Latest review:
Style over substance - but neither executed convincingly.
Previous reviewers suggested 12 courses with a £25 wine pairing; my menu states it was 9 courses if we charitably count the bread (pão de queijo) as a course, but realistically as for how it was served, it was a welcome snack, then canapés and bread, then three savoury courses and two sweet. I would consider that 6 courses. My total, for 2 people, starting drink with the snack, and wine pairings, was just over £250.
Where to begin! Started off well, secret door, coats taken, brought into a room filled with art for arrival canapés and offered an arrival drink. One table were offered free sparkling wine, although I had to pay. A very short while after receiving our drinks, we were told to head to the chefs table altogether. I had barely finished eating! We were told if we needed assistance in bringing our drinks across, to ask a member of staff… they’d all gone, I was alone in the room. This was 15 mins after the booking start time.
The chef’s table was in a room with a warming oven, fridge freezer and a countertop. Everyone was sat very close together, uncomfortably so on tall unstable chairs.
Everything was very rushed. I was asked multiple times throughout the meal if I’d finished, even when my cutlery was loaded with food I was about to eat. Everyone is served together, and I found that frequently, as a slow eater, the next dish was being put in front of me while I was still eating the previous. This did not make it enjoyable. The entire meal was 1hr 45 mins! At the end we were rushed out of that room into a back room, where table by table, staff came round to demand payment, which felt very cheap. No allowing people to linger and ask for the bill. No printed paper bills; only electronic on their iPads. I also hated only being given one piece of cutlery per plate; either fork or spoon, but no knives.
The food was mediocre. The pão was lovely, but everything else was lukewarm or cold, nothing was prepared fresh but rather pre-prepared and just plated in front of you; not what I’d consider a chef’s table as there was no chef. The quail egg was overcooked, the scallops slightly overcooked, the Dexter beef short rib was dry (probably from the reheating in the oven, although this did nothing to render the untrimmed beef fat). The feijoada was lovely although had too much meat, and the chocolate mushroom, while looking lovely in a 2012 sort of way, was just underwhelming. I enjoyed the marmalade it was served with. The final course was to take away in a paper bag, and when I left, no one helped show us out or help us find our coats, just finishing that sense of being hurried and unwelcome.
I did not like the multiple up-sells throughout, the most egregious being the “caviar supplement” for £34.
The wine pairing, at £45 pp, is NOT WORTH IT - not served wine with the “snacks”, and not all dishes get a pairing. I received 4 small glasses of wine; one sparkling, one white, one red and one dessert, plus a shot of cachaça. The sparkling was lovely but the white was terrible, so flat and did not help the food at all!
The toilets (or rather toilet, as one was padlocked closed) are hidden in the darkness, with no more light inside the cubicle itself. No touching up makeup ladies; you can barely see the toilet itself! Directions given by staff were unclear (“go right” - this takes you to the entrance, not the toilets) and you didn’t feel as if staff wanted to be asked anything. Water wasn’t topped up after the meal started, probably because they just went from course to course relentlessly. This also meant no opportunity to ask anything to the staff about the food.
If you’re looking to spend £250 for two… go to Skof for just food, or go to Higher Ground? Would not choose to go here again. Would have given two stars if the food was at least hot and less rushed!
