peterbirks: (Default)
[personal profile] peterbirks
To lunch at 24 yesterday, the confusingly named restaurant at Tower 42. As usual I arrived at the reception and said "Lunch at Tower 42", only to be told "this IS Tower 42, sir".

"Sorry, I mean, er,..."

"Gary Rhodes' restaurant?"

"Fuck me, is he in charge there now?"

"I believe he's been 'in charge' there for some time, sir".

"Okey-Dokey".

Last time I was at 24 I wasn't impressed, but this time it was top-notch. Perhaps Gary had actually made an appearance, although I doubt that he would stoop to preparing any corporate stuff. Another possible cause could be that there were fewer of us this time, about 16 rather than 24. The ability of restaurants (particularly high-class ones) to cope with large seating plans deteriorates rapidly above 10, I've found.

So, top marks to 24 for their Roast butternut squash risotto with sage and parmesan, served with a Bourgogne Blanc, Les Setilles, Olivier Leflaive 2004, then a main course of Roast duck with honey-glazed parsnips and soft buttered cabbage (Solar De Smaniego Rioja, Crianza, Bodegas Alavesas 2001), and Pecan Pie with banana and white chocolate cream. I mention the wines for academic interest. If you want to know, the sparkling water was nice as well.

Virtually impossible to criticize any of it really, although Rhodes remains steadfastly in the "I hope you didn't arrive hungry" school. You do sometimes feel the urge to say "and a side-order of fries with that, please". Say what you like about Fatburger, you aren't hungry again a couple of hours later after a meal at El Fattos..

Date: 2006-02-22 03:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ribmeister.livejournal.com
Journal needs more stories about food.

Please sir, can I have some more?

Date: 2006-02-22 04:44 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
The "I hope you didn't arrive hungry" school really pisses me off. I like good food, but for heaven's sake, the cost of the raw materials surely isn't that important to a restaurant. For what a good restaurant charges, it should be able to feed you as much as you happen to want.

If I leave a restaurant hungry, I don't willingly go again. There are surely other good restaurants, even in London, that will feed you properly.

Here in Catalunya, people have good appetites, and it's not usually a problem.

-- Jonathan

Re: Please sir, can I have some more?

Date: 2006-02-22 05:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] peterbirks.livejournal.com
In a way I agree with you, but it does depend on why you go to the restaurant in the first place. Remember, it was lunch, with analysts, journalists, etc. Most had another five hours' work ahead of them. A leisurely three-hour self-stuffing would leave them content, yes, but not exactly capable of a productive afternoon's work. So, if you go to a restaurant to fill yourself up, then the "I hope you didn't arrive hungry" restaurant is a bad choice.

But I fear that a large number of people (particularly restaurant critics, he noted, cynically) go to these restaurants to enjoy taste sensations, but not too much of them. Others go to chin-wag (or to do deals, particularly in the city), so too much food leaves less time for talk.

By way of mitigation, I am sure that if you were hungry, it would be perfectly possible in the main restaurant to say so, and various side dishes would be available to sate all but the most gluttonous customer. Albeit at a price.

PJ

Re: Please sir, can I have some more?

Date: 2006-02-22 09:31 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hm, if people just want a lunchtime snack, fair enough, but for that I'd go to a tapas bar here. If I go to a restaurant, I expect to be properly fed; but I accept from what you say that I may be culturally separate from some of the Londoners you mix with.

I remember well, sometime in late 1985, I was finally accepted by Olivetti for a job in Italy, at higher pay than I was accustomed to at the time; and I went for a celebratory dinner at Restaurant Bosquet, which was supposed to be one of Kenilworth's best restaurants. (As you know, I lived in Kenilworth at the time.) I ate a full meal and was really shocked to find myself still hungry at the end of it. In fact I ordered a second dessert; but I went home considerably disappointed.

That restaurant made things worse by serving small portions on large plates, so that the food looked particularly forlorn and woebegone.

-- Jonathan

August 2023

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13 14151617 1819
20 212223242526
27282930 31  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 13th, 2025 12:36 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios