Restaurant Alimentum, Cambridge

[CalumC]

How about that, he's actually managed to get his head round far enough to kiss his own arse. I naively thought he might start talking about food again towards what eventually was the end of the article, but apparently restaurant critics don't do that. He seems to me quite repulsively arrogant about his own writing that he thinks he can get away with this nonsense. Worryingly, he has and will. I'll add it to my reasons not to read The Times.

[eatenmess]

youre not gunna be paying that £2 a week to read the site either calum? i was reading today having a rant about it my host is a eng lit graduate or something and she said an article is about the writing. well if thats what theyre teaching the kids then i expect to see 'restaurant X reviewed:' and then just a short story about the writers day inn the near future.

i bet the chef at alimentum is gutted. thought he was getting a review of his restaurant but no.

[CalumC]

Eatenmess:

It bothers me more that gill is billed as a food critic, at least he is for this article (I can't stand his work generally incidentally), and yet doesn't give any of his attention to the food. Good writing about food does exist, and is one of the reasons I read the guardian. I'm sure the chef is bothered, because instead of giving constructive criticism, he's dismissed him for apparently copying something he may have originally come up with, not that I give a toss about that in the slightest. It's irrelevant to the review of a restaurant in all but a passing comment, and kind of makes him look a dick.

Speaking of which, on the subscription discussion. For the times or guardian websites I wouldn't pay, because on average, the quality doesn't match up to their print format. However, in a few years I do intend to join in with the digital print media move, and at that point I would pay a subscription fee for journalism/writing as I do for newspapers now. I just happen to be a student and couldn't possibly commit to a device (ipad) plus subscriptions to newspapers and magazines.

[Sacha Novak]

I have been to Alimentum twice in the last few months. My first visit was a family outing and was enjoyed by all. The food went from above average to spectacular. Sadly I cannot remember the above average (must of just been average) but the spectacular was some amazing desert in a large jar with smoke and honeycomb and some amazing main dishes which I cannot be bothered to talk about (ok...I guess I cant remember them either)

The most interesting part of the first visit was an unexpected email after asking for feedback on our experience. While we did enjoy that first visit I thought it would be a great opportunity to point out a few things. One being the menus which were a written on a single page of paper, our menus had obviously been used before as they had slight greasy finger prints on them and a few other very minor things like no amuse or pre starter (It seemed like it was missing, and thats a compliment).

My second visit was a date with a very lovely lady. We started this time with Cocktails in the bar. I have to admit, I found the whole area to lack any warmth or personality. As with the first visit, it felt more like a place for the staff to hang than a place you would want to spend drinking their average cocktails.

We moved into the restaurant for dinner, it was nice to see the single page menu had been changed to a nice wallet menu. And I was very interested to see they had now added a tasting menu, so we went for that! Not including matching wines mind.

The dishes were well structured considering they were mostly copies off the main menu. There were no real highlights as all the dishes were of a high quality but there were a few low points including a sorbet that tasted like good quality toothpaste .

Service, well....it was a bit laughable. When the first dish came out I asked the waiter to explain the dish too us, he went very red and mumbled "fish and errr....." then walked away. When the main dish of BEEF came out, I asked if this was the salt marsh lamb and he replied "oh yes, it is sir". In fact, it was pretty much just the one waiter that was the soul point of our comedy. At one point he started to give us deserts which had to be quickly removed because they were for another table. To be honest, I quite like this sort of thing as it adds a bit of humor to an evening.

So over all, I do recommend alimentum, because the food is great. And while the service was laughable at times, it was warm and fun. I doubt they will get a star because of the service, but if they go on food alone....I think so.