Www.bycost­ello­⁠.com's review of Hibiscus

Clients I had invited couldn’t make it so I took the Mrs instead, very much her gain and their loss.

Hibiscus is very worthy of it’s 2 stars, service was attentive and unobtrusive. The sommelier was very helpful and suggested a reasonably priced bottle to suit our meal and our tastes. The ambience was quite convivial and the strip of smoked mirror circling the restaurant makes for excellent surreptitious people watching. Claude Bosi even came out to do a little smoozing with the dinners.

The food was quite sublime, being a school night we just went a la carte. Oak smoked sweetbreads with goats cheese mousse for me to start, the Mrs having the fois. Mains were an enormous veal chop for me while she had chicken, which came in two courses, first a cray fish stuffed breast which was the tastiest moistest chicken I have ever tasted. The second part featured crispy chicken and a parfait, each plateful would of really served adequately as a course on its own. We finished with a raspberry gratin and a Milefeuille, both of which were superb. Teas and petit four finished us off.

For the two of us it came just a little under £300, which given the quality of the food and service was good value especially when I would consider it a far better experience to Marcus Wareing where dinner for two comes in closer to £400.

The only fly in the ointment and it nearly stopped me booking is that when booking they ask for credit card details so they can charge £50 per head if you can’t make it. As I often take clients who often cancel and reschedule, as I say at the wife’s usual gain, it does deter one from booking and perhaps why it was only half full on a Thursday night.