Riding House Cafe
43-51 Great Titchfield Street,
London
W1W 7PQ
020 7927 0840
LM: Riding House Cafe has been on our extensive list of places to try for a few months now, so my mum visiting seemed like as good a reason as any to give it a go. The interesting vegetarian options on the menu had really drawn my interest, so off we went.
It's not particularly easy to find, located on a backstreet near Oxford Street, but was fairly busy at 3pm on a weekday; nonetheless staff were polite and effective throughout and we weren't kept waiting at any point.
Macaroni cheese fritter was one of the dishes that had made me so excited about visiting RHC - I'd been imagining a rich, crisp on the outside, gooey fritter filled with well seasoned pasta. Maybe less high expectations would have made the reality less disappointing - it was extremely bland, like school-dinner mac and cheese that had been coated in breadcrumbs and fried in not very hot oil. I did enjoy the salad underneath it although it had a little too much black pepper for my taste.
So, onto dessert...
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| Artichoke dip with crostini |
We started with some fantastic buttery nocerella de belice olives which I forgot to photograph and the artichoke dip with crostini. The dip was hot and fresh which is always a good sign with a fantastic grilled crust - more bread would have been nice but we were quite happy finishing it off with our spoons.
There is the option to do a selection of sharing dishes but on this occasion we decided to share the two vegetarian mains and leave room for dessert.
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| Polenta with goats cheese, tomato and basil |
Grilled polenta was buried under a mound of salad, confit tomatoes and goats cheese - very generous portion size and well balanced tastes and textures - we had no trouble polishing this off between us.
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| Macaroni Cheese Fritter on pea salad |
So, onto dessert...
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| The Infamous Souffle |
Peach soufflé with raspberry ripple icecream. Standout. I'm a sucker for a souffle at all times; they feel like the most guilt free pudding and yet so tasty - add in peach and raspberry and mum and I were sold. As you'd expect, there was a ten minute wait; the soufflés were brought to the table, steaming hot with little bowls of divine raspberry ripple ice-cream which certainly tasted homemade and was one of the highlights of the meal.
The soufflé? Delicately flavoured, beautifully crispy on top, and raw on the inside. I mean, absolutely liquid. Oops.
The waiter gave us a slightly disbelieving look when we queried this.
"I think this is always what a soufflé looks like" he said, "But I'll check with the kitchen."
It was probably only about two minutes until he came back with the chefs apologies, confirming that yes, the soufflé was meant to be cooked in the middle, and a two replacements would be out within the next ten minutes. The manager also came over to apologise which was a really nice touch - these things happen in a restaurant but it's good to see genuine disappointment from the staff when it goes wrong.
Unfortunately it's difficult to be so forgiving when the same mistake happens twice in such quick succession, and within the promised ten minutes we were served two more raw soufflés, admittedly with slightly more impressive height than the pictured ones. The manager was mortified - understandably - and we decided against trying another dessert option, got the bill and left.
It's a shame, because I left thinking RHC has a lot of potential. The staff are friendly, cheerful and polite, the menu has a decent variety of non-standard options and there's a lovely atmosphere. It's fairly reasonable for the area too - a tasty and filling lunch for two with wine came to less than £60 (although we weren't charged for dessert).
The problem is that all of that pales into insignificance if the basics aren't done right. I hope we got RHC on a bad day but I can't bring myself to want to go back or recommend it on the basis of the visit.
