Pheasant
The Butcher Grill

The Butcher Grill

39-41 Parkgate Road Battersea London, SW11 4NP, SW11 4NA, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • English • British


"Was the second time I had eaten here but had a lovely Sunday meal here last Sunday courtesy of Flatmate. Butcher and Grill (situated on the formersite of Cafe Rouge) occupies a great, imposing site. The Butchers shop welcomes you as you walk in- to the right a lovely array of meat and to the left a delicatessen/grocers selling a selection of organic produce. The split-level open plan restaurant is to the back. A heavily stocked bar located to the left, high ceilings and exposed brick work give the place a sophisticated yet homely feel. Flatmate and I, starving as ever, eyed the menu and decided to forgo the starters (pretty unexciting) and dive into the mains to stop ourselves drooling onto the table. We excitedly ordered plates of the rib eye steak. Sides as do the sauces, come separately so we ordered some green beans, mash, dauphinoise potatoes, mushrooms and green peppercorn and red wine sauces.Before I was about to chew Flatmates arm off it all came thick and fast and we were very excited. Meat looked good, potatoes looked good. Veg looked ok but mushrooms a side does not make. HmmmmAmyway, it was great. We loved the organic rib eye fantastic and flavoursome though a touch overdone. Nevermind we said, we were too hungry to care and i was upset when the last mouthful had gone. Flatmate pushed the boat out and ordered us puddings cheesecake and an apple thingy. In preparation, we had to unbutton the top of our jeans to make room. Can't remember but i think they were nice the steak just keeps coming back to me steak cheesecake? steak apple thingy? Not sure how much it all came up to as lovely Flatmate paid (thanks Nic). But it was a great hearty, winters meal perfect for a cold Sunday afternoon. P.S. The first time I came here I came with my Dad who wanted to order off the menu so we wandered down to the Butchers and he got the Butcher to cut him a hefty slab of rib eye must have weighed about a pound! Seriously my dad was eating long after mum and I had finished but he eventually did I was so proud and he was happily full!"

The Quality Chop House

The Quality Chop House

United Kingdom, EC1R 3EA, London

Meat • Beer • Steak • Sushi


"The QCH was recommended to me by a friend so I went ahead and booked. To be honest, I’m not sure why they recommended it and I will struggle to recommend it to others at the moment. I might have to have another visit then decide. The menu changes daily and whilst the one on the day wasn’t what I’d expected for a chop house, it certainly had some items you’d expect, plus some you wouldn’t. Neither myself or my dining partner were up for a 400g chop (or 800g bone in steak), nor the 40 60 min wait that came with them so we opted for “Yorkshire game, trimmings Pheasant £28 Mallard £34”. I opted for pheasant whilst my friend chose the duck. The menu was short on the description of them so we asked the waitress if they came with something. What she described sounded good, although she did say there were 3 sides with the dish, which seemed a bit much but we went with it. We didn’t order starters, which was a good decision. We consumed some tasty red wine whilst catching up on what has been going on in our lives so I’m really not sure how long our mains took to arrive but they looked slightly odd when they did. Presentation was unpretentious but also a bit confused. The pheasant (or Duck) were simply laid on the plate, another 1/3 was occupied by a jam like substance (can’t remember what it was nor what it tasted of), and the other 1/3 was occupied by something else I can’t remember! On the side was a watercress and onion salad, what looked like a mini shepherd’s pie (served in a mini saucepan), and a plate of warm bread sauce with salty crisps to dip in them. I have to say the little mini pie (it wasn’t a shepherd’s pie) was good, as was the bread sauce. The main plate of food was underwhelming though. I don’t think it helped that the steak knives we had were blunt well I hope they were but the pheasant was hard to cut through. It was at least cooked though. My friend’s duck was just about dead. She flipped it over and the underside was very red **** red and cold. We asked the staff to cook it more thoroughly. They took it back and brought it back around 5 mins later but for 5 extra mins of cooking, it was barely warmer and still quite pink. Trying not to be one of ‘those people’ my friend lived with it, but it was still tough to cut through. When the plates were cleared, my friend fed back on the duck, which the waitress was very apologetic for. A couple of minutes later the presumably manager came over and apologised and asked what the issue had been. My friend explained again, which was again met by an apology and an offer to right the problem. We ordered dessert, a tasty pear tart, that went down very well at the end of the meal. When the bill came we thought the desserts may have been free of charge but they’d actually taken the more expensive duck option off the total. We were both unsure on what to take away from the evening. The service was excellent throughout. Dessert was good too. I think perhaps the main courses were just dishes that didn’t really come off in reality. The chef probably thought it all looked good on paper but the presentation was odd. The whole course was confused; almost trying too hard. I think I might go back in a few months and try something from the more traditional chop house options and then decide."

Camellia South Lodge

Camellia South Lodge

Brighton Road, RH13 6PS, Horsham, United Kingdom

Pizza • Seafood • European • Fast Food


"My mother and I had been following the Masterchef Pro comp ' last year and were really keen to sample some of the winner, Tom Hamblet 's, food. We travelled a 4 hour round trip for the experience. We don 't eat at fine dining restaurants often but we are foodies. Firstly, the setting of the restaurant is very lavish and comfortable with warm low lighting. That said, the dinner experience was a little too dark for my mother so that 's something to think about if you struggle with eyesight and low lighting. The service was friendly, attentive and speedy/efficient. The food: I 'll start with the dessert because that was a real pleasure for us. We both loved the flavours of Tom 's end of series winning dessert so the meal ended on a high (we ordered the Olive Oil sponge with lemon curd). I recommend not ruining your palette with the overly sweet petit four that are placed in front of you following dessert unfortunately ours were more sugar flavoured than any other identifiable flavour. Our starters and mains were very VERY underwhelming. They arrived looking beautiful, neat and tidy but failed to deliver on taste. I had wanted the celeriac themed starter but the waiting staff told me the vegan/veggie starters and mains were created by their head chef and not Tom. That was disappointing as his 3 month residency was the reason we 'd visited the restaurant. We ended up both having the lobster starters after the waiting staff recommended it highly as either a starter or an additional dish to share. The claw meat was minimal and tough and the foam mousse took centre stage on the plate. Whilst the plate had lots of textures to it, we felt it was unbalanced and generally with no 'wow ' to it. We enjoyed the coffee and rye bread with butter and pollen/fennel that came prior to this thought. I ordered the Guinea Fowl as a main after the waiter described it as a gamey, dark and tender meat. I feel like a better description to someone that hasn 't had guinea fowl before would be 'it 's like a chicken breast with a different flavour '. This is what arrived in front of me and I actually found it was quite dry and not dark at all! I would never have ordered anything that resembled chicken breast anyway so I felt ill informed about my choice. I also thought the girolles were overwhelmingly tart. I didn 't enjoy my main. Mum 's Hogget was nice but average for her too. Last comment I 've never in my life paid £6.50 for less than 1.5ltrs mineral water beware! I don 't care how much money you have it 's water!!!"