Date: 04/0/13-05/06/13
I was lucky enough to be treated to a trip to London by my lovely boyfriend as my 21st birthday present. We went down to see Once the musical at the Phoenix Theatre, followed by a jaunt around the British Museum the following day.
As I had already enjoyed a birthday meal with family, I wasn't really too bothered about food on this visit, though obviously we needed to eat. For this trip to London, we opted to go to chain restaurants as they are literally everywhere in the capital and offer deals.
It's no secret that I am a bit wary of chain restaurants. I find that they can offer up stingy portion sizes and the food can be less nice than independent restaurants. I also tend to find them to lack character, seeing as they are the same wherever you go. However, I am aware that compared to independent restaurants, there are many more deals available in chain places (5pm, wowcher, Tesco clubcard deals are just some of the places to find such deals) that are perfect for people on limited budgets. For this trip, my boyfriend and I tried two chain restaurants: Strada (Italian) and The Windmill (part of the Wetherspoons pub chain). For Strada, we used a deal, for the other we did not.
After arriving in London and checking in to our hotel, we made our way across the West End to Strada (Panton Street). It was only just after five when we arrived: we were having an early meal as we were going to see Once straight after eating.
For this visit, I had exchanged £10 of Tesco clubcard vouchers for £40 of restaurant tokens: you usually have to pick which restaurant you would like but my tokens were valid in Strada, Café Rouge or Bella Italia.
On arrival, we were quickly seated near the back of the restaurant. The décor was nice enough but until it got busier, the humming of the air conditioning system right beside us was quite annoying. My boyfriend and I opted to share an Antipasto as our starter. Antipasto is a childhood favourite of mine and brings back memories of eating in my Dad's restaurant and of family parties. When it arrived, we both got stuck in, though there wasn't much to get stuck in to. The majority of the portion was taken up by three large chunks of bread with only six slices of continental meats and a little mozzarella and tomato. Antipasto is simple enough to prepare as it is just a selection of cooked meats and accompaniments and is supposed to be a great sharing platter so it is always frustrating to see it served as a tiny portion. Not a great start.
For main course, I opted for Gamberoni (king prawns with garlic, white wine, red chilli butter) and my boyfriend went for Tegamaccio (seafood stew in tomato and wine sauce). We got a side of new potatoes in lemon and garlic butter. When they arrived, they both looked impressive.
I also quite like de-shelling prawns myself, it makes the meal more enjoyable and it stops me scoffing the whole lot too quickly. However, after d-shelling most of the prawns, realised that I basically had a starter sized portion that had been bulked up with two more massive hunks of bread. I recently tasted a version of this dish in La Lanterna in Glasgow(http://www.foodaholicglasgow.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/la-lanterna.html) and Strada's jus didn't live up to this one at all. The dish was nice but a bit too lemony and there just wasn't enough of it.
The desserts of Bunet Piemontese (chocolate custard with amaretto and crushed amaretti biscuits) and Peach and Yoghurt ice cream were tasty enough but tiny. The portions should have been a least double for the price.
After finishing our meal with a coffee each, our bill came to £63. Luckily, I only had to pay £23 of it, thanks to the Tesco tokens. I wouldn't have been happy to pay that much for such a tiny meal, so it's just as well we had the token codes! The meal in Strada was average at best and the stingy portions did nothing to make me warm to chain restaurants. I doubt I'll go back to Strada.
The evening after the meal and the next day were spent having fun seeing Once the musical at the Phoenix Theatre and then a trip to the British Museum. I would highly recommend both. The cast of Once were all exceptional and I loved that the they come onstage and play their instruments while the audience are served at the onstage bar. It was a real birthday treat.
As for the British museum, it was huge and contained so many interesting exhibits: I only managed to see about three quarters of them as there was so much to see. I especially liked the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian Mummy collection and the Easter Island statue.
After leaving the British Museum, it was time to head to Stansted Airport and begin the journey home. Our flight wasn't till half past nine though, so we opted to eat dinner at The Windmill (a Wetherspoon's located in the airport).
This meal proved to be much, much better than the one we had in Strada the night before. Although we didn't have a deal this time, most of the main courses were under £10 so were good value. We skipped starters and went straight for main courses: I had superfood pasta with pesto and chicken and my boyfriend had BBQ chicken with salad and chips.
Both meals were lovely! The BBQ chicken was extremely juicy and the pasta dish with pesto, rocket, pumpkin and soya beans was very different to other pub pasta dishes I have had. It was a relief to find that not all chain places are stingy with their portion sizing and the taste of the food rivalled independent pub food back in Glasgow. With a bill less than £20, we were feeling so flush that we even ordered a bottle of prosecco to finish our meal (and our trip)!
So, chain restaurants can be cheap with or without voucher deals but my issues with these chain places still exist. Why do the portion sizes have to be small??? The answer is they don't. The Windmill showed me that you can get a cheap, generously sized meal at a chain restaurant: the issue is finding which ones are worth visiting. I guess I'll just have to work my way round them all....
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