Robert's Reviews

Been many times over the years and it is one of those places that rarely lets you down, in fact since the Oyster bar was added its lifted the feel of the whole place.
No point really in going if you don't love fish or sea food, it kind of what they do and they do it very well. The menu is one that makes you feel immediately comfortable, its not innovative or exciting but there's a lot of comfort food on offer and the execution is very good indeed. Never been day or night when its not been anything other than very busy, so there's a buzz and a vibe that is very appealing. Service is always good and they are always on top of their game. The wine list is very good indeed- the bar has a fantastic selection of champagnes and sparkling wine including a couple of Englands finest.
Its very popular with the luvies so there is always a good chance of bumping into someone famous who has just come off stage at The Geilgud or The Lyric.

Well if Giles Coren, who lives down the road by the way, says it’s good you'd be a mug to not check it out. The ‘famous crab toast’ is indeed gobsmackingly good, totally reliant on the quality of ingredients which are first class. The menu is small and sometimes doesn't cater for those wanting something other than a meat pie, offal or a cut of meat that you have to look up. The service is not only very efficient, staff are accommodating, warm, friendly and knowledgeable, very few restaurants have staff that tick two of those boxes let alone all five. The wine list is small, as you would expect from a gastropub, but offers good value and is interesting. Atmosphere is lively as you would expect and informal with great views of Hampstead Heath if you are sat at one of the tables by the large front window. All in all very good.

June 22

Been back a few times most recently last weekend. The menu now offers more variety, still got some St John style cuts/dishes – caramalised pigs head, very good-plus more tradtional fare. The charcuterie is outstanding, and I hadnt noticed Chatueau Fillot on the wine list before which at £7 a glass is almost a bargain!
They have also opened a dining room upstairs and are proposing to offer hampers for those who want to eat over the road on the heath. An enterprising bunch.

20/10/09

Love this place, their scotch egg particularly when its warm is a thing of rare beauty. Don't though eat up stairs if you can help it, did recently for dinner with friends, and it took an eternity! if the bloke who owns half the decent restaurants and clubs in London, Richard what's his name? hadnt been sitting opposite we would have complained far more loudly. Another recently discovered gem on the menu, Ferrero Roche flavoured ice cream…unbelievable.

A friend of mine comes here regularly for Sunday lunch which he says is excellent and I can believe it, what a great venue for Sunday lunch! the longest drive way I have ever been down leading you to a manor house built, I was told, for the most part at the turn of the last century in fabulous grounds.
Inside you get lots of wood panelling, all of which came apparently from the estate, the staff in case you think I conducted some in depth research, are the font of all knowledge.
I was there in the evening for a farewell diner for a colleague. The log fires were burning bright and the only thing missing were fellow guests. The sitting room and bar are places you could happily spend hours on your won just soaking up the atmostphere and the heat. The dining room on the other hand is a room that needs people.
The menu, both set menu and a la carte, are the kind that get your pulse racing, its fare that you get in only a handful of places, very imaginative with a wonderful local and seasonal feel to it. The food is beautifully presented and is as good as any I have had, wonderful. The wine list is, like many, too French, and its tough to find value under £40 a bottle. Setting aside the misunderstanding on the Rully – I asked for the white not the red which they didn't have – was very good.
It's not cheap but you will be hard pressed to eat better food anywhere and I suspect my good friend Mr Jones is right, a very good place to come and have a leisurely Sunday lunch.

I'm a Conran fan, it might be a bit formulaic – I think it would feel like “GroundHog Day” if you went to lunch at Boundary one day followed by Lutyens the next – but for me at any rate its a formula that works: good food, served by knowledgable staff, in stylish premises, whats not to like?
Have been to Lutyens a few times, for lunch and for dinner, its a much better lunch venue, its easy to forget how dead that part of town is in the evening, lunch time the place is buzzing!
You will be greeted, at lunchtime anyway, by a well dressed man who looks like he's been in the business of greeting diners all his life, and as such he's rather good at it, making you feel immediately very welcome. Once inside the bar area is a bit non-descript but the dinning room is a fabulous room, light, open and vibrant.
The menu is typical Conran, not the most imaginative but full of family favourites, seasonal and well balanced.
The wine menu is a but too French which, since the sommelier is Italian, is strange, but there is value to be found. Service on two occasions was a bit slow, you shouldn't have to enquire after your food, but when they come they know what they are talking about.
Good for most people, except vegans, at lunch time, in the evening mid week, good for those who like a more hushed atmostphere.

Now comfortably offering the best food on the island, Michelin starred and deservedly so. Down the road from the much more established Royal Hotel, The Hanborough has arguablydone more than any other establishment to put the Isle of Wight well and truely on the hospitality map, boutique contemporary hotel, that I havent stayed in only because I have a house no more than five miles down the road, it looks like it caters for a demanding crowd. The current Head Chef, whose name escapes me, has been in situ for a little over a year, has taken the restaurant on to new heights. Very imaginative menu using mostly local ingrediants, incredibly skillfully cooked, plus a sea view, what more could you ask for! The atmostphere is a little quiet, not sure what they can do about that and not a place for children. Very good wine menu, lots of variety and value. Service was efficient and friendly.

It's not a good start to any dining experience when the restaurant keeps you waiting for your table for over half an hour and doesn't seem that concerned about it. I have had lunch here several times, I am a local, and the service has never been better than average and more often than not very poor with an attitude that appears to value the cutlery more highly than the customer. Yes the fixed lunch menu represents outstanding value for money and yes the food is very good when you get it and the atmostphere buzzy, but it doesn't deserve to succeed and I doubt it will until they sort out their front of house and the quality of their serving staff.

Few restaurants come with a higher reputation so expectations were high. The Capital is an establishment entirely comfortable with where it is and it wouldn't fit anywhere other than Knightsbridge, Mayfair at a push. It's genteel and refined in a chintzy sort of way. Wood pannelling, all over the place, liveried doorman, plush carpets and a clientelle that appreciates that sort of thing.
The food was very good, perfect scallops, veal that was sweet and tender. Service was just about perfect, knowledge, French accented and friendly! The wine list was a disappointment, too French and a struggle to find much for less than £45 a bottle. The cheese board/trolley is billed as one of the best in London and that says more about the what's available in London than the quality of whats on offer at The Capital; again dominated by France and less than sixteen to choose from. In my opinion The Square does it all better.
Good for elderly Amercian friends and relatives, bad for your younger hipper F's and R's.

A birthday lunch, so high expectations. Before we get to the food, drink and service its worth commeting on something that bizarrely seems to have been overlooked by all the reviews I have read not just on this excellent web site but on any other web site or magazine, the room: it's possibly the dullest room I have ever eaten including my time at King Edward V1 Upper School. It lacks warmth, personality, features and last Friday lunch time at least, people. Not sure what they can do about it except move. The food, was very good although the portions are very small even by fine dining standards. No seasoning is provided but actually none of us felt any was required. The menu is beautifully balanced in terms of meat and fish and the flavour combinations on your plate are incredible. The cheese plate was extremely disappointing both in terms of what was offered and how much. The service was ok, personally I don't need to be reminded by the waiter what I ordered even if the time that has elpased between ordering the food and it arriving, has been long enough for one of the guests to go outside and have a ciggie. The wine list is French dominated, we ordered an Albarino which they had run out of and the replacement was French.
The whole experience made me realise that for me at least a good dining experience is as much the environment you are in as the food and drink you have. I won't be going back.