The Wolseley - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: French

Cost:  

Rating:

Where?:  160, Piccadilly, London. W1J 9EB.

Closest station(s): Green Park, Piccadilly, Leicester Square.   

Telephone:  0207 499 6996

Website: www.thewolseley.com  

Having been to The Wolseley a number of times I still can’t quite decide what to make of it. My problem relates to what it is; for the prices you would almost expect a fine dining restaurant, however it could also fall into the café or brasserie sections too. 

Though a few years ago The Wolseley was the place to go in London it is not, I have come to learn, a fine dining restaurant; it is a grand café and at ticking boxes for a grand café it excels. Having opened at 7 for breakfast it then moves onto a lunch service, then an afternoon tea service followed finally by dinner that stops serving at midnight –a long and tiring day for anyone.

This elegant former car showroom and bank is a beautiful setting for all of your meals. For breakfast it can be highly recommended, certainly cheaper than most of the local hotels but offering an excellent and appetising selection of grub to give you a kick start in the morning.

Afternoon tea again is spot on; a tasty tea without the prices and pomp that come with the effort made just moments away in the Ritz and other hotels.  We then come to lunch & dinner. If looking for somewhere to pop into whilst out shopping at lunchtime and you are craving a classic, i.e steak tartare, duck confit or calf’s liver and you want to enjoy it in a pleasant environment, to be cooked well, served quickly and washed down with a decent glass of wine then The Wolseley is excellent; as it would also be pre or post-theatre. At £19.50 for calves lives and £18.95 for the seven hour lamb, whilst well-cooked it may be more than many want to spend at lunchtime.

What I would not recommend is going to the Wolseley under the impression that it is a fine dining restaurant; it is not set up to provide you with a drawn out relaxing meal – and the staff do little to improve this, often seeming rushed.  

Helpfully, the restaurant leaves a considerable number of tables free for walk-ins; allowing this to be a refuge from shopping or other daytime activity.  

Mon Plaisir - Restaurant Review

Cuisine:  French

Cost: 

Rating: 

Where?:  19 – 21, Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, London. WC2H 9DD.

Closest station(s):  Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Tottenham Court Road.   

Telephone: 0207 836 7243

Website: www.monplaisir.co.uk

Mon Plaisir in Covent Garden is French, it is very very French. The staff are very French and the décor is very French – it purports to be London’s oldest French restaurant.

Unsurprisingly, the food is very French and clearly in the time that they have been open they have learnt how to turn out very reliable and well-cooked Gallic grub. The menu certainly ticks all of the boxes for a French restaurant – snails, steak frites, duck confit, steak tartare .. the list goes on.

The restaurant itself is nicely presented and as long as you aren’t the only people there an atmosphere is soon created. Luckily it is a popular restaurant and has a good pre-theatre following so there is a buzz at most times.

The starters are around £10 and the mains £19; for this you get extremely competent classic French cooking; the dishes are unlikely however to wow  – there is something a little dated about the whole experience. To my mind there is however certainly a time when it is exactly what you may be looking for. The house wine at £18 means that costs do not spiral excessively.

For me the greatest draw for Mon Plaisir is the pre or post-theatre menu. At £13.95 for 2 courses with its central location it is perfect for Shaftsbury Avenue and only a moment from London’s finest theatre (in my opinion) the Donmar Warehouse. For this you get a selection of two courses that are expertly cooked and often accompanied by side dishes that allow those who want a bit more to eat to fill up to their hearts’ desire.

Accomplished and reliable French cooking, for me the a la carte is a little on the expensive side however the pre-theatre is certainly worth a punt.  

Navajo Joe - Restaurant Review

Cuisine:  North & South American

Cost: 

Rating: 

Where?:  34, King Street, Covent Garden, London. WC2E 8JD.

Closest station(s):  Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Charring Cross.  

Telephone: 0207 240 4008

Website: www.navajojoe.co.uk    

As far as I have always been concerned Navajo Joe in Covent Garden is a bar, it appears however that they have now tried to position themselves as a restaurant too and push their culinary credentials. Being someone who is often too quick to draw a conclusion I decided that I should give Navajo Joe a go before I dismissed it entirely.

Having been seated I perused the menu; from that point onwards it was a poor culinary experience. The menu is a bizarre hodge-podge of North American, South American and Oriental – why sweet and sour pork balls, fajitas, red Thai curry and jambalaya would ever be on the same menu is beyond me. As I had thought Navajo Joe is not quite sure what it is, the staff don’t seem to know whether they are in a bar or restaurant either. The tables are mixed up so some are full of people trying to have a meal whilst other are crammed with cocktails and people trying to become inebriated. This mixture does not work.

The food that arrived at the table was edible, however was mediocre in every way. At £15 for main courses more could certainly be expected, this is not a fast food restaurant.

I would not eat again at Navajo Joe, it was never a great bar – however even its suitability for drinks has been negatively impacted upon by the decision to promote the food. I have little interest in sitting down for a drink and a chat with a friend when a neighbouring table full of tourists is sitting down to a three course meal of poor food. The saving grace for Navajo Joe is the bar downstairs, when it is busy and with a good crowd it can have a decent atmosphere.