A friend and I were staying in Covent Garden in London for a few days and thought we’d try the Ivy for dinner. I rang them up at about 9am in the morning to see if they had a table for that evening, they did, but only at 9.30pm. It was a bit late but we decided it would be worth it. The Ivy is somewhere I have always wanted to eat because of its renowned reputation. We discovered it was within walking distance of our hotel which was an added bonus. I’ve heard so many good things about The Ivy that I had high expectations.
On arrival The Ivy appeared very grand. We were greeted outside the front door by a suited gentleman wearing a top hat who opened the door for us. We were shown through to the restaurant where we were met by another suited gentleman who told us our table wasn’t quite ready. We took a seat in the small bar area while we waited. I felt like we were being judged because of the fact we were both young as the staff weren’t particularly welcoming or friendly. By the time we were seated it was nearly 10pm. The restaurant was absolutely rammed. Our table was uncomfortably close to the next. We might as well have gone and sat with the couple next to us as we could hear every word of their conversation. For the record they were both eating fish and chips! Who goes to The Ivy and orders fish and chips?! I understand that The Ivy is a busy restaurant and that they need to accommodate for a large number of guests. However, for the amount you pay for the privilege of eating there you would think they’d allow you a little room to breathe.
We started our evening off with a glass of champagne whilst we looked over the menu, which offered quite some choice. As is now standard procedure I got my camera out of my bag ready to take some photos of what I hoped would be a fantastic meal. I decided to take a picture of the setting in front of me as the napkins had The Ivy written on them. I was immediately approached by a female member of staff who told me I wasn’t allowed to take photos. This really angered me as I always take pictures of my food when I dine out and quite frankly when you’re paying the prices you do at The Ivy you should be allowed to do what the hell you like! The Ivy isn't even Michelin starred! Michelin starred restaurants allow you to take photos. We asked our waiter a little later on why the use of cameras was forbidden and he told us that it was to protect the celebrities that dine there. Sorry, but SOD the celebrities! I could understand my 'telling off' had I been pointing my camera around the room but I hadn’t. The menu actually states on it no cameras or mobiles! I just found this request absolutely ridiculous! My first impressions of The Ivy were disappointing and this was before we’d even tasted a mouthful of food. It didn’t look like anything special from the outside and if I’m honest it didn’t feel it inside.
We chose two starters which we decided we would share. We chose; Char-grilled squid salad with preserved lemon, fennel and spicy chorizo and aromatic duck with golden watermelon and cashews. The starters, for me, were the best part of the meal. The char-grilled squid salad was delicious. The squid was beautifully cooked and was accompanied in the salad by sun-blushed tomatoes, mint, spring onions, and red onions. I couldn’t taste the fennel which made me question whether it was even there. I enjoyed the flavour of the squid and mint together but it was quite overpowering at times. I felt they’d put a little too much mint in the salad which detracted from other flavours. I wouldn’t have described the chorizo as spicy and there was hardly any of it, you had to dig around to find it. I also found a lemon pip in the salad which was a little worrying. The duck was full of Asian style flavours, which I absolutely love. It had; lemongrass, chilli, spring onion, coriander and ginger which complemented the flavour of the duck beautifully. The watermelon was really refreshing and the cashew nuts added great texture to the dish. The golden watermelon made the dish look a little dull, I felt they should have used standard pink watermelon to add colour to the dish. My friend thought the flavours in the dish hadn’t been mixed enough as they kept getting separate bursts of each flavour rather than experiencing them all together.
Our mains arrived 20 minutes after our starters had been cleared which annoyed me. It’s nice to have a break between courses, but anymore that 10 to 15 minutes and I feel like I’m being teased. I don’t like eating late and the fact that we were seated half an hour later than scheduled meant it was coming up to nearly 11pm before we received our main courses. I had wanted to order the fillet of cod with grilled asparagus and lentil salsa but they had run out of it. Another disappointment to add to my list! Instead, I chose the grilled plaice with samphire and brown shrimps. My friend chose the slow-roast pork belly with wilted cabbage and grelot onion. I would describe my main course as average. It definitely didn’t knock my socks off. The plaice was well cooked and tasted fresh. They hadn’t cooked it in a ton of butter which pleased me. The samphire complemented the fish beautifully. However, I felt there weren’t enough of the brown shrimps. My friend’s pork belly was flavoursome. I wouldn’t say it had been well-cooked as very little of the fat had crisped. It was overly fatty which I hate, hence why I tend to avoid pork belly. The grelot onion was really tasty and the sauce was delicious. It had been made from French mustard and complemented the flavour of the pork wonderfully. However, it was quite rich.
For pudding I chose the chocolate pudding with peppermint ice-cream. It had been recommended to me by a family friend. I expected the chocolate pudding to be a moulded chocolate fondant, but I was wrong. It was served in a bowl and hadn’t even been moulded properly. The peppermint ice cream had been plonked on top of the pudding in a careless fashion. It didn’t look well thought out causing it to lack appeal on the eye. The chocolate pudding itself was good but it was ever so rich, I struggled to finish it which isn’t like me at all. The peppermint ice-cream was lovely and helped to take away a little of the richness of the chocolate.
I can now say I’ve eaten at the Ivy but I doubt I’ll be returning anytime soon.
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