Lunch at the Ivy

Will share a few more photos from around London, on our way out to lunch - love the architecture and all the very old buildings.

We made a point of visiting a couple of London's well known and celebrity restaurants.

This time the celebrity restaurants were awful and the well-known ones were great.  

In our humble opinion not all celebrity restaurants are awful however.  A few years ago on an earlier trip to London we had booked dinner at Gordon Ramsays original restaurant in Hospital Road and we had what we still consider to be our best meal out. 

The oddly French waiters (it is London) were superb and the food amazing - indeed exciting.  My husband bought unnecessarily expensive wine and when our first credit card was declined were grateful for American Express (yay).  It was light years ahead of the competitors and we would return.
 


 St. Martin's Theatre, where Agatha Christies ~ The Mousetrap ~ is in its 60th year.

 We went to that old London institution 'The Ivy' which is to be found in London's west end in the heart of the theatre district.  Apparently frequented by patrons of the adjacent theatres for pre theatre drinks and post show dining.
We were almost the first to arrive for lunch which is always a little embarrassing for some reason - but as the waiter who greeted us said "someone had to be first"
Nothing like an unassailable platitude to set you at ease.

The Ivy is located in a Victorian building and seems to occupy the basement and ground floors.  It has that 'Olde world' charm and radiates panelled walls and starched whiteness.  Service was good, the waiters were fun and the food was very good. Even the bill wasn't heart stopping - all things considered.

Unlike the celebrity restaurants - which clearly the celebrities only went near to collect the takings - there was a celebrity of sorts to be found in the Ivy, Fernando Peire, who was an approachable and pleasant chap happy to chat about his show and show some interest in us which seemed genuine.  He was amazed that his show, The Restaurant Inspector, had been seen as far afield as New Zealand.
{We enjoyed this show where he goes undercover at struggling British Restaurants to sample the venue, food and the service and offering advice to help them}

Overall a bit of creaky charm and fun, in a pretty good restaurant.

Have a wonderful weekend
hugs
Carolyn