Frankie & Benny's - St Anne's Street
our comments
Swing down Conduit Street and right turn into Mill Street and suddenly you’ve gone through the looking glass. The noise and bustle of central London disappears and you’re in a small lane whose narrowness suggests it’s very, very old, as does the ancient church that’s shyly hiding down here. Noble Rot the restaurant isn’t old at all, but the Italianate gallery running along the side does a good job of adding Roman style and on this the hottest day of the year so far, gives the welcome opportunity to sit outside. So we do, although the waiter assures us that should the weather go Pete Tong he’ll have us at a table inside in a jiffy. From the day’s specials we rather fancy the Essex oysters. You can tell they’re from Essex because they all drive Escorts. Ho Ho. Unfortunately the hot weather has seen them all get eaten at lunch. Never mind, the English asparagus with soft boiled duck egg and a Carpaccio of beef with Asian marinade and ginger will do nicely. First, however, an amuse of potent and perky gazpacho partnered with a delicate haddock fritter. The asparagus that follows is excellent; the first of the season and crisp and tender in all the right places. The egg breaks in a golden wave across the piercingly green stalks. The rare beef is like a ragged lace curtain, so finely sliced you can see right through it. Deliciously tender and its dressing goes well with it – the ginger in particular. What’s this? The kitchen have managed to find a couple of those oysters for us to try, one each as a between course free treat. They’re elegantly laid out on seaweed and crushed ice and served with a raspberry and shallotte vinaigrette. Very fine oysters, easy to see how they all got gobbled up at lunchtime. As Noble Rot is very much, as the name suggests, a wine focussed kind of place the wine list is encyclopaedic. We ask for their selection of wines by the glass and aren’t disappointed; each goes very well with our dishes. Rack of lamb with cumin roasted aubergine, porcini and golden raisins is perfectly cooked, nice and pink in the centre. The bosky mushrooms and the smoky cumin aubergine make perfect partners. My Duck Magret with sautéed foie gras, celeriac, plum tarte tatin and green anise jus is also very good, although the foie gras is perhaps superfluous given how good the duck is. The plum’s tartness is a perfect foil to the duck but the celeriac, a vegetable I really love, is just a tad undercooked. Both mains came with new season Jersey potatoes, simply cooked to let their unique flavour shine through. I’m afraid we couldn’t manage desserts, not even in the interests of science but I can’t imagine they let the kitchen down. Noble Rot seems to be doing all the right things in the kitchen and service is professional and friendly. The outside dining area adds a real plus for the summer months. Recommended.NH - June 2005
your comments review this restaurant
The single worst Italian restaurant in which I've eaten. An absolute disgrace. You can almost hear them thinking at headquarters: "We've got dozens of these Frankie and Benny places. We'll do them up with great black and white photos, and Sinatra music.......create a real atmosphere. The food? Who cares about food, this is the UK. These are MUGS. They don't know the difference between a truffle and a trifle. Give 'em some pasta that taste like it came from a tin and some horrific pizzas that cost us nothing to make and they won't know the difference".
In a city with several VERY good Italian places, why anyone goes to this purveyor of insipid dross is beyond me.
Comment on this reader review
John
Thursday, January 10, 2008
I would like to express my dissapointment with your service or to say the lack of it. I was out on Friday 25th August 2006 with my daughter (3 yrs) my son (3 months) and my friend who also has children, a daughter (3 yrs) and a son
(21 months). We arrived at around 1pm with 3 starving children the waiter asked us to politely wait until he could find a table. At that point the manager came over to us and very curtly replied we have no room for you and that ( that being my 3 month old son in a ziko pram (which are not that big. We were told to come back between 2.30pm and 3.00pm which was no good with 3 small children. We were not very happy at this news as we had to drag the children somewhere else to eat. At the time it was not busy at all and there was a booth free which could have catered for us all and the pram. The one at the Trafford Centre is fantastic with excellent service, even when they are busy they are always there to help and accomodate. I appreciate that the Trafford Centre Frankies and Bennys is a lot bigger, but there was no need for the manager to be totally unhelpful. ( I assume that he has never dealt with 3 hungry young children before) Manchester is a difficult place at the best of times to feed young children. I will no longer be visitng your restaurant and will not be recommending it to my friends who have small children. I will of course continue to visit the one at the Trafford Centre.
I would be grateful if you would forward your comments.
Unsincerly
Jeanette Egan (Mrs)
Comment on this reader review
Mrs Jeanette Egan
Monday, August 28, 2006
