London the great capital city of the world, with so many people and so many places to visit and see, and yet every eatery that we tried to get into was full to the brim with people who were fulfilling their hunger pangs! Some of course were just chatting over a cup of coffee following the meal, but nonetheless they were still taking a chair, and giving the impression of the eateries being full.
Being in the vicinity of Covent Gardens, we were happy when we came across some empty tables outside a restaurant – which as it happens was dead opposite a Sainsbury’s local.
Being the ever adventurous with my food tastes, I studied the menu for something that looked remotely edible.
A two course meal in the Bistro 1 restaurant cost us £7.90 while a three course would set you back another pound. Personally I think this represents excellent value - especially in London!
●● What was on the menu? ●●
For starters you could have such things as Cream of leek and potato soup Prawn cocktail Char grilled sardines with salad and garlic mayonnaise Or mixed Meze (homous, falafel, tzatsiki, pilaki, dolma and cheese borek) [Glad you asked now aye]
Main meals consisted of Lamb Shish Kebab served with rice and salad Char grilled salmon served with creamed spinach Pancake filled with goat’s cheese and creamed spinach.
Of course there are many other choices available
●● What did we have? ●●
We both chose the same starter which was Crispy bacon & Sautéed potatoes tossed on salad with vinaigrette dressing. For main we varied, My wife chose the home made fish cake with saffron cream, served with fries and salad. I was of course adventurous as ever and opted for the Cumberland sausages served on a bed of mashed potato and onion gravy.
●● Our verdict ●●
The starters was obviously first to come, and looked appetising from the onset. The salad was simply salad greenery in the form of lettuce, thrown (or tossed as they say) was little squares of sautéed potatoes and plenty of nice chunks of bacon. The vinaigrette dressing was a simple addition to the meal that was welcome, despite my misgivings (I am not a lover of vinaigrette dressing of most types).
Putting the first fork full in my mouth I was very pleasantly surprised by the delicious mixture of flavours that simply complimented each other perfectly. In addition it was hot! How I hate buying food to be faced with warm or cool food!
The main meals appeared and to be honest I thought I had the better deal of the two. My wife’s fishcake was smothered in a bright yellow sauce (as saffron dressings may well be), my three thick sausages (and that’s not a brag) looked cooked to perfection and were resting on a bed of mashed potato, which in turn was floating in onion gravy.
My first bite again was refreshing due to the fact it was HOT, and in addition it was also very tasty. My only complaint was the mashed potato, which was smash rather than real potato. Meanwhile on the other side of the table, it had gone very quiet and the meal that was filling my wife’s plate was fast vanishing. She assured me that it was very nice, and carried on eating.
The portions are decent, for example I got three normal length sausages that were thick, & a good spoonful of smashed potato. However I doubt it would accommodate a lot of people appetites, though combined with my first course it more than filled my stomach.
On the table when you order you get (as most continental restaurants) a little basket of bread and some butter.
●● Service ●●
This in my opinion was the only down fall of an otherwise good restaurant. We waited extremely long periods of time for between our courses, and following the meal ending, we requested the bill. We waited about 15 minutes before requesting the bill again, and then had to wait a further 10 minutes (it was 25 minutes in all).
●● Ways to improve ●●
Obviously on the service front, that would be a great start, in addition they might like to add to the menu the fact that the potato is smashed – some people really have an aversion to it. Luckily I can eat it though I wouldn’t say I loved it.
Overall I would recommend this restaurant; it offered very reasonable priced meals which were all hot and tasty, as well as looking good. There were a couple of short comings, but in the end we enjoyed our meal and that’s what counts.
