Food fiend's review of Arbutus

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)