Grumbles

Posted on 2008/10/04 10:30:47 (October 2008).

[Friday 3rd October]
There is an odd little backstreet not too far from where I live / work which has a few restaurants on it, but I had somehow always been a bit dubious about. I'm not sure exactly what it was - perhaps that it was just off Belgrave Road, where there are lots of "cheap" hotels for tourists, and so I had somehow imagine these restaurants mainly catered for that market.

Recently we had taken the plunge and tried one of them - Chimes - which turned out to be surprisingly nice (particularly the very interesting drinks menu). So emboldened by this we thought we'd give another one of them a go this evening - a place called Grumbles, just across the road.

It's a sort of bistro type place, with a style of food you might call "continental" (i.e. vaguely French, but also a bit Italian etc) or possibly "modern British". It was actually very good. It had a nice cosy ambience, the staff were friendly, the prices were quite reasonable, the menu was thoughtfully put together, and the actual food was tasty and altogether really very satisfying.

We shared a halloumi and asparagus salad to start - this sort of thing is right up my street, the halloumi was perfectly cooked (crispy but not dried out) and the salsa verdi with which they dressed the halloumi was succulent and very well balanced - the seasoning was just spot on.

For our main courses I had a wild mushroom risotto which was rich and satisfying, and Chie had a fish cake which apparently she liked too. Oh and in the interests of pointless extravagance I ordered a bottle of Perrier Jouet to drink.

We even had desserts - which I don't often do in restaurants - Chie had a very good bread and buter pudding, and I had an equally nice chocolate and brandy mousse.

All in all something of a surprise hit - I would definitely go again.

Right, we'll go there in November then!

Posted by John's Mum at 2008/10/08 19:08:23.

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