Category Archives: hotels

February 19

Hotel du Vin. Does what it says on the tin.

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Because life isn’t all Michelin stars and a lot of the time you just want to go somewhere easy and eat simple food, we thought about this.  We’d been to the dump and didn’t quite want to go straight home after all that exertion. So we thought we’d go to Henley instead.

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Sold down the River : the reply

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Well, you saw from my last post that I wasn’t happy with the Savoy. They have responded with a very decent letter, acknowledging that the service was not what it should have been – no excuses –  a requesting that I return for another visit to see how it is normally done. So I will. And […]

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Sold down the River – The River Restaurant at the Savoy

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Whilst I am fully aware that my letter of complaint makes me look like I have nothing better to worry about than what types of cheese are on a plate and whether that is explained to me, the truth is, that when you pay for a premium dining experience, you expect a premium dining experience.  […]

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Oh Dear, Danesfield House Part 2

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Because we couldn’t get into my first choice, the Hand and Flowers, a hop skip and a jump away from Danesfield House, we decided to try to get into Adam Simmonds’ restaurant.  Even though it has one Michelin star, we could get in without any difficulty on the day of booking.  Given that it probably has less […]

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September 26

Does it make the Cut?

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It’s an odd place. In a former life, it used to be the Playboy club but all traces of that have been expunged and now we have a little bit of Vegas, right here on Park Lane.

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Danesfield House. It’s a restaurant. In the Chilterns. A good one. Go.

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THE BUILD-UP I deliberately didn’t read any reviews. After last week’s big letdown at the Kingham Plough, where the weight of expectation from the almost overwhelmingly positive reviews was probably too much for anyone to live up to, I decided to chance it. Other than a quick look at the http://www.thecriticalcouple.com (my new bible) I went unprepared.

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Comfortable in Cornwall – Hotel Tresanton

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Well, we liked this one. We weren’t quite sure on arrival though and I got “the face”. This was because a)  the directions were a bit loose (the husband likes things to be measured in an accurate manner), b)  we initially drove past the entrance and c) it wasn’t a Four Seasons. Not especially obvious, the […]

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Ballymaloe House, Cork

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This was my third visit. That tells you what I think about this place. The place itself isn’t grand, or intimidating. It has perfected the shabby chic look. without trying, because it’s the real deal. It’s run by the Allen family, who are an industry in their own right. Legendary, they have passed on cooking […]

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Not giddy over Gidleigh

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Some may regard it as churlish for me to complain about this hotel at all and I am of course immensely privileged to be able to stay there at all. Having said that, I do believe in getting what you contract for. There were, truth be told, a number of  things which influenced my decision […]

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