middle of the fish was raw!), the chef had decided to grill it because poached fish cannot be poached again.
My understanding of a Michelin Star restaurant is that the service and quality should be of a high standard and pride?. Shouldn't the chef re-cook the dish then? The manager said he could ask the chef to make me a new dish should I request so. I declined as I had lost my appetite by then. The manager and waiters then avoided our table like the plaque while I watched my partner consume his meal. When he finished his meal, the manager came to clear the table. As he was in the act of clearing the table, he told us our meal was on the house and to feel free to order some dessert to make up – all this while, he never established eye contact at all. It felt like they offered unwillingly and made to feel like we were being unreasonable.
If I was dining in a greasy spoon, I could probably accept this level of service, but this is a Michelin Star restaurant! I was very sad that a restaurant that had such quality before is now so poor. The setting was not relaxed or inviting – the lighting was bright, there was no table linen, the quality of the tables and chairs looked cheap. What's happened to the real Arbutus? OH, the pictures in this website doesn't reflect the new look of Arubutus.

Close your eyes for just a second, and Arbutus felt as if it could be some hidden trattoria in some tiny mountain village you’d searched for hours for, not the gel-slick Soho operation you might expect.

That’s because good, honest food and genuinely warm service felt paramount on our visit – not the names on the door or the faces in the windows.

Though expertly styled and ultra-efficient, each member of staff was bright, personable and intelligent. Opinions were proffered only when asked for and, when given were as forthright as much of the great food we tasted.

That simple, unabashed approach was reflected in a menu that started at Crispy Pig’s Head and ended at Pavlova, with squid, lamb shoulder and several ways with tripe in between, along with many more conventional cuts.

In fact we didn’t love everything we tried – that tripe, for example, an acquired taste perhaps and a sweet onion tart with smoked eel tart that lacked a little piquancy – but there were flavours on every plate that tasted great and each one had a genuine love about it.

A squid and mackerel burger starter, for example, was the perfect balance of soft flavours. Mains of lamb and rabbit might have looked simple but had deep meaty flavours, while for dessert clafoutis was a joyful, buttery celebration.

Unlike so many other restaurants, drinks were given proper consideration too, with several decent bottles of wine under or close to £20 and, so rare, genuinely good coffee to finish.

Good food should be able to take you somewhere else. It might have been the wine talking just a touch but coming out of Arbutus I was sure, just for a second, that I could see the roads lined with olive groves and feel the hot Italian sun. In a colder light those might have been strippers and street lights but, for that brief, beautiful moment, Arbutus had truly done its job.

I went there alone last night and it was an amazing dinner. (I didn't know at first that it is rated 1 star in the Michelin guide.) At the entrance they all look very friendly. The place looked clean, appropriate and quite modern. The menu didn't have a big choice but all the dishes looked worthy of tasting.
I tried the crispy and slowed cooked tripe with black cabbage, tomato and parmesan and I have never tasted such a particular way to cook the tripe (well you obviously should like the tripe!). Then the lamb cooked with almonds, apricots, and white beans (really tender and tasteful). At the end a custard cake in the range but well presented.
No problem at all if I ordered only a beer and water on tap to drink (and this is to appreciate).
Generally speaking the service was fast and accurate with comments on the dishes. All other customers looked satisfied. The price was acceptable 41£ (service included).
I will come back for sure and I will suggest it to my friends.

Went last night for a 9.30 table – haven't been for a while and I had forgottem quite what a superb restaurant this is. My starter of the squid & mackerel burger with razor clams is a taste sensation that I will remember for a while. Followed by the saddle of rabbit which was superb. My only grip would be that the service tailed off a bit as we had the late table – I had to turn around several times to get the attention of waiters. But in short the quality of the cooking and the price point means that this restaurant gives you more bang for your buck than most establishments in town.

We were so hoping to have a great meal here but left so disappointed. The main problem is the service which was simply awful with waiters who didn't care, didn't look and didn't deliver. The bread was cold despite them saying it was freshly baking hence the wait and my boyfriend's fish soup was so thin and tasteless it might as well have been coloured water. The worst thing is that the staff give the impression that this restaurant is the greatest place on earth and they are above all of us mere mortals who have the audacity to question them. As a girl I felt offended by the male-dominated attitude of the waiters looking down their nose at me. That's not a nice feeling.

Thankfully the sommelier was quite charming and the wine saved our conversation from becoming too stilted. In truth the food was ok, apart from the fish soup, but in terms of value it's not a place I would come again. I certainly wouldn't come here with my girlfriends as it's just not friendly enough. Not a hit, definitely a miss.

NEW REVIEW: Oh dear what has happened? The service was appalling last night. I received bread but my friend didn't. After asking, I was told the bread was ‘being baked’. Everyone around us was receiving it? I had to ask for someone to take our main course order and our dessert order. Bit disappointed to see the ‘country terrine’ on the set menu, incidentally its was on the Les Deux Salons menu last week. The terrine was being sent back in both establishments, I wonder why they are still serving it. Not good to see food being sent back by the table right next to you. Tables all around were uncleared; the table next to us had to wave for someone to come and clear the plates away. The food was very mediocre, one of the worst bouillabaisse I have ever tasted. The cheese portions £3.25 per portion were miniscule. I am very disappointed. Total rip off. They were clearly short staffed. I asked the maitre'd who was ‘standing around’ whether I could place a dessert order, she wandered away saying she would get our waiter (who was everyone elses waiter it seems). On leaving, our coats were pretty much chucked at us. I took a dear friend for his birthday after raving about the place. I was embarassed last night and I'm still quite angry. Does not deserve 3 stars at all.

OLD REVIEW: I had the fixed price for lunch. Excellent. Pork cheeks and cornish gurnard and some brie de meaux – £16.95. Absolutely outstanding for lunch. The restaurant was nice and busy and had loads of atmosphere. Service was outstanding. Very helpful – even down to helping with my eau de vie choice. Have the plum not the mirabelle. I thought I knew better. I didn't!

If a food-loving Martian with the habit of eating mid-evening landed in London today, he’d be hard-pressed to realise that we are supposedly in the midst of a period of economic austerity: trying to book a table in a reasonably high-end restaurant for 8.30pm is virtually impossible (no problem if you fancy dining at 6pm or 9.30pm…). Hence the fall back on Arbutus after a failure to secure a table at its newly opened sister restaurant, Les Deux Salons. It was by no means a consolation prize – this was the Real Thing. Apart from an annoying wait during which the barman seemed incapable of whipping up a Negroni and a Martini in less than a quarter of an hour, this was close to perfection. The room’s minimal but warm with some good modern art on the walls. The atmosphere’s buzzy and the staff attentive – if in that slightly cool/friendly way that Harry Enfield nailed so perfectly.
The food, though, was faultless. A starter of a ‘squid and mackerel “burger”’ – a fishcake to you and me – ‘parsley, razor clams and sea purslane’ was fabulous, even if no one had owned up to the lemon grass and its, therefore, Thai progeny. Spongy and flavoursome it was heaven, and the razor clams – diced with the leaves – providing an ideal bass-note (£9.95). A salad of smoked eel (deliciously oily in a good way!) with a warm potato salad and merguez sausage was a gorgeously comforting creation (£9.95).
The mains were all deeply alluring but we both plumped for the “Saddle of rabbit, caramelized endive and shoulder cottage pie” – and so, it appeared, did most tables. It was a divine ensemble: little cylinders of succulent rabbit saddle, wrapped in parma ham and sealed with a wonderfully rich paté with a sweet little pot of rabbit shoulder cottage pie – comforting, unctuous and delicious (£17.95). I could have eaten it all again had I not stuffed myself on the fabulous bread to start.
The puddings were also terrific: one a cold chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream – OK, it ticks a few contemporary boxes, but it was very good. I had the clafoutis of William pears and vanilla ice-cream. Strictly speaking the clafoutis probably departed from tradition as the fruit was not encased in a batter, but the pastry was so light (almost like the top of a Bakewell tart) that only a harridan judge from the WI would have dared mark it down. It was exquisite. Washed down with an NZ Malborough Pinot and a carafe of Sauternes, the bill came to something in the region of £165 – every penny was worth it! I shall be going back very soon.

This used to be a firm and reliable favourite of mine and I used to use this resturant for both business and pleasure. However, i think standards have been slipping in my most recent visit. The food is still pretty good but it felt it wasnt good as it used to be. Not sure if this is over familarity or if things have indeed declined a little. The dining experience was ok but I wasn't best pleased at the snooty service, Not something I would usually associate with Arbutus which has always been about chic and smart dining without the pretencious.

The food here is good; the wine list is a joke. So, says the reviews, it encompasses “the world's greatest producers.” Er, no it doesn't. Most of the bottles are cheapo lower-end producer wines ( perfectly nice to quaff ) ludicrously marked up. The Domaine d'Ouctric is a 6 quid bottle posted here at 32. Um, let's do the math shall we? That's a 400 per cent mark up for a nice, nondescrtipt wine. The Poggio Argientera is a mediocre 10 quid affair going for 30 plus ( they don't have the more serious Capostato from the same domaine obviously ). The Pichon Condrieu is a nice 18 quid bottle going for 80. The Les Vieux Murs is a pretty bad Pouilly-Fuisse ( about 9 quid in French supermarkets ) hiked up to 36.

What a con. You would think in an age when anyone can google any wine in two seconds that restaurant managers would get their integrity together. This is a Michelin star place with a bargain basement wine list hiked up to lower end Michelin prices. Nice work, fellas. In London, it seems, this kind of bullshit is the norm and people just accept it.
In New York, I can tell you, most of those wines would be in your local shit bistro for about $20 a pop and we'd be happy to drink them at that price point.

We were a party of 6 for Saturday dinner, booked ages ago but still heavily reminded that our reservation was from 8 until 10pm when they called on the eve to confirm the booking. We actually arrrived somewhat earlier hoping to get a drink at the bar beforehand but only to be greeted somewhat frostily (definitely in keeping with the outside climate) by the receptionist (her tone and manner were such that “greeter” would be way beyond the trade description act) with “bar's fully booked” and then a somewhat reluctant, “but your table's ready so you can have drinks there if you want”. Our coats were then collected somewhat begrudgingly by another sour faced helpmate and we were led into the somewhat narrow room where our table did indeed wait.

Fortunately the evening picked up no end from this low point. Our waiter was an absolute joy – efficient but not hurried, professional but very friendly. The food was nigh on faultless, including the theatre that is their take on bouillbaisse. One of our party is a French native and although she had never seen a DIY version of the dish served in a restaurant before she did agree that it was quite a spectacle although she did get somewhat sniffy about the inclusion of a lone potato – clearly not de rigueur as an ingredient back in France. The absolute triumph however has to be the tarte tartin – my bettter half is trying to perfect his homemade version and now has perfection to aim for, such was the quality of the dish before us. A small quibble – neither of us fancied the creme fraiche that accompanied the dish and asked if we could have ice cream – not a problem, we were assured. The tiny scoop of said ice cream looked somewhat lonely alongside the mound of pudding (a dish for two, but could have easily served four) so perhaps a refusal of our request may have been a kinder option.

We were finally asked to vacate our table at 10:30 which was fine as we had by then just finished coffee. It would have been interesting to see what they would have done had they needed the table at 10 as we had barely finished dessert by then.

All in all a wonderful meal, tarnished somewhat by the aloofness and borderline rudeness of the peripheral staff. I wouldn't rush back because of this, but if someone else invited me, I don't think I'd turn it down…

I knew this would happen.. Go for the set lunch and end up seduced by the al a carte! I spent way too much on lunch last week and I blame it on the combination of my greed and an interesting menu!

Food was good but not blow you away spectacular, I love the range of wines by the caraffe, perfect for lunch.

The desserts were fantastic though and I was persuaded to try something I wouldn't normally have (it was the pear and almond cake) by a waiter and he came over to check I was enjoying it. I was really impressed by the service at Arbutus. The door staff were warm and friendly and took our coats and extra bags, we were served by two waiters and a manager all of whom were charming and knowledgable. It was lovely to have a bit of friendly banter with the staff and they were all smiles throughout our lunch. The restaurant was almost full on a Thursday lunch and the atmosphere was lively, a good mix of business lunches, tourists and families.

If the service wasn't as good as it was I'm not sure I would rush back for the food. As it is, they impressed me enough that I am looking forward to going back. Must try to stick to the set lunch next time…

Am going to Les Deux Salons this week so it will be interesting to compare it to their succesful sister restaurant.

With our appetites and anticipation fully whetted from a recent visit to Wild Honey, Arbutus proved both a treat and a let down.

In the midst of Soho, the restaurant is in a buzzy lively areas, and on entering it was the same buzzy lively atmosphere, although my table was butt up against another table divided only by a flimsy screen, so we had to endure the shouty man’s conversation next to me. As a side note, quite a few tables had high chairs so it is family friendly too.

The food was very good bistro fare, there are no fancy extras of amuse bouches or anything like that so in fine dining terms it is a little austere.

For starters we had crispy pig cheeks and Asparagus with poached egg, both very good. Mains were saddle of rabbit with liver wrapped in bacon and sea bream with mussels and chorizo. The rabbit was fantastic, mainly due to the outstandingly tasty liver running through it, very strong and rich flavour. The bream was cooked superbly and the muscles were some of the tastiest and tenderist I’ve ever had.

Cheese to follow, selection of their 5 (only) choices, the let down here was I prefer crackers with my cheese as I don’t really want a muckle big cheese sandwich after my main!

Cold chocolate fondant (not the sponge thing but more a torte) and treacle tart to finished us off, both very yum.

It is bistro fare done well in a convivial and pleasing atmosphere. But a bistro it is, the food is brought promptly, you pour your own wine and you get exactly what you order, no little compliments of the chef going on, so you are in and out fairly promptly. Whether that is a good or bad thing probably depends on your company!

The food service and atmosphere all a treat, as for the let down; well it was not long since we dined at Wild Honey, and the menu is very similar with them both sharing many of the same dished so it was very much like returning to the same restaurant after only a few weeks, which lessened the experience for me.

I’d highly recommend either restaurant but not both.

A livelier atmosphere than its sister restaurant Wild Honey, but it’s the same formula. The service is not always terribly well informed or knowledgeable and the tables are too small to accommodate all the things that you will want during the course of a meal, assuming you are planning to drink something. The bread is fabulous, tap water – a bete noir of mine – is delivered without a grimace and the food is very good. I tried getting a bigger table by booking for three and then turning up as two but that didn’t catch them out, they immediately re-jigged and put me on a table for two. Wine list is okay, if a little traditional.

Update March 2010

Have been several times in the last year most recently earlier in the month, the food is of a consistently high standard, service has improved and presentation is very strong. Sadly the tables havent got any bigger!

We did the ‘early-bird’ pre-theatre offer on a busy Friday night and the food was excellent. The set menu was very good value for money (stops at 7pm) for the food quality. It was a busy night, so lots of tables of two packed into the space, but the service was very good with lots of personality. I'm pregnant and couldn't have either of the dessert options on the set menu (one contained raw eggs, the other soft cheese- both no-no's when pregnant) but it was explained that these were the choices, and so anything else would be additional charge. So, we were charged extra for my dessert.

It's a shame they charge extra to cater to special dietry requirements, as most restaurants are flexible with coming up with alternatives.

Although having said that, I'd go again but check the menu beforehand.

Wow, this was a confusing experience. Went for a business lunch… the place was empty… waitress selling the food as it was the last Oscar to be won… food was slightly better than average… but come on… this place gets top stars and top reviews everywhere. Yes they took my coat without prompting and drinks where offered and served effortlessly, but the place was empty!! Having lunch is not just about the food – the whole experience should count. Luckily for me, I had lunch with my favorite journalist, who always commands my attention and makes me laugh.

The starter of roast beets with goat's curd was good, but not exceptional or for that matter, particularly memorable. The beef, usually a man's dish, was at best “gender confused” and the accompanying potato gratin was overcooked… yes the wine list is reasonably priced, but the lunch as an overall experience falls so very short. Perhaps I visited on a bad day??

We went here for my partners birthday. I expected great things from Arbutus due to the reports and was really disappointed. It was my next worst experiance to Langans in London and that hasn't had any of money since as this place wont be either.
Its a strange place and it just doesnt tick the boxes, The food really isnt much kop for the money, the venue is very lifeless and plastic and bright and the design poor and the staff just arnt very good.
But what really got me was when the bill arrived by falling from the sky onto the table. No i hadnt asked for the bill and it arrived? it was just plain rude and not on with a half full room. Poor show and wrong.
If you want a decent French meal in Soho get yourself down the road to the French House it knocks spots of Arbutus and is a all round more enjoyable and a far better experiance. The French House has been there for a long time but I get the feeling Arbutus might not see out 2010.

I am not exactly what you'd call a regular Michelin Star restaurant goer, but some friends and I decided to treat ourselves as a one off, and choose Arbutus as our Christmas treat to ourselves. I'm afraid, I feel that it was a complete waste of money, and definitely overpriced. Yes, the service was good, and I suppose the bread and wine was quite nice. But not being the religious type, I was looking for far more than bread and wine. The goat's cheese and beetroot salad was poorly presented, and frankly could have been prepared at home. The house special, Bouillabaisse, was bland, poorly seasoned and a real let down. Perhaps I've been watching too much MasterChef, but this was a big disappointment all round. Not recommended at all.

This was by far the finest meal I've had in all of my visits to London. And at 17.50 pounds, it was quite a bargain. When I saw the menu, I wondered what the chef meant by “crispy pork cheeks,” for the description seemed oximoronic. Cheeks are unctuous, not crisp. The dish was revelatory, the first example of the chef's masterful juxtaposition of textures. A generous portion of shredded unctuous pork cheek was served between two thin round crisp pork cheek wafers. Brilliant! The brandade that followed was not the washed-out unsalty version so often served today. Perfect! Fine Morbiere and and apple toppped panna cotta (there were two persons sharing the meal) rounded out a superb meal. Let's not forget the wine which was served in 250 ml carafes. It was a most memorable experience.

I dined with friends at Arbutus yesterday, the evening of my arrival from Toronto. The food was wonderful—probably as good as any I have had in North America, on the Continent, or in the U.K. The service, by an English waiter originally from Bath, was courteous and pleasant. This is certainly a restaurant I would recommend to any friends visiting from Canada.
With one proviso: dine early! Because of my travel fatigue, we booked at 6:00 rather than 9:00 or 9:30. Unfortunately we had to finish by 8:15, which meant that we couldn't relax over dessert and coffee. For early diners, I would suggest booking at 5:00 or 5:30. That will enable you fully to enjoy your meal.
It will also allow you to avoid the one drawback of this very pleasant space. When invaded by the younger, hearing damaged, generation, the noise level is beyond the restaurant's ability to cope. So: go early, relax, and enjoy a really quite wonderful dining experience.

I am a bit behind with my review of Arbutus, my husband and I went there in April, but here it is: We had wanted to go for a while and expectations were quite high. After having cocktails at Sanderson we were looking forward to a lovely dinner.

We got a nice table and were quickly introduced to both menu and wine list. The restaurant was quite busy but not full. We had a nice glass of champagne while we decided on the menu and wine.

My husband decided to go for pork belly with red onion jam ravioli followed by stuffed saddle of rabbit and tapioca with mango for dessert. I ordered razor clams, beef bavette and cheese.

When you go to a Michelin starred restaurant you kind of expect the food and service to be extraordinary good. My husband liked his starter, but there wasn’t anything “Michelin” over it. The razor clams were gorgeous but towards the end of the dish I had sand in my mouth, which I don’t like – Michelin or not.

The starters must have been called away midway, because our mains arrived just after the waiter had cleared the table. It felt very rushed and left us with a lot of unfinished wine. However, main courses were really good, we enjoyed it very much.

We told the waiter to put dessert and cheese on hold after the main so we could sit for a while and enjoy the wine but after 5 minutes they thought we had sat long enough and served the dishes.

My plate had 3 very small pieces of cheese and the rest of the plate was full of salad. I thought it was quite hilarious, and my husband asked the waiter why they had chosen to serve all that salad with the cheese. The reply he got was: “this is how they serve it in France”. Well, I have had a lot of cheese in France but I have never seen salad on the plate. The cheese was really nice but the salad remained untouched.

Arbutus is a nice restaurant, prime location in Frith Street in Soho. The food is good and all dishes except the cheese were well presented, but for a Michelin starred restaurant it is a bit disappointing. You don’t want to feel rushed through your dinner, and from we sat down till we left only 1 hour and 10 minutes had passed.

Hugely excited by Arbutus. The waitress we had was fantastic, knowledgeable and not afraid to go and ask for more details. Food was a delight, including some treasures like pig's head terrine which I promise were actually very nice. Most amazing had to be the wines we had with the meal, working off recommendations. The dessert wine, a Barberra chilled red, was the best I've ever tasted, promted me to ask about off-sales and was simply the best accompaniment to a cheese board. My second favourite restaurant in London, closely following Finos.

last week I had to go to “that London” again for a meeting. It was an early Monday meeting so I travelled early Sunday (25/01/09) to enable me to find a nice lunch and stay overnight (ok I got a good deal at the Travelodge for the night!)

Anyway, it was miserable and raining in London. As I walked under my “brolly” I passed several places where I could have had lunch, the “Branded” chains, some local restaurants with “traditional” Sunday Lunch, and a variety of International cuisine places where I could eat for around a tenner. Perusing the menus displayed I was uninspired.
so I headed for the multi award winning and Michelin starred Arbutus .This is one of the Michelin starred restaurants open on a Sunday. Seats are very comfortable upholstered “bench” against the wall but chaired on the other side, each table is suitable for two but combined next to each other makes up to the size of the group (there was a group of a dozen near me). Smart but unfussy decor, neat with mats on the table, not tablecloths.
Pris Fixe menu for lunch offers three courses with two choices each course, (one on each could be vegetarian). The restaurant was around half full (maybe the inclement weather?) but it was no problem for a table. I was shown to my table, set as you would expect, offered some good crusty bread, rapidly followed by butter appearing on the table on a very neat slate slab, and given the menu and wine list to view. I asked for some water and was offered “tap” at no cost or a choice of bottled mineral at prices (I'm a Yorkshireman and tap is fine for me!). I chose my dishes and also picked some wine. The good thing here is you can have a glass, 2 glass caraffe, or a bottle. I chose a 250ml of a Cote de Languedoc white wine at £5.75 (2 standard glasses)
To start I went for potato & curly kale soup. This was served in a wide brim bowl, reasonably full, and was perfect for the inclement weather in my opinion. Although slightly khaki in appearence (I was there after 2pm), it was delicious with finely shredded kale and nice chunks of potato, topped off with grated parmesan and drizzled with a citrus tasting olive oil. (more bread was offered too!).
For the main course i chose breast of lamb. Although this can be very fatty, it was cooked excellently so much of the fat was gone, fall apart melting, tasty and seasoned well, served with creamed potato and some delicious buttered carrots with a hint of fresh tarragon, also a little “jus”. (but not a “Yorkshire portion” plate)
For dessert I chose caremelised crushed apple with ice cream. This was two quenelles of the apple with one of the homemade vanilla ice cream, a finger of bicuit sponge and a swirl of caramel sauce. All elements were sweet and delicious, light and a suitable end to the meal.
The wine I had with my meal was complimentary to my starter and main course, light and fruity with an acid hint, but maybe I should have gone for something a little drier/crisper, maybe a Soave?. I had a little left in my glass and this did not go with the sweet dessert. If you saw Oz & James Wine Adventure on the tv you may understand (this is no reflection on the restaurant!)
The cost? Set lunch is £15.50, my wine was £5.75 and the usual service (no faults – ok) of 12.5% was £2.66 for a total of £23.91. (Just think what you would spend at your local carvry for 3 courses and 2 drinks!) A michelin starred bargain in my book.
Overall I would give this 7.5/10 but would definitely go again and indulge in the very reasonably priced menu for the a la carte.

I have dined here on many occasions, opting for their very good value set lunch menu. The food is always excellent, and although the portions on the set menu are a little on the small side, I always leave feeling comfortably full.

Dishes are well thought out and constructed using wonderful ingredients that are allowed to shine, with some really skillful cooking going on behind the scenes. Service is always on the ball and the lunchtime atmosphere is buzzing with media-luvvies and the odd celebrity.

I can't really fault this restaurant at all, and it remains one of our favourites. Its sister restaurant, Wild Honey, is just as good, more suitable for a quieter meal and catering for the Mayfair suits rather than the Soho luvvies. A top venue.

Our latest exploit was for a meal at the acclaimed Arbutus, supposedly ‘Best Restaurant in Soho’ followed by an evening at the comedy. I picked Arbutus as i'd been reading up in various guides that this was the ‘place du jour’ and like with Bumpkin in Kensington, i wanted to see what the fuss was about. We booked for an early table at half 5 and surpringly it was full. It didn't strike me as an exceedingly fancy place, still relatively nicely laid out, a kind of ‘first date venue’ but not somewhere you'd feel out of place.

Service was good and helpful as i, as always, had plenty of questions, and the menu itself was varied, lots of fish, meat etc. Partner did his usual ‘choose fish and i wont need to share with the girlfriend’ thing – he ordered a starter of eel, followed by what looked like giant meatballs, both of which he seemed to really enjoy. I started with chicken liver terrine, followed by a very pinky delicious rib eye steak and dauphinois potatoes. Only being able to speak for mine, mine was a near perfect meal, in that i wasn't stuffed and everything was cooked beautifully. Of course, we grudgingly forced ourselves to have desserts, he with creme brulee and i with the signature ‘Chocolate Soup’ – which was in fact like melted Gu – ie delicious gooey chocolate with a side of creamy ice cream. Altogether, with some non alc drinks, it came to £77, so £36 each – which i'd say was not that bad – considering right in the middle of Soho, and i knew i'd certainly be returning, which isn't something i often say given there is so much choice in London.

To finish, all i can say is it's refreshing coming somewhere and getting an actually reaasonably priced delicious meal in central London. Was it all worth it? – Ar-but-it w-us… cheesy i know… :o)