Service: 5/5
Ambience: 3/5
As a coeliac, picking somewhere safe to eat that also offers food I like can be a nightmare. So, I went through the Wellington on a Plate offerings to find restaurants that met three requirements: catered for special diets, and offered both dinner and a burger. Then I gave the list to M and told him to book us somewhere.When he tried Charley Noble and discovered they didn’t take bookings on Friday nights for parties smaller than 8, he moved on to Plum, who happily did take his booking.
That said, when we arrived at bang on booking time, having walked in the pouring rain from seeing friends at Bin44, they couldn’t find our reservation in the book. It didn’t take too long before we were ushered through the restaurant to a table at the very back of the long, narrow space. It was very cramped, warm and loud. The service at table was fantastic. Our server was friendly, informative, knowledgeable and personable. A great catch. He came back to check with me that pan fried was fine over deep fried for my chicken in my burger (of course!) to avoid cross contamination, which was a bonus, giving me the option to change my mind if I wanted (which I didn’t).
M opted for the 3 course Festival Menu – opening with Pate and bread (which smelt lovely, but I don’t really do pate, so left him to it rather than asking for the gf version to be served to table), followed by a decadently soft lamb neck with mushroom foam that was melt-in-the-mouth delicious.We shared the black doris plum Eton Mess, which was not what we were expecting, containing an almost cake-like base, and no meringue, but was lovely and rich.
My burger was a pair of thick slabs of GF bread, with a divine cheese, crispy bacon, buttermilk marinated fried chicken and coleslaw. The ONLY thing I would change with it would be to put another layer of cheese on the bread that was against the coleslaw, as it went a bit mushy quickly. It was magnificent, incredible, wonderful, I need to go back and have it again (and soon, I guess, WOAP finishes at the end of next week!).
So, apart from losing our booking (while still fitting us in with only a couple minutes delay), and the fact it got incredibly warm in the restaurant, this was a fantastic meal. The ambient noise was on the high side, but I never felt overwhelmed by other peoples conversations. And even though my seat was at a tight point in the walkway down the middle of the room, I only got my seat bumped a couple of times.
Recommended. 4.5/5 overall.
