the wells hampstead

[Gary Marshall]

apparently i'm going here next weekend, anyone been? any thoughts?

cheers

gary

[MobyP]

I'm almost positive that I used to get very, very drunk here - but I'm just not entirely sure...

Edited May 14, 2005 by MobyP (log)

[Janice]

I had a good meal there just after it opened but that was a couple of years ago now.

Fairly traditional French, much more of a restaurant than a pub.

Some friends have just moved to Hampstead so I might make a return trip in the near future. Please let us know how you get on...

[Janice]

I went here on Saturday night with my friends and found the food dissappointing and over-priced - £29 for three courses.

We were eating downstairs in the bar which may have had an impact on the overall experience but the main courses in particular were poor - both the duck and the steak were spoiled by an oversweet sauce.

Gary, how did you get on?

[Gary Marshall]

it was fine i think

whilst the girls went shopping for wedding things the boys were left to wander round borough mkt and stay in the globe tavern for a little longer than expected (not my fault it went to extra time). Their fruli strawberry white beer went down very easily too!

then back to friends who live a few paces from the wells for a reviving bottle of white and a more sophorific red, a quick change and then down to the wells were we'd sent the girls on ahead, and well trained that they are had already got a bottle of VC on the go.

menu was short, not overly ground breaking, i wasn't sure if it was a pub restaurant or a restaurant to be fair but all sounded eminently eatable.

i had carpaccio with parmesan and rocket which was decent if unspectacular not sure if was fillet beef though as it was quite marbled but tasty, and not quite being a 'northern portion' was quickly polished off.

for main course i had confit duck leg on pomme puree with lentils. meat quite tender and it was a fairly wholesome dish, sauce was fine

i was planning on cheese, but the 'selection from la fromagerie' as on the website was replaced by a selection of irish cheeses, for some reason i decided i didn;t fancy irish cheese so passed on that, and instead had some variation on carrot cake which was fine. Probably should have gone for the cheese but wasn't thinking clearly at that point. although was thinking enough to order a riesling desert wine that was very enjoyable.

couldn't get excited by the wine list, all seemed very young and unexciting other than the champagne and desert wine we stuck to red burgundy about £35, can't remember the producer it was on the list as bourgogne pinot noir i think.

As a local place it's fine but wouldn't travel far out of my way to go there. We had a very enjoyable evening, staff were decent (they noted who had ordered what which makes a pleasant change) and food all seemed competently cooked. Our share of the bill for 2 was £114.

I was quite suprised how early everyone left, we were not exactly late in at 8.30, upstairs was full but come 11pm we were by ourselves.

by 11.05 we were back at friends drinking a, with hindsight, unnecessary bottle of port.

gary

[magnolia]

I've been recently for both Sunday lunch, and dinner. Sunday lunch /brunch downstairs is a scene, which can be avoided by booking upstairs in the restaurant.

However the upstairs room will be hot, hot, hot (literally) during the summer because it gets full sun. Sunday lunch is also better value in general than dinner, but dinner on a weeknight was nice and quiet. OK wine list, no surprises but not extortionate either.

[Janice]

I see our mistake now...

Next time I will remember to drink much more!!

I agree, as a neighbourhood place it's not bad, but there are much better ways to spend £100 on dinner in London, although probably not in Hampstead.

[Gary Marshall]

I agree, as a neighbourhood place it's not bad, but there are much better ways to spend £100 on dinner in London, although probably not in Hampstead.

←

i think that's a very good summation.

wine list on the internet looks longer than the actual one, as does the sample menu.

cheers

gary