Jayne's Reviews

Having now been to Terroirs a couple of times, and been seated both downstairs and in the bar – I highly recommend this place ! If you can, eat downstairs as the menu is much more comprehensive and still has all the lovely bar snacks from upstairs available.

My standout dish without a doubt (fork stabbing was involved when someone tried to get one !) was the cantabrian anchovies. Such a beautifully simple dish and just amazing quality. Anchovies, butter, finely sliced shallots and bread. Could have done with a bit more bread, but apart from that…I even tried to find out where they sourced the anchovies from, but they were keeping that secret to themselves. Another standout was the pork and pistachio terrine. Followed up by the chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, I was in pure heaven.

The wine list is ridiculously long, almost tempting to close your eyes and go “meanie, minie, mo” especially if you're not that good with french wines – otherwise do what we did and go with someone who is. However, this is probably not the place to take someone who's not a meat fan, very limited options.

Now I just have to find another excuse to go back for another visit. Which I will definitely be doing.

This place is a real find. Not the place for having a long leisurely dinner, even though we did stay for quite a while. All very fresh food and the weasel coffee is a must try !

Came back again on 30 September with my parents, sister and partner. All top notch again, especially with 50% off the food (makes it the same price as MacDonald's really !). Great noodle soups, heaps of starters to share, all fresh, tasty and moorish. However, the weasel coffee this time seemed to be a lot weaker than the last time we went, which was a real disappointment. It appears that they are now grounding the beans onsite instead of having it bought it – perhaps that is the difference. So, I now wouldn't recommend trying it for the price. But for everything else, spot on. Brilliant restaurant given its proximity to Oxford Circus.

Wow, just wow. The Square really does tick all the right boxes. From the fabulous canapes to start with all the way through to the puds, I don’t think there was a thing they could improve on with the food. The black rice crisps with taramasalata as a canape was a winning combination. I will never go back to the glaring pink stuff that we normally get (and, by the way, can I please have that recipe???). The other 3 canapes were also excellent, and this was followed by an amuse bouche of mushroom with a pumpkin veloute (well, I think that’s what the waiter said), which was delicious. Then onto the menu proper !

All of us had the lasagne of dorset crab, and I fully understand why this is one of the dishes that they are renowned for. Seriously, if I’d had that plate at home I would’ve picked it up and licked it clean it was that good. We did all contemplate doing so anyway ! My husband and I had the grouse as a main. He loves game, I’m not a convert but decided that if ever I was going to try it, this should be the restaurant to do so. Needless to say, I might give it a bit more of a try in future. The beef also looked excellent. This was followed up by a pre-dessert of tiny beignets on a shot glass of something. Really, by this time I’d stopped listening to the descriptions the waiter was trying to tell me, far to busy with the spoon, ready to dive in……

Onto the dessert – again, hubby and I both had the same the – chocolate caramel pavé with chocolate sorbet, rock salt, olive oil and espresso. (I was beginning to suspect by this time that we were both ordering the same dishes so we didn’t have to share). Whilst I couldn’t taste the olive oil in the dessert, maybe it was one of those things that you would have missed if it wasn’t there. However, the salt worked really well with the chocolate and caramel. Yum.

About the only slight hitch for the evening was the service. They were obviously training a brand new member of staff, who did make a couple of small errors. However… More

Morgan M is the place I would take people to when they think they know all the best restaurants in London. They have to have one of the best priced tasting menus ever for 6 courses at £48, with matched wines for £28. Even better is that its probably one of the few places that has a vegetarian tasting menu. And as long as the entire table is having a tasting menu, you can opt for the meat or veggie option – they don't make the entire table have the same.

We first came here when it first opened, back in 2003, and the decor was pretty bland, but they've had a re-vamp since then and it looks and feels much warmer and cozier. The sommelier is extremely helpful, we had a table of 5 and he advised us to get a bottle of wine with each course as it would end up being cheaper than all of us having the matched wines. How often does that happen ? We did end up being very, very relaxed at the end of the evening, however.

The food is a triumph. Very clever combinations and I do like the idea of being given options on the tasting menu, given that there are a few things that I'm not keen on eating, ie. offal, snails and frog's legs !

The absolute only downside to this restaurant is its location. Very offputting if you end up walking back to the tube late at night. Get a cab.

Its been a while since I ate here, but the memory lingers on. I can't believe this place constantly gets rated so highly. Truly abysmal food on the night we went. Razor clams were completely cold, so we sent them back. Out came exactly the same plate 5 minutes later (you could tell by the bite marks!). The result was rubbery and almost inedible. The roast beef was so well rested it had a cup of tea and a lie down. The only accompaniments were horseradish sauce and a few bits of spinach. All in all, completely overpriced.

However we did like the touch of putting a pair of binoculars on the table, great for having a birds eye view of the river and surroundings. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who really rates their food and if you're after a view, try the Oxo tower instead !

Archipelago is a very interesting venue. Quite an out of the way location, a bit of a walk from the bustle of Charlotte Street. The decor looks like a complete jumble of strange mismatched items, but seems to work without just appearing like it needs an overhaul by the House Doctor. A bonus point for the decor – if you've run out of topics of conversation with your dinner partner, there's plenty of stuff around to either look at or comment on. I quite liked the presentation of the menu and wine list (rolled up in cases), especially that the menu was left on the table for the night. Always good to be able to refer back to in case you've forgotten what you ordered.

The menu is certainly not something you come across every day, what with zebra, gnu, crocodile etc. I tried the zebra and my husband had the gnu stew. Both were very tasty, however we both agreed that it really could have been beef and neither of us would have been any the wiser ! Good wine list, with quite a few cheaper bottles, however a G&T at £8 I think is a little steep.

All in all, we had an enjoyable meal, and I would recommend Archipelago, especially for a group, as there are both vegetarian and “normal” options on the menu, apart from the exotic zoo.

Tip: do ask about the toilets, there is no sign on them to distinguish male/ female, just a drape of material in different colours.

I finally managed to book the chef's table for a work function. Great set-up. Really enjoyed being able to stand around with a glass of wine and chatting to the chef. Everyone got into the spirit of asking what he was doing and checking out all the pots and pans. The food was very good and the service excellent. The Beef consommé with herb pancakes & bonemarrow was especially good. Would definitely recommend and will go back to try their normal menu. The only complaint I heard was the 3 flights of stairs up to the private room !