Adam Simmonds at Danesfield House

[david goodfellow]

Well,I admit to looking at dining here all of last year, having heard and read good things. But as always the lure of London seems to win. We have been here before, not in recent years, and not to eat, just to enjoy afternoon tea on our way back from Royal Ascot.

The location is quite stunning, high up on a hill looking down to the River Thames.

Not exactly at its best, still suffering the ravages of a harsh winter, this place is at its very peak in summer, when the gardens and house are flooded in sunlight.

Before we move on to the food I have a few things to get out of the way, all relevent to the dining experience.

I booked over the phone as I needed to ask a few questions, I was asked for full name, telephone number, etc, then, "Can we take a credit card confirmation"?

At this point I was on the point of cancelling and explained to the young lady that I did not like this.

Of all our restaurant visits over many years, only twice before have we been asked for "credit card confirmation". It grates on me.

Now I understand "no shows" must be maddingly annoying, but in our case, and hand on heart we have only cancelled perhaps half a dozen times, and we do dine out quite a lot. Two of those cancellations were recent and due to the very heavy snow fall before Xmas. Both involved very long car journeys and there was no way we could make it, and had to cancel one on the morning, and the other one we were able to give twenty four hours notice.

Danesfield charge £55 per person if cancellation is not received 24 hrs prior to the booking.

As I mulled over the booking (for the next day) it crossed my mind to check if there is a dress code.

"Yes there is a dress code. No jeans or trainers, etc"

Bugger, I always wear a jacket, a smart shirt, and "jeans". Smart jeans.

"Ok thank you".

I received confirmation by e-mail with prices. Tasting Menu, £75 plus that nasty 12.5% service charge. A La Carte £55 plus service charge. At this juncture and after careful thought, I cancelled.

Now this was not a busy Friday or Saturday evening. It was a sluggish Saturday lunch, and was a stop off on our way down to London. I was fairly confident the table would still be available the following day if I changed my mind. If not we could carry on down to London and take our pick of options.

The following morning half way into our long car journey we telephoned to rebook, and this time we were not asked for credit card details.

On arrival we were greeted with nice smiles and taken to our table, both smartly dressed, as always.

In the dining room were three other couples, two of the gents were "sans" jacket. The other one had a jacket, smart shirt and jeans.

So much for the dress code.

Justifiably annoyed, I tried to relax back only for the menus to appear with new pricing. The tasting menu which was confirmed by e-mail as £75, the day before, was now £80. I was assured the prices had just gone up that day (Saturday last) which was little comfort to us. The pricing on the website was still £75 the following day (yesterday) when I checked.

They have been changed today.

As pointed out upthread I feel justified commenting on service, (or lack of it) as it is all part of the whole dining experience.

At this stage and because of other commitments I do not have time to pass comment on the meal.

Please bear with me. I will post photos and comments as soon as I have a little more time.

Anyone else been that can pass a comment?

[Harters]

Don't have a problem with the credit card. Don't much like it but then I'm not trying to run a business.

As for dress codes, I generally don't like them. But I think if a place decides it's having one, then I think it should stick to it. On a purely personal level, I will not eat at restaurants that require me to wear a jacket. Not least as I don't own a jacket.

[Pam Brunning]

I should have warned you David - we stayed there last year, we found it interesting as my grandfather helped build the pile.

We were very unimpressed. I did a report on it I will post it later when I have time. Shocked when he got a

Michelin *!