Bytes: 3521 X-Wren-Trace: eO3I4OH4v/W+rvH34b777fv5+PrxybT64O7toOf2urjpq/y1t+Ourba1p7m0/w== Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 05:31:57 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.0.2.16 X-Complaints-To: [email removed] X-Trace: WReNphoon4 959171603 10.0.2.16 (Wed, 24 May 2000 05:33:23 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 05:33:23 PDT Xref: usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu uk.food+drink.restaurants:2962 Just passing through, but from a look through, this seems to be the place for reviews. So, two or three for you. In reverse order of cost, I'll start with Spiga (on Wardour Street in Soho). This is a new(ish) Italian place in the middle of Soho, offering pizza and pasta. I'm not sure what the wine list is like (we usually drink beer; I've only had wine there when I've already had a few elsewhere), but the food is excellent. The pizzas are big, very fresh and imaginative. And the pasta is all freshly home made, prepared with care and imagination again. The staff are all friendly Italian, and the place itself is big and lively. Not really the place for a romantic dinner for two, especially at weekend, but an excellent place to go with friends. Cost for 2 course and drinks would normally be £15-20 a head. Probably the best pizza place I've been to in London (the combination of food, location and atmosphere is a winner). Secondly, and getting considerably more expensive, the Sugar Club (Warwick Street - I think - just behind Regent Street anyway). I understand that the earlier incarnation of this place (in Notting Hill?) was THE in place for a few months a couple of years ago (nowhere seems to be the in place for long anymore!). Chef Peter Gordon is a Kiwi who is one of the prime exponents of fusion cooking in London. In some places, this means chucking steak and noodles together, but Gordon does it very successfully. There's nothing too fancy on the menu, but our meals were excellent. To start, I had a kangaroo, lime, coriander and peanut salad, which was delicious. Followed by steak on sweet potato mash with some kind of noodle (forget which). Then sticky toffee pudding to follow. Service is friendly and efficient, the menu is nice and short - I never trust places that have too much on the menu, and the food is delicious. There's an extensive wine list, although we stayed down the cheap end! About £85 for two - three courses, wine and water. The only slight complaint I would have is that the place itself is perhaps a little souless - a bit too modern and white. However, that should not detract from a great meal. The sugar club is definitely my favourite restaurant in London. Finally, Bank (kingsway). The restaurant is dominated (so you read beforehand) by a huge glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling, that turns out to be sheets of glass hanging down and not really looking all that much like a sculpture. The bar up front is busy, and to get to the restaurant you walk past the kitchen, which is a nice idea. The menu was good (fish seems to be a particular speciality) and the wine list extensive. I had the liver, which was nicely done - even though I don't really like liver, followed by 'rhubarb soup with peach ice cream'. My mum would have called it sloppy stewed rhubarb - not that that should be taken as a criticism - I love stewed rhubarb. The rhubarb and the peach didn't quite go together though, I felt. Bank is VERY designed. Service is brisk and friendly (although it did take an age to get our bill) and the place is loud and full of suits - as might be expected in its location. It was overpriced though - £90 for two, and it wasn't as good as the sugar club. Not outrageously over priced, but certainly a bit. The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free! Article 2978 of uk.food+drink.restaurants:
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