|
|
Local Reviews
|
 From
Monet to Malaise.
Returning from an enjoyable evening at the Evening Standard
sponsored lecture and tour of the Impressionists by
the Sea exhibit at the Royal Academy, my wife and I
decided to have dinner at the Formosa Dining Room (#7
Formosa Street). "Ho Hum" had been our last experience
but perhaps it had improved.
We were seated immediately, which turned out to be the
harbinger of things to come. While my wife and I were
making our choices from the menu, we ordered the Bread
and Olive Oil and drinks. The drinks came but no bread.
After 5 - 10 minutes, I reminded the waiter about the
starter only to be told that the restaurant was out
of bread. When asked why the waiter had not informed
us of this, he explained that it was his first shift
and he did not know he should do that. So we ordered
the olives (12 small specimens for £2.75 or 23p an olive).
My wife selected the Duck and I the Rump of Lamb (rump
of lamb, salad nicosia, potatoes wrapped in Parma ham
and a poached egg). A few minutes later another waiter
returned to say that the lamb was not £12.50 as stated
on the menu, but rather £16 (a not insignificant and
instantaneous 30% increase in price). Given the other
selections, at who knows what price, and the embarrassment
of having to make a new choice solely for £3.25, I stayed
with the lamb.
Our orders came and I was presented with a plate containing
the lamb, one small potato wrapped in overcooked ham,
and a few cold tomatoes and cold green beans floating
in the lamb gravy. I took perverse pleasure, in response
to the obligatory question about our selections, of
pointing out that a.) potatoes were plural and the one
I received, cold; b.) there was no poached egg; and,
c.) a "salad nicosia" consisted of not only tomatoes
and green beans but also hard boiled egg, olives, anchovies
and tuna fish, preferably not mixed in with lamb gravy.
The plate was returned to me with an explanation that
they were out of eggs and an argument in Latvian English
that the bean/tomato combination was a salad nicosia.
At that point my English wife asked that I not send
back her serving of boiled new potatoes when she has
asked for potatoes lyonnaise. Whichever chef is in charge
of vegetables shouldn't be!
That said, the lamb and the duck were delicious.
And to these injuries was added a 12% "discretionary"
service charge with no way to remove it from the credit
card chip & pin machine.
Dinner at the Formosa Dining Room is best enjoyed in
a state of advanced inebriation brought on by several
hours in the adjoining (and highly recommendable) Prince
Alfred Pub.
In short, DON'T DRINK AND DINE!
James Roosevelt |
|
|
|
