After two very nice parties last night we decided to take a trip over to Arthur Potts Dawson's new restaurant, Water House for brunch - brunch! Aren't we cosmopolitan? What you will read in all the reviews is the following: it's in a almost surreally run-down road in Hackney, the carbon-neutral restaurant looks great, the canal gives it a touch of Venice (if you have a dangerously over-active imagination).
The place opens at 10 and we were first in at 10:20 and we had excellent service - friendly, relaxed, observant - but the breakfast - click on menu for details - was a real disappointment. Bearing in mind ours was the first food they served all day, why were the sausages (cocktail, not even chipolata) already fairly dried out? Why was the portion of bacon, literally, two wafer thin slices of streaky? Why was my fried egg so solid? Why weren't the rosemary potatoes crisper and hotter?
On the plus side: the coffee was very good, the mushrooms were delicious and the scrambled egg was fantastic. The room is beautiful and, in summer, sat outside watching the shopping trolleys float down the canal while you tip some olives and almonds and white wine down your neck will be a real delight. But this was a pretty expensive let-down situated a long way from home (he says, sounding like the world's most jaded man)...
5 comments:
here's the true test what was the black pudding like?
good point, bltp. The black pudding was excellent, but there wasn't much of it. :(
It was very disappointing. Especially as it's sister Acorn House is number 4 on our best restaurants in London.
I'll back you up on your experience. We did a similar thing last week, travelled into the arse end of Hackney for lunch and were disappointed. If you don't want a burger then there's a limited choice. We both ended up with a greasy duck confit sitting on grease saute potatoes. It was not up to the standard I was expecting or paying for! There were only a couple of tables occupied for Saturday lunch. I hope they sort the menu and kitchen out soon, I support what they are trying to do...and the food Acorn House is really great.
1.60 for a slice of toast? Five quid for a bowl of Granola? They're having a laugh, aren't they?
Christ, sometimes I'm glad I don't live in London anymore.
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