Vinoteca, One St Pancras Square, N1C 4AG

Vinoteca, One St Pancras Square, N1C 4AG

www.vinoteca.co.uk

14/03/2015

She said: Another soft launch (50% off) so I booked this new addition to the growing food destination that is King’s Cross. We’d been to the Marylebone branch of this wine and dine restaurant and loved it so expectations were high. Set on the newest corporate square of the King’s Cross development, initial impressions were good. Lots of glass, bright, a casual wine bar-bistro feel. The maitre d’ was warm and welcoming. We were early so took a seat at the bar but I was informed they did not offer a cocktails menu so I just studied the food menu instead until our guests arrived. The menu offered a good, solid range of options. Unfortunately the food was a bit of a let down. Nothing was bad but neither was it memorable or worth returning for. My hot salmon starter was fine, a little crisp. My cod main looked lovely but was excessively salty – there must have been a slip of hand in the kitchen? I scanned and rescanned the dessert menu for chocolate but other than profiteroles there was nothing nor any suitable alternatives as everything seemed cream based. Still I opted for the semifredo which turned out to be a lump of sort-of tasteless ice cream with a skirt of toffee sauce; disappointing. Service was slow but maybe they were letting us take in the company and setting but the restaurant was also very cold with an icy breeze shooting through every time a door opened (I kept my coat on throughout). All I can hope is that these were all soft launch issues and with feedback, the menu and cooking will ‘evolve’ to the more sophisticated flavours achieved in its other branches. For now, it’s fine as a casual after-work social but falls short as a smart, foodie destination.

He said: I was looking forward to this Vinoteca. The one near us is nice, and New Kings Cross is everything that London isn’t: planned-out, spacious, it works. She booked us into a heavily discounted pre-opening deal, so we let rip and ordered everything gangsta style, without thinking about the interest on the credit card. But this Vinoteca was miles apart from the other, and, despite good service, was really let down by the quality of the food: even by soft-lauch standards this was sub-par. Food came out quickly enough, but without any flair or attention. It wasn’t bad, just really average. The impression I took away is that Vinoteca, like so many other really good restaurants, is expanding too fast. What’s wrong with just having one, maybe two restaurants that work really well. Why rush and screw up? But the location is nice so I guess it will do fine.

Skylon, Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX

Skylon, Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX
www.skylon-restaurant.co.uk

08/03/2015

She said: After looking at a rocket atop the Hayward we were hungry so I suggested Skylon. He agreed but I knew he had never been keen on this one but by the gods did I come out of this one the ultimate food pleasure finding queen of queens. From the moment we arrived Skylon was exceptional. The setting, elegant, grand yet intimate. The service, pleasant, attentive and generous. The food flawlessly magnificent. I was already planning a return by the second course. My fig and shallot starter was heavenly; the halibut with mushrooms juicy without being over-seasoned; the peanut butter brownie divine. As they didn’t have a table by the window, they gave us complimentary Proseco to make up for it. The coffee came with beautiful, delicious petit fours. They even brought the dessert exactly at the same time as the coffee as requested. Faultless. At £32 for three courses not including drinks, Skylon is at the higher end of the scale for a set lunch but believe me when I say it is SO worth it. This place is a wonderful occasion restaurant but also just somewhere to spoil yourself when you just want a delicious meal in a setting that will take you away from all your troubles.

He said: one of the few things I remember from school that doesn't involve clique politics or the usual mischief, is that one of the main causes of the French Revolution was the rising tide of expectation. The middling classes had been promised for so long that things would get better that they came to expect it, and believed that the time had come to go and get it. So it was, dear reader, with Skylon, except the opposite. When it first opened a few years ago I heard some pretty bad things about Skylon. So when we decided on impulse to go lunch there, I had zero expectations. As it turned out this made this surprisingly good experience stand out even more. The first thing that strikes you is the uncommonly large, triple height space, with one long side all glass overlooking the murky Thames. We were seated at a nicely appointed table (draped with a white cloth, a novelty these days!). Still I went up to the maitre d’, with little hope for success, to ask for a table by the window. Fat chance, obviously. I don't think my face reflected crushing disappointment, that’s just how I look. But still the maitre d’ felt bad go have ‘let us down’ and sent a couple of flutes of prosecco. This really characterised the whole experience at Skylon: the obviously attentive cooking and plating matched by top notch service, attentive but with a light touch and never in your face. Skylon even passed the ultimate test: desert and coffee, as requested, arrived precisely at the same time, a feat accomplished by one restaurant a year (at best). 

Twist, 42 Crawford Street, London W1H 1JW

Twist, 42 Crawford Street, London W1H 1JW
www.twistkitchen.co.uk
07/03/2015

She said: He was dubious about an Italian-Spanish fusion tapas place. I was keen to try a new local. He was right. Twist in short sells overpriced, average tasting little plates of food in a forgettable space a walk too long from the Marylebone heartland. £9.50 was a silly price to pay for a few spoons of ‘homemade’ fettuccine in a tomato sauce as it was for a deep fried ball of cheese. I really wanted to prove his wrong and that decent tapas at decent prices is not the preserve of Middle Eastern cuisine. But as of yet, the evidence remains to the contrary. If you want Italian – go somewhere that will give you a proper plate of pasta and if you want fusion tapas, pick another on our list as this place should be renamed Twisted!

He said: For me Twist encapsulates exactly all that is wrong with many restaurant openings in trendy neighbourhoods: it’s high on concept, often one you would never dream off (Italian tapas dining), high on pretension and design, low on delivery and quality, and low on customer comfort (‘you get your food when it suits us’). The kitchen no doubt thinks that it is dishing out the most sublime creations, using the finest produce. But really it’s just expensive rustic fare, like some Italian interpretation of Ottolenghi, except with miserly portion control. Just in the same way that 99% of people could not tell you if they're drinking a £100 or a £10 bottle of plonk, most people would not know, or care, if the burrata was flown in that morning (was it? Who cares!).  Twist must be popular because it's been going for a little while now; which confirms that just because a bad idea lasts, like Crocs or Scientology, doesn’t make it any more right.