Suzy's Reviews

I had lunch with friends recently at Chez Bruce. Not realising that Wandsworth Common is quite a long ride from N1 we had to call the restaurant to let them know we were running late. Fortunately this wasn’t a problem, even on a busy Saturday.

Lovely venue, very French bistro look and crisp napkins neatly folded. We got a table in the middle of everything giving us the opportunity to experience the great atmosphere. The service was alert and helpful and so was the sommelier. Food wise we were sorted out quite quickly but wine wise it took us longer to decide as the wine list is excessive and we were looking for wines that would match the different dishes. The sommelier was very good here and we ended up with a chateau neuf du pape blanc and a lovely red burgundy Gevrey Chambertin.

For starter I had mackerel tartare with herbs, smoked mackerel, horseradish, apple & cucumber followed by roast cod, grilled squid, baby artichokes, pepper relish and salsa verde. My co-diners had risotto and crab and scallop tortelloni followed by choucroute of pork with cheek blanquette and sea bass with olive oil mash, provençale brochette and gremolata. All dishes were beautiful represented, portioned correctly for lunch and gave us room for cheese later. I often find it very frustrating when I read reviews and people are complaining about size when they only order a main course with a side dish. The entire idea is to have room for 3 courses without feeling hungry or full.

Back to the Mackarel, which was quite bland I am afraid. You would expect the smoked mackerel to give more flavour to the dish but this didn’t happen. Too much apple to my opinion, which was overpowering the fish and cucumber, and too little horseradish leaving out the kick. My co-diners were “yummying” over their starters and I was lucky to taste both of them. I agree, they were yummy! Main courses were flawless, perfectly plated with the right amount of each ingredient. My fish was beautifully cooked, crunchy on the… More

We were a party of 7 having lunch at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s last week. It was a fantastic end to end experience: beautiful surroundings, super friendly staff and sublime food.

I had tomato salad with goat’s cheese crème and fennel beignets, lemon sole with asparagus and citrus beurre blanc and a selection of cheese for dessert. Others had quail for starter, lamb with peas and mint sauce for mains and strawberries and fig tart for dessert. All dishes were beautiful presented and flavours were clean and very delicious. Perfect size dishes for lunch, 3 courses can seem heavy, but they were well proportioned and didn’t make you feel stuffed.

We had a lovely white vouvray from Loire, crisp and not too dry and a red pinot noir from Bourgogne, which were light and fruity. The 3 children in our party had fresh pineapple juice.

It was quite a view when the waiters served the dishes. 7 people lined up with silver trays and 2 waiters served us. Now this sounds quite snobbish but here it just seemed natural.

After having dessert, the children paid the bathrooms a visit and they were thrilled as the lady had turned the water on for them and given them soap in their hands.

Coffee and tea was served with petit four and left us all reflecting on the lovely experience. In the hall the afternoon tea was in full service accompanied by light jazz music and we went out in the real world.

Well done!

We went to Drapers Arms last night with an expectation of great food and a happy night out. I am sorry to say that none of this happened.

It wasn't particularly busy and we switched table a couple of times. The first table was wobbely so we found another table that wasn't. Unfortunately the chairs were wobbely here, so we settled down at a third table and were pleased that everything was stabil here. My husband went to the bar to get the menu and asked if we should order there, but the owner said that “someone” would come down to our table. It took quite a while (and the owner went out for a fag) before a waiter came down to take our orders. Unfortunately the crab was sold out, but one of us settled for smoked mackerel followed by braised lamb breast, fennel, peas and aioli and the girls decided on suckling pig, a side of salad and 3 bitburger pints to go with it. After another 10 minutes the beer arrived and they were good.

The mackerel arrived after a loooong wait and suddenly the waiter came to inform that unfortunately there was no more suckling pig. Errrhm okay, we had another look at the menu and decided to go for another braised lamb and guinea fowl, bacon, mushrooms and lentils. Then we waited some more but it gave us some time to look at the interior decorations of the pub and we all liked the style and also the garden, which would be lovely to sit in on a sunny day or warm night. We also had time to watch the staff running around very confused with food looking for the right tables.

We needed more beer and the waiter knew that we had sat for a long time so the next drinks were on the house. The food finally arrived and I can't say we were overwhelmed. The £3.50 side order of salad was brown and quite sad to be honest. The guinea fowl was looking quite similar to the salad but was tasty after all. My husband and I had the lamb and it was full of fat and sinews and only a third of the meat was eatable. The aioli was missing.

After a short discussion whether we… More