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Valentine's Dinner

christm

By christm,
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining

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christm

christm

Posted
Posted

Hi

Have just found out that due to business commitments, my wife and I will be in London on Valentine's Day. We'll have the evening free - know it's a bit late to be booking now but where would you recommend for a great Valentine's Dinner (everywhere seems to have special menu's on). Looked at Claridges - £120 per person for set menu - just wondering how that stacks up and what other suggestions there are.

Thanks

Martin

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nickloman

nickloman

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Ugh, Valentines Day. Perhaps the worst day of the year to try and get a decent meal. Personally I'd avoid Claridges like the plague on any day, but particularly Valentines.

Not very constructive I realise.

I'd go "anti-Valentine" and perhaps go ethnic to try and avoid the Valentines set menus. Or get a couple bottles of champagne, some smoked salmon and caviar and book a room somewhere :)

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nikkib

nikkib

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Marcus warring at the berkley is quite a romantic restaurant, not sure what their valentines menu is like or even if they're open as it's a Sunday sorry! Otherwise why not try the Ledbury in nottinghill which just got it's second Michelin star, harewood arms, a pub which just got it's first Michelin star

"Experience is something you gain just after you needed it" ....A Wise man

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howardlong

howardlong

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Ugh, Valentines Day. Perhaps the worst day of the year to try and get a decent meal. Personally I'd avoid Claridges like the plague on any day, but particularly Valentines.

LOL, and totally agreed. What's with this £120 set menu? I really object to restaurants that switch to only set menus with jacked up prices when it suits them. What a rip off!

I tend to agree with other posters, I think I'd rather stay at home and do something myself thank you!

Cheers, Howard

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howardlong

howardlong

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I was at Nahm last night, where I was berating the annual ripoff that is Valentines with the crew there, in particular Ramsay at Claridges' £120 set menu, when a story was relayed to me about Trinity in Clapham that is also charging £120 and is apparently sold out already. If that is indeed true, then people, please get a grip!

Cheers,Howard

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david goodfellow

david goodfellow

Posted
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I was at Nahm last night, where I was berating the annual ripoff that is Valentines with the crew there, in particular Ramsay at Claridges' £120 set menu, when a story was relayed to me about Trinity in Clapham that is also charging £120 and is apparently sold out already. If that is indeed true, then people, please get a grip!

Cheers,Howard

I could not agree more,get a grip,as punters we do understand profit margins but hey there is only so much money to go around.

My recommend is Galvin La Chapelle, had a super meal over the weekend (will write it up soon), top quality and not rip off money.

http://www.galvinrestaurants.com/section.php/91/1/valentine_s_day

"So many places, so little time"

http://londoncalling...blogspot.co.uk/

@d_goodfellow1

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christm

christm

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Thanks for all the replies - at last minute plans have changed! So (in a good way) - I won't be doing Valentine's Dinner.

However I now need to find a table for 4 for Saturday 13th Feb! (not the easiest thing at this short notice).

Also - dining companions reasonably fussy (no offal etc..) like fairly plain but well executed things. I'm a bit more adventurous - any suggestions for somewhere that might merge the two well on the menu and have a table a week on Sat?

Thanks

Martin

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christm

christm

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I'll check out wild honey. Should say, doing Italian for Sunday lunch so probably nothing majorly Italian for sat dinner.

Also what's the general consents on this....I've tried reserving online at a few restaurants and all saying fully booked. Is it worth calling them direct to double check?

Thanks

martin

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Winot

Winot

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I was going to suggest plugging the date into toptable.com... but having just had a play on it and being surprised to see spaces at the Ledbury, I then found it was lying so clearly the software is a bit crap. Nevertheless, Pied a Terre seems to have space so might be worth a try if you are prepared to spend that much.

...

Just tried opentable.com and seems better - you could try Pattersons on Mill St.

Have a play around.

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howardlong

howardlong

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I gave up with toptable some years ago because they would say online they had availability when they didn't, and called me up an hour later to tell me so. That happened on several consecutive occasions. Their answer was to try another restaurant online. So I couldn't see what the point of the service was, I was better off going back to good old fashioned calling around. It's like booking a taxi that doesn't turn up. Oh, wait...!

A shame really, because they were pretty convenient to start with.

Cheers, Howard

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nickloman

nickloman

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Re: OpenTable, I've noticed certain restaurants seem to offer them less desirable times, either very late or very early. I think its always worth giving a call in those situations. Also, reservations are not quite as black and white as a computer system always suggest!

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christm

christm

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I've looked at opentable. Use it for New York a lot.

Pattersons looks ideal as far as menu goes but I've never really heard it mentioned on here before. Anyone dined there recently?

Also I'll be in town on thurs eve as a solo

traveller. Any recommendations for a place good for a solo eater.

Thanks

martin

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Winot

Winot

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I've looked at opentable. Use it for New York a lot.

Pattersons looks ideal as far as menu goes but I've never really heard it mentioned on here before. Anyone dined there recently?

Also I'll be in town on thurs eve as a solo

traveller. Any recommendations for a place good for a solo eater.

Thanks

martin

I've only been to Pattersons once, 4/5 years ago. The cooking was spot on, very good quality ingredients but slightly old-fashioned from memory and the atmosphere a bit staid.

For your lone diner meal there are a number of decent places where you can eat alone at the bar - Arbutus, Bocco di Lupo or one of the seafood places (Bentleys/Sheekeys).

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howardlong

howardlong

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Same here, haven't been to Pattersons for quite some time: an acquaintance of mine was sous chef there at the time. Pleasant enough I thought, but it didn't have me yearning to go back.

Regarding solo eating, I know that to some it seems a sad thing to do, I must admit if you asked me twelve years ago what I though about it I'd agree. However, once I'd got over the self-conscious aspect of it, I really grew to quite enjoy it: a quality bit of "me" time. After all, you can sit there, read the paper, and watch the world go by, and ponder life. No staid conversations. No arguments over who sits where. As often as not, I end up in conversation with adjacent diners. Away from London, I find staff frequently think I must be some kind of inspector - I particularly remember at Kitchin's once where he kept gazing at me from from the kitchen through the window.

The downside is that some restaurants prefer to hang on to tables for twos. Still, you can always say it's for two and then only you turn up.

Howard

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