Beetroot Carpaccio
Enoteca Da Luca

Enoteca Da Luca

207c Old Street, London, EC1V9NR, EC1Y 1AX, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • Cheese • Italian


"Attractive space and attentive service, but we might have gotten special attention because they noticed the Italian in our party. We attended the discounted soft launch. Food was good. Menu was ambitious but not everything was perfectly executed. Given that at full price our meal for four would have rang in over £200 (including 2 bottles of wine and service) I would normally expect every dish to be good. Though to be fair our bill was large due to the rather copious meal we had with quite a lot of shared starters. I don't think they are overpriced for the quality of food delivered. We started by ordering the Antipasto Misto, and a bread basket because the Italian at our table got excited by the fact that it contained pane carasau, a paper thin flatbread from Sardinia. The prosciutto and mortadella on the charcuterie board were memorable. Off the starters menu we had the pork fillet, prawns crudo, beef tartar and octopus. I didn't get to taste the pork. Prawn tartare was sliced into thin slivers and dressed with yuzu dressing. A nice dish, if a small portion. But I guess if you weren't sharing there is only so much raw prawn one wants to eat. Beef tartar could have been punchier for my taste, as there wasn't any caper or onion in this version. However, the sous vide egg yolk on top was a magnificent texture. Beef was a nice texture too, being hand chopped. Braised octopus was beautifully tender if an unattractive grey colour. The Italian refused to eat it because if its looks. The more for the rest of us. Overall, we found most of the starters a little under seasoned, but that's something that can be corrected to taste at the table. We each ordered a main. I had the smoked lamb rump medium rare which was good though a somewhat dainty portion. I didn't really discern the smokiness in the meat, but the charred slices of onion were a highlight. Another excellent component was the smoky BBQ celeriac garnish. The other orders for mains were the rabbbit ragout tagliatelle, the porcini paparadelle and the sea bass with clams. Everyone was happy with their choice. For dessert we all shared a single order of the blackberry doughnut. Very small portion with a spherical doughnut the same diameter of a £2 coin. it was unpleasantly tough and dense. There was ice cream on the plate, but the star of the dish were bits of meringue-like freeze dried shavings of yoghurt. There was a mix up regarding the soft launch discount on our bill that got corrected. We were offered a round of limoncellos on the house by way of apology. I thought that was a very gracious gesture. — with Sebastian Law and Claude Crommelin"

The Bewicke Arms

The Bewicke Arms

1 Eastgate, LE16 8UB, Hallaton, United Kingdom

Pub • British • Vegetarian • Gluten Free


"We found this little gem of a place because my partner had booked us into a similar sounding pub, which he didn't realise was a 3hr drive away! So when I asked the name to put into the satnav, it naturally brought up the most local pub of this name. We arrived, gave our name and of course, they didn't have our booking we still were unaware we were in the wrong pub at this point but the hosts could not have been any more accommodating. They apologised for the error (OUR error! and found us a seat. The bar area was quite busy and being so cosy it was quite loud, we decided to just have some drinks instead of food. We explained this to our host who instantly asked to come and look at a different table to see if it was more suitable, which it was. The whole pub is beautiful but there are areas more suited to eat and more which are better to drink in. After kindly moving us, our host brought us the menus back. My partner was confused as he is a fussy eater and was sure when he booked he had seen burgers on the menu. At this point he went back online to look and the penny dropped that we were in the wrong place we told our host when she returned and she could not of been any nicer. (She seemed pleased that she hadn't lost her marbles, given that she takes the bookings and could genuinely not remember us calling to book After all the effort and hospitality my partner took the plunge and ordered the lamb trio. I had the beef onglet. Our meals came out and they were amazing. I watched my no frills, plain food, fussy eating partner, devour a plate of top notch food which in normal circumstances he wouldn't even attempt to order. Had we seen the actual menu before coming he would never have booked. But I'm so glad this mishap happened as we have found ourselves a new favourite place to eat. The best service, the nicest food I've ever eaten, a gorgeous pub and the most friendly, accommodating hosts we've ever stumbled across. Cannot recommended this place highly enough (And don't even get me started on the Banana souffle and the trio of chocolate puddings. Heaven! we will be back real soon"