Experiments – Breaking the Lunchtime Habit – A Response

Not to get all geekily self-congratulatory, but I really enjoyed Georgia’s post from the other day, which she generously attributed to our questing ways. In response, slightly by accident, I’ve found myself “experimenting” in the opposite direction over the past few days, so thought I’d write a little responding companion piece.

The one drawback that MJ and I have encountered during our months of questing, is that we tend to eat in new places all the time, so don’t get the opportunity to revisit some of the restaurants and cafes that we’ve really enjoyed. With Georgia experimenting with new places, we thought we’d attempt to bring balance to the lunchtime force, by “experimenting” with revisits to previous quest sites, and I have to say that it’s been a refreshing little change.

Writing restaurant reviews is a very subjective and impressionistic business. We generally get a very quick snapshot, across one or two dishes, then need to reach a verdict based on that relatively small amount of information. We could be more rigorous, but that introduces the twin constraints of time and money. Our reviews have limitations, of which the “reach a verdict based on a one-time visit” thing is just one of many.

I write about Hula, a great deal, but up until now it’s largely been based on two short visits I made, many months ago. This week, I’ve had the chance to visit twice more, firstly to check out their newly refurbished premises, but also just because I enjoy going there. The refit looks really good, and their food, smoothies and coffee continues to be top notch.

My second revisit stop was at Mark Greenaway’s place at No.12 Picardy Place. As Georgia has already written, we were lucky enough to visit for the purposes of sharing a viewing of Mark’s involvement with Great British Menu, but I also made it along for a lunchtime visit. It was my first visit for lunch, and it was great to see the consistency of quality maintained, with the same level of magical invention that I’d experienced on previous visits.

Third stop was at The Mulroy. Recent joiners to the wonderful world of Twitter, the chaps are still bringing a marvellous slice of country house chic to our lovely West End Village. Their lunchtime and pre-theatre menu, offering two exquisite courses for £13.50 is still one of the best culinary deals in the city, so I’d highly recommend a visit.

Finally, I popped along to The Bonham, to see their new Consulting Room, which is beautifully tweed-laden, and sits alongside their top notch restaurant. The Bonham’s just around the corner from me, so it’s a great favourite of mine, and their Boozy Snoozy deal of £80 for 3 courses plus two bottles of wine for 4 people, is my top recommendation for a lovely Thursday night (or Sunday lunchtime). The Consulting Room is a lovely spot for a relaxing afternoon tea, glass of fizz, cocktail or all three.

We threw in the odd new place (Fishers in the City, Café Fish and the King’s Wark) to balance out things, but it was a lovely change of pace to revisit some great places we’ve found over the past few months. Our questing schedule is incredibly busy, but I’m definitely going to plan in more weeks like this, so we can support some of the places we’ve enjoyed.

So thank you to Georgia for inspiring this post and the little amendment to our questing ways.

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