Nobu, London

A one Michelin star Japanese restaurant in London. Very nice! Love the decor and food was excellent.

Typical Japanese salad with soy sauce and sesame oil.

Sushi platter. Very fresh and tasty.

Tempura. Sorry, it looked so good I ate some before this pic was taken.

beef teriyaki. Steak was just a little chewy but the sauce was good.

Cold soba. Again, very good.

Victoria and Albert Restaurant, Manchester

The Victoria and Albert Restaurant, at the Marriott, Manchester

We went for the 39 pounds 3 course dinner + a bottle of wine. Overall, the meal was average. The restaurant, for a Saturday night, was quite empty. Service was average, borderline poor. We were left in a little corner and had to wave to the waiteress everytime we wanted something. Our wine glasses were never topped up. The decor was actually quite nice with lovely little booths for us to sit in and we had a lovely view of the river.

I had a chicken liver pate which looked home-made but was not very tasty. My wife had deep fried cod cheeks which was quite interesting, but the batter needed more seasoning.

The Chocolate Fondant with ice cream - over baked and dull

Peach Tart Tartin - Would have been better with some ice cream. Quite poor.

Chicken and Leek Pie. Very dry and needed some gravy.

Roast Belly Pork and bacon and cabbage mash - Quite tasty and probably the best dish of the night. About 6/10.

Lovely view of the river though.

Not brilliant. Would not go there again unless I lived next door.

Overall 5 out of 10.

The Italian Club Fish

The Italian Club Fish

Smoked Haddock Risotto with crispy leeks

Grilled King prawns and Calamari

Saute di Maurizio - a mixed fish platter

Haddock and chips

The Italian Club Fish

128 Bold Street. Liverpool, L1 4JA
Tel: 0151 707 2110
Fax: 0151 703 6783
info@theitalianclubfish.co.uk

Opening Hours

Monday - Saturday 10am - 10pm (last orders)
Sun - 12.00pm - 9pm (last orders)

The Collingwood, West Kirby, Merseyside

The Lamb

The Pear Tartin

Went there in a group of 15. Had the set dinner menu.

My starter was the scallop with white chocolate and truffles risotto. It was very tasty with the scallops perfectly pan-fried but the risotto was slightly cold. It tasted quite good though.

For my mains, I had the Rack and Breast of Texel lamb, which was about average. The rack was tasty but was not spectacular and the breast was slightly dry. The garlic risotto was unremarkable and I had to look at the menu again to realise what it was!

I had a slice of the roasted wing rib of rare breed beef (another option on the menu) which was mildly flavoursome. Quite unremarkable otherwise.

The highlight of my meal was the pear tartin. It was warm, juicy and sweet. The pastry was crunchy at the edges, moist in the middle. It came with a fruit puree, chocolate sauce and ice cream. Other than the ice cream, I thought the other 2 accompaniment were redundant.

The atmosphere was lovely, the service was warm and friendly. It was quite informal, but the use of karaoke in the restaurant did take it down a tad.

Lastly, the website is messy and poorly organised.

Overall, I would visit the restaurant again to give it a second chance but I am not impressed with it this occasion.

The Website

Opening Times

• Open daily 11.00am until late

Address

Black Horse Hill, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 6DS
0151 625 4525

Directions

Blackhorse Hill, West Kirby, just near the Mercedes garage.

Cabbage Hall, Cheshire

Quite average food. I would not go out of my way to go to this restaurant.

The Cabbage Hall
cabbagehallrestaurant.com
Forest Road
Little Budworth, Tarporley CW6 9ES
01829 760 292

Stirkhouse Hotel and Restaurant, Lancashire

Stirk House Hotel & Restaurant, Gisburn, Clitheroe, Lancashire
Tel: 01200 445581 Fax: 01200 445744

http://www.stirkhouse.co.uk/

Absolutely wonderful food. Stayed in the hotel during a conference and had the dinner, bed and breakfast deal. The 3 course dinner was absolutely lovely. The fish was very fresh and meat succulent. This restaurant deserves 2 AA rosette and is nearly a Michelin star standard. The service was friendly and warm but not quite formal enough for a star. If it beefed up its formality, I won't be surprised if it gets a star next year. If you are staying there, ask to stay in the main hotel. I was in the barn conversion section, which was nice but is showing some age and the bathroom just a hint grubby.

The 1 michellin star dim sum restaurant

Tim Ho Wan restaurant in Mongkok.

We queued for almost 2 hours before we got a seat. In hindsight, due to the ticketing system, we could have collected a ticket, and returned 2 hours later as not being present only bumped you to the next available table rather than losing it completely.

The food was served very quickly as you had to preorder before you got to your table. The dim sum was fresh and everything felt freshly made. I really love the baked char siew bun, which had a lovely light crust but the honey roast pork filling felt just a little too sweet. The stewed spare ribs in rice was also quite tasty. However, the other dim sum felt only average for hong kong standards. We had the truffle milk pudding, which just felt completely wrong. The strong flavour of the black truffle used overwhelmed the delicate light milk pudding, so the creation of this pudding was completely lost on me.

The service was  friendly, and good for the limited waiting staff. Due to the small size of the restaurant, seating was very cramped and I was literally clashing chopsticks with the person next to me. Most dim sum plates cost a very reasonable HKD$10-15.

Overall, it was a lovely meal but with the excellent quality of dim sum restaurants in hong kong, I struggle to see why this restaurant was awarded a michellin star when there are many more dim sum places serving excellent fare in relative obscurity.