"Innovative" food in London

[Scott]

£25 per bottle corkatge I believe though - and I believe they ask you to buy at least 1 bottle from their list, otherwise corkage goes up to £50.

Incidentally - Pied a Terre now do a homewine service run by the excellent sommelier Matthieu.  Looks quite reasonable actually!

←

it's £25 and if you're not an arse, it's £25.

if you get my meaning. bring a good bottle, share... etc.

[Scott]

£25 per bottle corkatge I believe though - and I believe they ask you to buy at least 1 bottle from their list, otherwise corkage goes up to £50.

←

Oh. I'm not quite sure whether that's a good or bad thing then

I bet the sommelier sneers when you hand him your bottle of plonk, unless it's a £100+ job!

S

←

1. of course they don't sneer.

2. if it's not a special bottle, what's the point? by special I mean well chosen, with a back story, or if it's just good. it's not much to ask that there be a reason why you're brought along bottle X?

if you're reason for bringing a bottle is to save £'s that's probably not going to be well received - but if there is a purpose, most places will let you bring it. PaT is one of the few openly admitting as much.

[Scott]

With those corkage prices, I would say there would be no point in taking your own unless it was a £100+ bottle!

←

you're kidding right?

you've got a well chosen bottle of burgundy, perhaps a gift or such, cost: £35 say.

same bottle will be £100+ on the wine list...

I've often brought wine there, and they have been as gracious and professional as can be.

as long as you're not taking the piss, or bringing some australian muck

[Scott]

Anyway... kai-m - if you're staying near Bethnal Green than Bacchus is very close. It is in a different league to some of the other places mentioned in this thread and that is represented in its prices. The food is not faultless but there is ambition...

←

is it? £60 is a pretty sharpish tab for the food alone.

[sunbeam]

This is the sort of place where kids play out unsupervised and there's a thriving market. sunbeam - I'd stick to talking about food rather than property

←

The reason why kids play unsupervised is because no one's going to be stupid enough to try anything on with them. Not unless they want to get shanked by a feral 12 year old.

You make it sound like some bucolic paradise.

S

[Charlie O]

Anyway... kai-m - if you're staying near Bethnal Green than Bacchus is very close. It is in a different league to some of the other places mentioned in this thread and that is represented in its prices. The food is not faultless but there is ambition...

←

is it? £60 is a pretty sharpish tab for the food alone.

←

Agree with that - but then £25 for three courses puts it in gastropub territory.

Anyway, I'll leave Phil to talk about the pricing. I'm off to spend more time in my bucolic paradise

[kai-m]

Since we are -finally!- going this weekend I want to revive this thread.

Iam not sure about BACCHUS anymore - since almost all reviews I have found (Guardian, Time Out, eating-london-website etc) are rather negative and especially mention the "very dodgy", "run down" neighbourhood...

I didn't find many substantial things about MAZE.

And what about AUBERGINE?

Thing is: I do not want to spend a fortune. Dinner (means at least 4-5 courses) for 2 including drinks, service and all should not exceed 150-200 pounds.

Thanks!

best

kai

[naebody]

Iam not sure about BACCHUS anymore - since almost all reviews I have found (Guardian, Time Out, eating-london-website etc) are rather negative and especially mention the "very dodgy", "run down" neighbourhood...

The Bacchus is the kind of place that divides people: you either accept that there's some out-there stuff on the menu that may not appeal to your own taste, or you dismiss it all as pseudish bumwash. That's why the reviews tend to be either glowing or scathing, with little inbetween. Oh, and while the neigbourhood can't be described as pretty, it's not particularly threatening or dangerous, and is a mere 10-minute walk from the ironic t-shirts and oblique haircuts of Hoxton Square.

I do not want to spend a fortune. Dinner (means at least 4-5 courses) for 2 including drinks, service and all should not exceed 150-200 pounds.

Perhaps The Providores? Haven't been there for ages so you may want to solicit a second opinion, but it would certainly tick the "innovative" box.

[sunbeam]

I'm writing this from my bolthole in france, where places like Bacchus seem very far away indeed.

Simple seems often best from this perspective. Picasso learnt how to draw before he experimented. Sometimes, to me at least, places like Bacchus have gone straight to abstraction without first mastering the fundamentals. But by all means try. I quite liked Bacchus as a one off night out but would not make it a regular stop. But that begs the wider question of what is a restaurant's true role

S