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When you dine with a Fallen Angel...
Aug. 3rd, 2009 02:31 pmWhen D. was staying with us last week, he offered to take us out to dinner, at a restaurant of our choosing; we chose to try the Fallen Angel, a newish hotel with restaurant in Old Elvet.
This was a bit of a gamble. On the negative side - well, look at their web site, with its mixture of stylish photographs, shouty red block capitals and multiple fonts (not to mention the combination of that logo and the name to suggest a hotel that lets its rooms by the hour...) On the positive, I'd heard good things about it, and was ready to try somewhere new - especially somewhere within walking distance.
We had a very pleasant meal, and will be walking back there again. Parts of the experience worked better for me than others, but fortunately there is an easy way to find out whether you will like it or not: if the presentation shown in the picture makes you splutter about idiotic pretentiousness, forget it; if it makes you laugh, and regret leaving your camera at home, (or even, heaven forfend, think "Oh, how stylish!") go for it!
The decor is - well, dark red walls, big elaborate mirror, piano playing on automatic right behind us, clear plastic chairs, a pair of white feathery wings on the wall - hmmm. Wine list adequate but not exciting, and I thought rather pricy for what it was - we declined to pay £49 for the Argentine malbec,but we found a couple of bottles to enjoy.
I had the risotto nero with kalamari as a starter and it was delicious - even the kalamari, which I usually find as tasty as rubber bands were tiny, subtly but definitely flavoured, and tender. My steak was - inevitably - overcooked. I wish there were some objectively agreed standard; instead I say "I would like my steak very, very rare," (which isn't true - I like it rare) and it arrives medium, at least. It was a very good medium steak, and the pepper sauce was peppery, but I would have liked it rare. The pistachio crème brûlée was very creamy and studded with nuts, and the alleged fruit compôte served with it was a cluster of seasonal berries, very nice and totally irrelevant.
Oh, and don't order a double expresso; this is the sort of restaurant that's embarrassed to offer anything in such small quantities, and a double expresso is a teacup full. A single will be fine.
D. was not only generous enough to treat us to a delicious dinner, he also lent me his phone with which to photograph it. (My first mobile phone photo - I'm very impressed!)
This was a bit of a gamble. On the negative side - well, look at their web site, with its mixture of stylish photographs, shouty red block capitals and multiple fonts (not to mention the combination of that logo and the name to suggest a hotel that lets its rooms by the hour...) On the positive, I'd heard good things about it, and was ready to try somewhere new - especially somewhere within walking distance.
We had a very pleasant meal, and will be walking back there again. Parts of the experience worked better for me than others, but fortunately there is an easy way to find out whether you will like it or not: if the presentation shown in the picture makes you splutter about idiotic pretentiousness, forget it; if it makes you laugh, and regret leaving your camera at home, (or even, heaven forfend, think "Oh, how stylish!") go for it!
The decor is - well, dark red walls, big elaborate mirror, piano playing on automatic right behind us, clear plastic chairs, a pair of white feathery wings on the wall - hmmm. Wine list adequate but not exciting, and I thought rather pricy for what it was - we declined to pay £49 for the Argentine malbec,but we found a couple of bottles to enjoy.
I had the risotto nero with kalamari as a starter and it was delicious - even the kalamari, which I usually find as tasty as rubber bands were tiny, subtly but definitely flavoured, and tender. My steak was - inevitably - overcooked. I wish there were some objectively agreed standard; instead I say "I would like my steak very, very rare," (which isn't true - I like it rare) and it arrives medium, at least. It was a very good medium steak, and the pepper sauce was peppery, but I would have liked it rare. The pistachio crème brûlée was very creamy and studded with nuts, and the alleged fruit compôte served with it was a cluster of seasonal berries, very nice and totally irrelevant.
Oh, and don't order a double expresso; this is the sort of restaurant that's embarrassed to offer anything in such small quantities, and a double expresso is a teacup full. A single will be fine.
D. was not only generous enough to treat us to a delicious dinner, he also lent me his phone with which to photograph it. (My first mobile phone photo - I'm very impressed!)
