venta

Some time ago,

snow_leopard offered me some vouchers from the Times which entitled the owner to a meal for £10 at a participating restaurant. I guess she must read the Times assiduously, as she'd collected more sets than she could use.

I took the tokens with the condition I'd review wherever I went. So, here goes...

Having browsed the list of available eateries, I figured that I might as well book somewhere posh-looking. My first choice was the Cherwell Boathouse in Oxford (has anyone been ? it looks good) but they had no places left for cheapy, freeloading voucher-users.

Having fought with the Times' website (they wanted me to search by area, and I wanted to search by time-available and poshness) I booked a table for ChrisC and I at Madison's, which is the restauranty bit of the Washington Mayfair hotel. Which is in Mayfair, not Washington.

The restaurant is like an annexe to the bar, and is quite informal-looking and comfy. A uniformed waitress seated us, took away the enormous blue-glass plates that were sitting vaguely pointlessly on the table, and supplied us with menus. They were "Promotional Menus" rather than the more extensive real menu we'd seen on the way in, but with three options for each of the three courses they still looked pretty exciting.

So we drank drinks (fizzy water and warmish pinot grigio) and listened to the guitarist playing softly in the bar; pretty, gentle background music with a rather nervous-sounding drum machine for accompaniment. ChrisC's starter arrived and I have to say it was quite a disappointment. He'd ordered smoked salmon fishcake, and it arrived with a strange regularity of shape and uniformity of batter that made it look exactly like something that would come from a Findus package. It sat on a frill of pale green lettuce, surrounded by chopped radish. I'd have been excited about the radishes; ChrisC reported the fishcake as "very all right".

My starter - a sundried tomato and pasta salad - looked much more exciting. Sadly, the tomatoes were tough, the pasta was tough (how do you get pasta wrong!?) and the whole thing had clearly come straight out the fridge and was teeth-frighteningly cold. It was also "all right", but not at all superior to something that might come in a plastic tub from Tesco.

I don't remember ChrisC commenting significantly on his main course. Mine of teriyaki salmon and steamed pak choi was actually very pleasant. However, it was evidence once again that all restauranters should be made to sit down and tackle their own meals, in place. The fish knife I'd been provided with was thick-bladed and blunt - ideal for eating my nicely-cooked salmon. The side order of vegetables, however, was cooked very much on the crunchy side (which is a good thing) and my bludgeon of a knife wasn't equal to either them or the pak choi. I had to enlist help from ChrisC and his normal knife to tackle the broccoli and make it into eatable-sized chunks.

My pudding (a warm black cherry and almond slice) arrived looking too regularly triangular to be real, and again I briefly wondered if it had come from a packet. I don't seriously imagine Mr Kipling had been involved, but the taste and texture, while pleasant, were quite reminiscent of his homogenous cakes.

I assume (though forgot to check) that the dishes on the promotional menu also appeared on the real menu - if they were a fair representation then their £20 main courses are woefully overpriced. Our "extras" (one glass white wine, one sparkling water, two cokes and a side order of veg) totalled over £15, giving an approximate idea of the price range. (Ah, I've just noticed on the website that the menu we chose from is usually £19.95 for three courses).

So, overall, I can't say I was desperately impressed. As a three-course meal for a tenner, it was very pleasant and really good value for money. However, if they were hoping to tempt me back to their restaurant again as a full-paying guest, they missed the bus.

Despite grumbles, it was an enjoyable evening out and Snow_Leopard is Designated Hero of the Week for providing the wherewithall.