Classic Crème Brulée
The County

The County

The County Hotel, NE46 1PS, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Steak • Pasta • European • Bar-lounge


"My wife and I have been to the County Kitchen a few times for their Sunday Carvery. So why, you may ask have I only given the County Kitchen 3 stars and entitled my review as lacks consistency? Well the title does say it all, it isn 't that the food and service and surroundings are bad its just that as a complete package it...........lacks consistency. Perhaps I should explain rather than repeating myself Our table was crammed in with others in the small conservatory/veranda area. It felt cramped as we were against a pillar and so close to at least 6 other diners that it felt uncomfortable and unwelcoming, especially as the rest of the restaurant was empty. Moving on to our food. We opted for starters, followed by the carvery. My wife 's starter crab haddock fishcake, with chive hollandaise was presented nicely and according to her very nice but lacked flavour . Mine was pork belly terrine and chutney my comments mirror those of my wife 's. Lacked seasoning and flavour, but looked nice. I echo Greg Wallace 's thoughts on Masterchef the other day..... ...would rather have something that tastes good rather than a dish that just looks pretty... Now the carvery you have a choice of at 3 roast meats plus vegetables and if you feeling really hungry there isn 't a limit to the number of times you can go back. But for most appetites 1 visit is enough. Being a little greedy I had a couple of slices of port with yummily crisp crackling) and some beef. The carver described the beef as medium rare my preference) but it was more like medium to well done so it was a bit tough and chewy shame as it looked a fantastic joint of beef). That finally put an end to our meal, we paid our bill £59.95 incl bottle of wine, and starters) and left. I have to say that this hasn 't been our experience on other occasions, so perhaps its was just an off day. Will we go back? Probably, but we won 't be rushing back. Its not a bad place, it just.....lacks consistency!"

Searcy's Champagne

Searcy's Champagne

Upper Concourse, Camden, United Kingdom, N1C 4

Full • Steak • British • High Tea


"Went for the Sunday Jazz Feast bottomless brunch. We don’t drink so we enquired about non alcoholic options. Was pleasantly surprised that they offered a just bottomless food option where we could order drinks separately. Felt like this was a good start, but that was probably the only good surprise we experienced. We were quite disappointed that there were no oysters despite all the PR and reviews saying unlimited oysters. All over IG and Tik Tok it’s reviews about oysters, so that was disappointing. Felt that there were not a huge amount of options for seafood and starters/salads. The roasts looked good but found the meat was seasoned very heavily with salt. The gravy/jus was very watery. Must say the carver was very friendly though! Most of the other hot food (sausages with mash, chicken, risotto) were cold and looked unappetising due to looking dry and congealed. I understand it’s difficult on a buffet to keep things looking fresh but the temperature of the hot food was just too cold. Also not sure why they felt the need to slice the sausages in half? Dessert selection was also very limited and the cheese selection placed on the same table which had a very overwhelming smell. Definitely put me off, I didn’t eat any desserts. Service wise I noticed the tables around us were getting a good level of service, having their bottomless drinks topped up regularly. Maybe it was because we were just ordering our drinks separately and were not consuming alcohol I felt like we didn’t get the same attentive service. Waiters were having conversations with other guests and tables and we barely got a sideways glance. Took ages for us to get someone’s attention to order more drinks, get a top up of water etc. I was tempted to try to ask if I could order oysters but couldn’t get the attention of a waiter so just gave up. Even asking for the bill took longer than needed. Being busy we wanted to free up our table promptly for them. On our departure we barely got a thank you for paying nor a goodbye. Overall feel a bit underwhelmed and slightly cheated that one of the star attractions of this brunch buffet was oysters that weren’t even there. But the contrast in service to other tables and us was what really made this a sour experience. Although vastly more expensive, will probably stick to The Ned or even something like Nobu Shoreditch bottomless brunch."