Tanya's Reviews

I thought this place looked promising – popped in after work (about a 5 minute walk away) with my sister who'd come to London at short notice. It was very busy, but had space (unlike Brindisa and Applebee's nearby) for us. I loved the decor and atmosphere was very busy. Great place to hang out. In fact, to be honest it had the feel of Polpo, Polpetto etc etc about it. i.e. very NY, very relaxed.

Problem however, was the food. Felt compelled to try the French duck (the place seemed to specialise in steak and duck), which at over £23 was very disappointing. Nicely cooked pink, but totally underseasoned. We ordered a number of other plates (everything's really suitable for sharing). Aside from the chargrilled squid, I found everything well underseasoned. Has the chef even tried the food that's he/she's turned out? Slow cooked pork belly was nice, but not as good as I've had in other places (and not as good as when I've cooked it at home). Chips were good but no salt (and didn't appear to be any salt and pepper nearby to season them with) – think they might have been cooked in goose fat. Nothing that arrived was worth coming back for…so despite the excellent ambience, I won't be coming here again.

I invited a friend along to join me for lunch at Arbutus this afternoon in celebration of the commencement of 9 week's off work. And it did not disappoint. I dined on the lunch set menu (most of the 9 weeks is unpaid!), which is very good value at around £17 for three courses. Choices are, of course limited, but if you don't want to break the bank the set menu is the way forward. I probably ate the richest three combinations of starter, main and dessert, but didn't come close to being bloated. I just came away feeling nicely full, and very glad that I'd finally tried it out.

Anyway, the meal…

My weakness is always the aperitif (I rarely say no even when having a ‘virgin’ lunch). The £9.95 for the prosecco with clementines and campari was very steep – for that price though you would have thought they should have served it with champagne! Didn't stop me ordering it though, and didn't stop me enjoying it.

For starters I had a divine slow cooked belly of lamb which was very thinly sliced and arranged on the plate in the way that beef carpaccio usually is. The flavour was beautiful – absolutely no mistaking that it was lamb – really tender. It was served with a lightly spiced aubergine and yoghurt concoction described as “Iranian aubergine – kashk bademjan”. If you're into your middle eastern food then you'll love this dish, and if you don't know if you like that type of food or not, then just give it a go as I don't think you'll be disappointed. Incidentally I noticed that this was also on the a la carte lunch menu so thought it was a good option.

For the main I ordered roasted rabbit with savoy cabbage and pancetta. The jus it was served with was delicious, as was everything else on the plate. If you don't like meat on the bone, then this is not the dish for you. The rabbit was also served slightly pink. Clearly, none on this bothered me. It was very, very good.

Dessert was the only disappointment. Bitter chocolate mousse – served with what I think was broken pink sugared… More

I had the pleasure of going to two restaurants this week from this year's Food List in the Times…and Pearl was the second. An unplanned meal with my brother as we walked down High Holborn in quest of somewhere decent to eat at 9pm. I wasn't in the mood for anything heavy, and neither was he, so we both just ordered a main each. I decided on fish and when I asked the waiter to recommend something he replied instantly with …go for the turbot (baked in seaweed crust, served with squid tagliatelle and cockles in a lemongrass consomme). It was pretty good, but not amazing despite the flavourings which I thought were good. I do continue to think I am very hard to please on mains! I was also expecting something larger than I got given the price at £32..not that I had room for a heavy meal, but still!

Service was exemplary however – when I asked for a wine recommendation the sommelier came over within a minute (although that was probably to be expected given that there were less than 10 guests in the restaurant at the time) and recommended the mersault, which was delicious (but expensive, as wine always is at hotel restaurants). I was also very impressed with all the ‘add-ons’ which weren't added to the bill – the pre amuse bouche (4 canapes type things brought to the table – small something or other featuring venison sausage; a small risotto ball (a bit like a mini arancini I suppose); a cheery tomato filled with goats cheese; and some smoked salmon concoction); the mini loaf of bread and butter brought to each of us at the table; and the amuse bouche – some delicious creamy concotion of I don't quite know what, with a jersusalem artichoke soup poured over it.

I would certainly go back to Pearl and give a ‘full meal’ a go, probably on a weekend or at a more normal dining hour when the ambiance ought to be a lot better – as I said, by the time we dined it was almost empty! And I do like watching Jun Tanaka cooking on the TV, so I have high expectations when I return. I will… More

I very quickly glossed through other diner reviews (just to look at the scores), and noticed that most people think the food in this place is very good. Perhaps I ordered the wrong things, or I have simple tastes or else I have different taste buds from everyone else, but I was totally underwhelmed by the food in this admittedly atmospheric restaurant.

I was there for a friend's birthday and most of my friends really seemed to enjoy their food, but I really really didn't. There wasn't really anything I could say I found revolting (I ate everything on my plate – I have a healthy appetite!) or that wasn't skilfully cooked. It just really wasn't my cup of tea at all.

Starter – Guinea fowl boudin blanc on Jerusalem artichoke and cep – flavourful, but I won't be trying this again. It was the first time I had tried boudin blanc so perhaps that was why I didn't enjoy it? Thought it was just a bit slimy really and wished I'd ordered something else. Not the most appetising thing to look at on a plate either. Looked rather insipid on the plate.

Main – Hare royale à la Bistrot Bruno Loubet. Apparently a signature dish? I just didn't get the fuss to be perfectly honest. I didn't enjoy the mix of textures in the dish, but then I really am not a fan of terrine either, which is what it reminded me of – it was like a hot terrine without the jelly plus a lot of very dark treacly looking sauce (placed on a bed of mashed potato). Very rich – too rich for some. That's all I can say really.

Dessert – Bizarrely there was nothing actually on the dessert menu which I really wanted to try. This amazed my friends who were struggling to choose. Clearly we just have different tastes. When I found out that the Poached rhubarb, strawberry & balsamic jam conversation was similar to a mille feuille I decided that that was the dessert for me. Disappointingly the jam was just far too sweet for my liking. I'll stick to the real deal thanks, and limit it to something I have with a cup of tea or coffee in… More