Have to book a fair bit in advance for the restaurant .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I think Boyf is in love…..with Gordon Ramsey. Actually, I think he's in love with Heston Blumen wotsit too, but he really does seem to rate Ramsey food so a while back he went off to a newly opened G.R. venture, called The Narrow and wouldn't stop raving about the amazing 'pub grub' for days.
Several weeks later, we popped in for lunch - sadly we couldn't get a table so had to make do with Bar Snacks (the best sausage roll I've ever had, and lovely crispy chips), and finally, we managed to get a lunch booking on Bank Holiday Monday…which we had to book about a month in advance.
~ The Venue ~
The Narrow is right on the banks of the River Thames, a short hop skip and a jump from Limehouse Station.
You enter the restaurant via the pub - quite nice, stone floor, white walls, a few really low seats (sit down and need a winch to get back up out of) and some high and low bar stools.
The restaurant area isn't overly big, about 10 tables for 2 - which can be pushed together for bigger groups although you are limited to a maximum of 8 people in one sitting - but there is an outside dining area where you can sit in the glass conservatory area. Some of the glass walls and the ceiling open back and out. We were meant to be seated outside but our table was still occupied by the previous diners faffing about … which considering the temperature on the day was probably a blessing in disguise. ~Access ~
We walked down Narrow Street and used the up a few stairs, down a big flight of stairs and into the pub area entrance. As the Boyf wants to take his Dad along one day we had to check out disabled access as his Dad has MS and finds stairs quite awkward, so if you walk towards The Narrow on your right you will see a walkway (there are two infact). If you walk through either one of these and then turn left, you are out on the river bank. Continue walking, walk round the outside seating area and you then get to the bar.
There is also a car park for patrons of The Narrow but it gets quite busy as street parking is permit only for certain days.
The toilets are also on ground level, just to your right when you go in through the entrance. Quite clean and tidy although I did manage to almost concuss a woman when I opened the door as they aren't exactly spacious.
~ The Food ~
Sometimes I can look at a menu and numerous things 'leap off' the page at me. Maybe it was the heat but today this wasn't the case so instead I had a look about at what other people were ordering and I opted for the prawn cocktail followed by the sausages and 'champ' mash with onion gravy (I know, not exactly Summer food!). Boyf went for the chicken liver, bacon & duck egg salad followed by Hake, chips and mushy peas.
After reading through the menu and the Boyf taking AGES reading through the large beer, wine, sprits, cocktails (alcoholic and non-) and soft drinks menu, he finally settled on a bottle of some London beer. I chose a bottle of Fentimans Victorian Lemonade - seriously lemony, hints of ginger, delicious but the second bottle set my teeth on edge.
We then had a large plate containing 4 chunky slices of squishy bread and a big slab of butter brought to us.
The starters were brought along after around a 10 minute wait - the prawn cocktail in a wine glass, shredded iceberg lettuce with finely chopped apple (which tasted like a Cox), massive prawns, a dusted of Paprika and a spoonful of seafood sauce, big wedge of lemon and a slice of bread. All very nice, the prawns actually tasted of prawns, unlike the tasteless lumps that some places give you.
Boyf enjoyed his starter, the richness of the livers, slight saltiness of the bacon and the creamy mild yolk of the duck egg all complimented each other although the forkful I tried was 100% liver and so rich it was unbelievable.
Once finished our plates were cleared and after around 15 minutes, our mains were brought over and I realized I had made A Huge Mistake. My portion of food was massive - 3 seriously plump, meaty, mildly sagey and firm sausages, non of that pulpy rusk filler in these big boys, a substantial serving of mash speckled with finely shredded cabbage, a large spoonful of brown onions and a ladle of gravy.
Boyf was given a large plate containing a large chunk of battered fish - lovely crispy batter, just like it should be, golden brown chips that were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle, a puddle of mushy peas and a wedge of lemon. He said the portion of hake was massive as he'd "..eaten loads but there's still loads left. Look!!". He was also pleased that there were absolutely no bones he had to remove but he did say that towards the end, the batter was beginning to taste too greasy.
After feeling absolutely stuffed we were asked if we'd like to see the desert menu. Of course we would!!
There were a few things I was drawn to:-
The lemon cheesecake with rhubarb. The sticky toffee pudding (cos I saw the people next door sharing a bowl. Sharing dessert is not in my nature. It's mine so get your spoon away or risk losing a digit). Chocolate Tart.
Boyf toyed between S.T.Pud, lemon cheesecake or the Treacle Tart. In the end, I had cheesecake, he had S.T.P which I told him would be a mistake as being half Danish, he just hasn't got that "English Dessert" gene in him.
My cheesecake was one of those soft ones. Seriously soft, it'd relaxed a bit over the very buttery biscuit base but it was still delicious, creamy and lemony and a nice light Summery dessert. There were brown flecks in the cheesecake which maybe were vanilla but I couldn't detect that taste. The 4 strips of bright pink rhubarb were nice and tart and complimented the lemony creaminess.
Boyf looked slightly horrified at his bowl which contained an individual S.T.P with a big ladle full of toffee sauce. He had a few mouthfuls and said "Wow, this is really nice" which after a few spoonfuls changed to "Oh, this is sweet". He got about halfway through before saying it was so sweet he couldn't go on as his teeth hurt.
At this point I'd clearly turned into Mr Creosote ("Ah, just one wafer thin mint"), and proceeded to finish off his pud (soft, seriously rich and sweet - you could detect that the really dark muscovado sugar had been used - and lots of chopped dates) and at the end I seriously felt like I was going to explode.
As Boyf still had plenty of his beer left - he'd now moved on to Leffe Blond and after having 3 different pints was now looking very pink of cheek and nose, much to my amusement - so I had a cappuccino. This was for me a bit of a let down, the creamy froth and chocolate was lovely but the coffee was SO strong it set me off into caffeine overload, although as Dane's like their coffee strong, Boyf thought it was really nice but kindly told me I'd stink of coffee later.
~ The Bill ~
Quite reasonable all things considered so Ramsey food for the masses. The grand total came to £63.51 including 12.5% service charge. ~ The other patrons ~
A very 'coupley' place and I don't think I've ever seen so many heavily pregnant women and young couples with babies in one place before. Although I didn't see any children of the toddler to teen age, I'd say it was fairly child friendly although if you do take children, there is a gate to prevent them from running straight out to the river but beyond that, no wall to prevent slippages so keep an eye on them!
The only thing which for me was a niggle was the most irritating baseball capped American man seated next to us with his girlfriend. He refused a starter, opting for the hake and chips then proceed to criticize every single thing, one of his comments being "...you could walk off the street anywhere in the States and have food much better and cheaper than this". From someone who has eaten in a handful of restaurants in America and supposedly "The Best Fish restaurant in America" I can say that you'd have to be extremely lucky to have that happen. He then refused a dessert and sat there giving his girlfriend evils as she tried to enjoy her cheesecake (which she didn't share with him. Good).
~ Recommended ?~
Yes! We hope to go back maybe in late July / August and Boyf plans on taking his Dad, Uncle and Brother there as he knows there won't be anything 'odd' on the menu and as his uncle and brother like their beers, they'll love that part too. Affordable Ramsey dining for the masses!http://www.gordonramsay.com/thenarrow/ 44 Narrow Street LONDON E14 8DP T: 020 7592 7950 F: 020 7592 1603
