Minced Lamb
The White Horse

The White Horse

154 Fleet Road London, NW3 2QX, NW3 2LL, United Kingdom

Tea • Pubs • Lebanese • Barbecue


"Faced with last-minute New Year's plans, we were attracted by the convenient location and Mediterranean small plates menu in a pub setting. When we learned that the New Years menu was a fixed price mix of Mediterranean appetizers and traditional English roast beef or salmon, we thought that would please our party of diners so long as we could share plates and not have a full-price dinner for each person. The fixed assortment of Mediterranean appetizers included a duck pate which we asked to be substituted or removed, but the argumentative server insisted it couldn't be changed and it eventually came to the table anyway. Otherwise, the appetizers were unremarkable and proved to be the best part of the meal. After a loooong wait, the entrees of roast beef and salmon arrived. Both were extremely overcooked, slathered in unappealing sauces, and none of the accompanying vegetables were as advertised in the menu. The food quality was below that of a school lunch room. When we pointed out the differences and requested the listed Yorkshire pudding, the servers told us we must have had the wrong menus. We asked for a correct one but it was never produced. The miserable evening ground on for more than two hours with intermittent and unpleasant service from the staff. We eventually complained to the manager and he had the grace to subtract one fixed price meal from the charge. It was still an overpriced, memorably bad dining experience."

The Rupee Room

The Rupee Room

26a Wellington Square Ayr, South Ayrshire KA7 1HH, United Kingdom

Cafés • Indian • European • Pakistani


"I'm delighted to see The Rupee Room is already on Yelp! I grew up in Ayrshire and still take an annual holiday to visit the family there. Indian meals were always an occasional treat for the family, but I always felt we had something of an uneasy relationship with Indian places and never really settled on a favourite. Now, however, The Rupee Room is firmly established as our family's go to place for Indian. Most recently, mother and I took my sister and her two young children there to celebrate my sister's birthday with a good time being had by all. My usual choice here is the mixed veg dosa, which comes with salad and a dhal sauce. The dosa is smaller, thicker and tougher than I have encountered elsewhere, but still a worthy effort in fact let's look on the bright side and point out it is more substantial than a lot of the papery dosas out there! For a vegetarian, that is a good option for you. Mother always sticks with the korma (of which they have a slighty bewildering variety! and is always satisfied with that. My sister had a dhal based vegetarian dish, while the children shared chicken pakora. Sister seemed pleased with her choice, but between the dipping sauce and the spicy batter there was a bit too much heat in the pakoras for the kids, with my niece needing a glass of cold milk to cool her mouth down, which the waitress kindly supplied. Tandoor chapatis where also enjoyed by the party. Although there is a window into the kitchen, it is not really enough to give much of a view unless you stand close as I have done! But it is reassuring, and on my last visit I could see a diligent bunch of Sikh cooks toiling away in there. The pleasant waitress who served us was milk bottle complexion Scottish, though! The décor is smart enough, including the tealight food warmers brought to the table (see photos . The locale is great on Burns Monument Square, with a regal view of statues and formal gardens but also, unfortunately, quite busy traffic for Ayr directly outside the window which I found to be a bit of a distraction. Prices are reasonable, and their deals are a genuine bargain. We tend to go for the half priced mains from 5 7pm, or 4 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. If you are trying to keep costs down, focus on cleaning your plate of the half priced main and go easy on the side orders! (This is one reason why any of the dosas or puri meals are a good choice during this time, as they are complete meals in themselves. Actually, this is reminding me that I had the vegetable kofta on my last visit, which comes in a spicy tomato sauce. Although tasty and wholesome enough, both the balls and sauce were a bit nonedescript. Worth a try, but I feel I will go for a dosa or puri on my next visit. All in all, after years of eating in OK Indians in Ayrshire, I am glad to now have The Rupeee Room as a solid local option for this type of food."