Tipped

What a cursed shame

September 28, 2009

I love the idea of Walluc. It's a pretty little restaurant, elegantly designed, with a cool vibe, tucked away at the outskirts of Shoreditch.

The menu looks delicious, the wine-list looks impressive, and when you're inside looking out, it feels as if you could be in any French/Italian restaurant in the whole world. Glorious stuff.

They don't take cards, so I wandered off to a cash point to get some food after we ordered. By the time I made it back, the food was already served! Impressive. Well, sort of impressive. I had 'white bean Cassulet', which looked, well, like a load of white beans, a sausage, and some chicken slopped on a plate. My companion had Gnocci, which looked like, well, gnocci. And nothing else. No garnishings, no flourishes of flavour, and no je-ne-sais-quoi.

The service was a bit haphazard (our dirty plates stayed on the table for ages, and when they were finally removed, the waitress couldn't be bothered asking us if we wanted any deserts, so in the end we just asked for the bill in an effort to get out of there), and our server seemed more interested in talking to her friends than, y'know, serving.

Don't get me wrong, the food was okay-ish, but I've grown to get used to more from restaurants. Sure, there are restaurants where I don't mind if they don't go the extra 20 yards in the presentation front, but our final bill came to 25 quid (including a 12.5% non-optional service charge, which left me cranky. I had no intention of leaving a tip) for two single courses, a bottle of sparkling water and a can of coke.

This restaurant could have been so much more: Simply making the dishes look more appetising would have helped a long way towards justifying the price tag. Lowering the price point would have justified the lack of presentation (and then you could have aimed at the 'hungry students going for hearty food' market), and a little bit better service would have gone a long way.

I hope Walluc was just having an off day, but I guess I'll never find out, because I don't think I'll be going back...

Cheeeeeeeese!

November 18, 2007

I've never eaten fondue before but the idea has always intrigued me so the other day me and mny lady friend embarked on a fondue double date with some friends.

Arriving at 8.30 we were told that as we didn't have a booking we'd have to come back in an hour - there were probably 12 people in there which probably gives you an idea of the size of this place - its tiny. This hour gave us time to go and find some booze as its BYOB.

There's 1 waitress who seemed rushed off her feet but was very attentive and polite.

The menu is a mix of French, Swiss and Italian but once you step inside you realise that is all about the Raclette and Fondue in here (beware - if you do not like the smell of cheese do not enter!)

Between the 4 of us we had 2 starters (1 meat and 1 veg) and 2 cheese fondues (1 meat and 1 veg). The starters were great - the meat consisted of smoked duck breast, salami, some other meat and some gorgonzola. The veg starter was salad with ample portions of tomato and mozzarella.

The fondues arrived quickly after this - large saucepans filled with melted Emmenthal, Gruyere and Garlic and a mammoth basket of crusty bread. For the meat we had about 3 types of salami and some more smoked duck breast and some aubergine - the veg option came with potatoes, carrots etc.

All in all it was sooo tasty and came to about £13 a head (excluding wine) which considering how full we all felt afters was amazing. Its super unpretentious and a bit of a shambles but to me this only adds to its charm - the food was delicious and I'll definately be coming here again.

Keywords: Fondue, Raclette