I am not a joiner by nature and I have certainly not contributed to a web site in this manner before but my meal at Corrigans Mayfair on Thursday has caused me to break this taboo. I was dining with an old work colleague and friend with whom I always enjoy a very convivial meal and it is this that allows me to give the average scores and not lower ones – in other words, the distraction of the company overcame the need to damn the place altogether. To address the constituent parts: (i) the service: this was, in the main, of an extremely cheerful nature from the moment that I entered the attractively furnished restaurant. However, the cheerful nature was belied by an almost universal incomprehension of the English language. I was unable to make the first waiter understand that the fino I wanted as an aperitif was a sherry. Once I have pointed it out on the wine list, he took the wine list away with him and we found it very difficult to explain to the next waiter that we wanted the wine list back; (ii) the food: this is linked with the service as the carpaccio of beef with tempura oysters for me and my friend’s veal tongue took 45 minutes to arrive. We were not over bothered save that the management had made a colossal effort to ensure that we understood that the table was ours for only 2 hours (one hour having passed in ordering and waiting for the starters) and that we had only ordered a half bottle of Croze Hermitage White to accompany the starters. In fact, the excellent Maitre D’ offered a further complimentary half bottle as, even with abstemious sips, we had polished off the half bottle during our wait – again, not a massive problem but this wine is really a food wine and it needed the food for which it was ordered. The actual food was miniscule in portion and average in quality and presentation. For our main courses, I had ordered the woodcock and my friend the oxtail (he is somewhat of an oxtail expert) whereas I am a novice when it comes to woodcock but I was assured… More