Liam's Reviews

I went to The Boundary as a guest so I do not know how much the bill was but from the prices on the menu, I would safely say this is a ‘treat’ place or somewhere suitable for client entertaining – especially if your client likes good food and they are contemporary. I suspect this place is a favourite for law firms and banks in the area.

Decor: Shoreditch trendy, artsy design and eye candy meets slick west end efficiency and tradition. Open kitchen with large windows allows for easy viewing and gives a greater impression of space. It is a very long restaurant.

Food: I ate the steak tartare starter, hare main and poached pear dessert. All courses were excellent. The hair is off the bone wrapped in bacon. It comes with roast beetroot and what was either pan seared fois gras or confit of liver which was then pan seared. The hare also comes with a ‘cottage pie’ of hare in a separate copper pot. Poached pears comes with vanilla ice cream, almond/eggy pastry and dark chocolate (in a copper, separate pot). My only ‘niggle’ is the hare cottage pie was a little over seasoned but really it was not an issue.

Wine: we drank red wine, still and fizzy water. I did not see the wine list but it was extensive and the bourgone that I drank was very nice.

Service: attentive but not smothering. Knowledgeable staff who know how the food is prepared, served etc. Once or twice they tried to bring items to our table which was meant for the table adjacent to us. Again this was not a real issue but I mention it (hence the 8 instead of 9 rating).

Overall: I would definitely return to this place and as someone who lives in East London, it is good to know it is very close by. Booking in advance is highly recommended. I would also recommend the roast chicken, wild sea bass and potato dauphenoise. We were in a group of 6 so there was a lot of food available to try. Lastly, we were given mandarins at the end of the meal and candied/glace orange peel, some dipped in chocolate as a petit four. Very… More

I went with my girlfriend for dinner. The food is very good and I would have thought eligible for a Bib Gourmand. It is formal dining but given the location you can easily turn up in jeans. The bill for 3 courses each plus a bottle of wine and 2 cocktails each came to roughly over £100 which given the quality and its proximity to central London is very reasonable. I would have expected it to be more than that.

Atomsphere
Low lighting and given the space it felt open and airy. Light wood panel and light colours throughout. There was a large group behind us who were particularly obnoxious but the staff were apologetic and aware of this in order to try to make us more comfortable.

Food
The food is excellent and I intend on going again. It is reasonably priced given the quality and very quick to the table. There was also an amuse bouche.

I recommend booking and Sunday lunch is the same as the dinner menu but set price for 3 courses which makes it even more reasonable. Highly recommended and offers a better range of choice for the area which is otherwise populated with the usual suspects on Brick Lane.

The bar is upstairs above a bike shop on Clapham High Street. Like much of Clapham, cocktails feature highly. It it well lit with two distinct areas. From the entrance there is a long row of large brown leather sofas, round tables and a long bar straddling the right hand side. On your right (and behind you) there is a restaurant (all open plan) with many two and four seater tables, plants etc. The window to the kitchen is also here as well as the bathrooms.

It is quiet midweek which is great to take advantage of its reduced price cocktails and good value food deal. I recommend this place for an affordable catch up with friends, midweek date and on weekends for great mojitos in the centre of Clapham High Street.

Personal recommendations are the Passion of the Loft and mojitos.

My girlfriend and I went for lunch after a wander around Notting Hil / Portobello Road. The gastropub is off the high street which I considered a positive as the people who were there seemed to be regulars. The decoration is simple and welcoming with large wooden tables – long, some round – and the bar is a darker wood. There are even antlers!

We both drank Aspell cider, draught. We shared:

Starters (around £7 each)
Portobello mushroom stuffed with garlic, spinach, goat's cheese and parmesan and roasted tomatoes with dressed rocket; Pumpkin gnocchi (made of, not mixed with) tomatoes, garlic and cheese topping.

Both of these were very enjoyable. I think they are large starters. I would probably eat two starters the next time that I go in order to enjoy more than one dish.

Mains (around £12 each
Steak with garlic butter, chips and salad;
Roasted corn fed chicken with puy lentils and lardons.

Both of these were excellent. If I had to find a fault, again, I think the chicken was slightly overcooked but not unenjoyable. The skin was very crisp which was great and there was masses of lentils in veg and bacon.

The main portions were generous which was welcome given that mains in a gastropub around £12 can sometime be disappointing. The quality was also there. My girlfriend had the steak (medium-well) and it was very tasty.

Given that there was an order for 6 people just before us, the food came out very quickly, hot and enjoyable.

I heartily recommend this place especially for large groups. I would happily come back here again. Given that I live in East London, it is a shame that I am not closer.

From the start I should be honest and say that I went to Foxtrot Oscar as a part of the London Restaurant Week (which is actually a fortnight) via lastminute.com. I decided to come here as I ate at the Narrow earlier in the year which is another Ramsay pub and I leave much nearer to this place. I completely accept that I may not have benefitted from the breadth of the a la carte menu as I witnessed food being delivered to other customers. Nonetheless we were provided with a small menu which had two options per course (3 courses).

The venue is not difficult to find especially if you know where Gordon's Royal Hospital Road restaurant is. The decor is interesting with heavy drapes as you enter and dark interior. It is a lot smaller than the Narrow which enjoys a larger bar area and decking for al fresco dining — no such options exist here. It is however small but not cramped.

I had a veal and pork pie to start and my friend has a vichyssoises. My pie was actually a slice of pie, more like a slice of terrine wrapped in pastry on three edges with a chutney. This was rather enjoyable and I was disappointed at the end with the smaller helping, my friend thoroughly enjoyed her soup. She had the chicken and mushroom pie for a main which came with generous (not northern generous but London generous) amounts of flaky pastry and I had two rather nice (but again small) fishcakes accompanied with salad. We both had dessert, she had a chocolate brownie with ice cream and I had a treacle tart slice which was thoroughly enjoyable.

I would definitely go back to Foxtrot Oscar. I don't think that is compares easily to The Narrow or other gastropubs that I have been too. Despite the food that arrived, it wouldn't say that it is gusty gastropub food and walks that fine line between gastropub delivered in clean lines like fine dining. We did not see the wine selection so I cannot comment on this.

I thought the service was attentive and not smothering like The Narrow and despite the small… More

I went last night with two other friends on a 50% off deal. From the beginning I concur with what others say below, the atmosphere is great and entirely different from the usual suspects available in this area of the city. Rich terracotta walls, beads, brass and fabrics. Incense as you come to the bottom of spiral sand coloured stairs and roses and floating candles when you open the door. This is all after a few brass lamps with tea lights and a heavy looking wooden door at the end of a ‘red carpet’. Once inside, belly dancers appeared around 9pm and people started to get up and dance with them – think lecherous, over confident investment bankers and secretaries who clearly drank too much before they arrived. It was entertaining and if you're on a first date with someone it certainly provides a talking point.

The negatives are that the place is hugely overpriced. I regularly eat and cook arabic food. This overpriced theme appears here and there in arabic food places and the argument is often because the food is fairly labour intensive and the ingredients are often not in season and not native to the UK in any event. However at Kenza this argument carries little weight as you are clearly paying for atmosphere and not food. This defeats the purpose of a restaurant in my view where the atmosphere should be secondary to the food; if you feel differently you may find it cheaper to eat at the Rainforest Cafe.

We were given crudites as we sat down. We ordered the mezze at £35 a head each (pre 50% cull) and enjoyed it but I am glad that I was on the 50% deal or else I would have really worried as to where the money went. This mezze mix included 5 different starters, pitta bread which kept being refilled and assorted dips. For mains we had baby chicken, mixed grill of lamb and chicken and a salmon dish on which we remarked that we're glad we had the other stuff there as it paled in comparison to the other mains – tasty but not astonishing. The desserts arrived in a brass, high tea… More