Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song

[venta]

So... in a few weeks, I am partly responsible for organising a hen night. A couple of you know who the hen is, so no telling her what we're planning, ok?

Anyway, we have a weekend planned, and were intending to go out for a nice meal on the Saturday night. Accordingly, the other bridesmaid and I sallied forth to our chosen restaurant, Richmond's Rock & Rose last night to test it out.

It has the sort of decor that I privately classify as "ludicrous overblown". Huge chandeliers, wallpaper with gigantic roses, mismatched chairs, masses of bright cushions. And roses... fresh roses everywhere. It's rather pink, and girly, and a long way from my normal tastes but it all works rather well.

Would we like a cocktail? Oh, go on, we'll have their signature martini: vanilla vodka and fresh passion fruit, served with (oddly) a shot glass full of champagne on the side. I drank mine alternately, Cathy mixed hers - both worked. The martini part was a beautiful blend of vodka and fresh fruit, with a chunk of passion fruit bobbing about in the middle.

The menu was interesting: we both plumped immediately for the same main course (miso cod fillet with steamed pak choi and sticky rice), but decided that was daft so I switched to monkfish, tiger prawn and coconut curry. The food was very good - the only criticisms I could fairly level at mine was that the naan bread which came with my curry was a bit underwhelming although both the curry and the coriander rice were excellent. And my roast duck salad starter had a single olive in it which - due to singleness and totally inappropriate taste - I presume must have somehow fallen in there accidentally. Maybe it was a witty touch I failed to understand, because it's a fairly strange thing to happen.

In the interests of being able to get up the following morning, we thought splitting a bottle of wine after large cocktails was probably ill advised, so just had a glass of wine each. There's a decent by-the-glass selection, and the waitress' suggestion of a crisp pinot grigio stood up surprisingly well to the chilli and coconut in my curry. Also, monkfish is brilliant: why have I only noticed this in the last month of so? I'd have expected it to fall apart into mush when curried but it remained soft and coherent.

Rock & Rose was, in fact, exactly what we wanted: great food, interesting menu (which caters well for non-meat eaters and non-dairy people), fabulous cocktails, funky decor, nice atmosphere. Sadly, other people have noticed this too, and they were completely unable to squeeze in a party of 12 on the day we want :(

Accordingly, we need to come up with an alternative venue, sharpish. I usually choose my restaurants exclusively on food (my favourite Ealing eatery has melamine tables, and a TV on the wall - usually showing football), and I've very little idea how one goes about locating somewhere with a suitably exciting ambience. I can think of lots of "nice" places to eat, but nowhere particularly cool and girly to fit what we were planning.

So, the internet! I need you. Can anyone recommend a restaurant easily accessible from Ealing which is suitably funky, whose menu will stand up to a bunch of pescetarians and someone who's badly dairly-allergic, isn't too bank-breaking, and might be able to fit a party of 12 in mid-April? I imagine we're going to be a reasonably respectable party of 12 rather than the sort of shrieking hen night you'd cross the street to avoid (at least, I hope we are...)

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Although I like the tapas bar in Richmond it's not really the stylish sort of venue we were hoping to find... will investigate The Weir, I've not heard of it before!