Day 11:
A client of mine had recommend The Witchery (hotel and restaurant) as a fun place to eat. They serve meals for breakfast (or brunch? And maybe only for hotel guests?), lunch, and dinner. The resaturant’s claim to fame (I think) is the gothic-y, candelit dining room. There’s a “Secret Garden” room, as well. We decided to drop in for lunch (since it’s more affordable) and were seated in the Secret Garden rooom. Nobody seems to say that the food here is great, so I was assuming that it’d be expensive and only okay. And, it was (for the price; in an absolute sense, the food was actually pretty good).
The Secret Garden room is beautiful.
I think afternoon tea might be the way to go here (so various tea trays flying around, and tea trays always look so tempting). The gravalax, for example, had a totally unnecessary addition of rye “sand,” which did nothing texturally or tastewise (although it certainly looked pretty). Partner’s vegetable starter (can’t recall the name, and the posted menu has already changed) was fairly bland (and not refreshing).
The cheese was generously portioned, but it was TOO big (which isn’t something ever said about a cheese course anywhere). The longest piece was seriously the length of my eating utensils. Hate wasting food, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to eat all of that.
While I don’t highly recommend the place, I do highly recommend you make reservations for dinner, or if you want to eat in the candelit room for any meal.
We then to the Scotch Whiskey Experience, which is virtually next door. It’s a fun experience, and you get a sample of one whiskey toward the end of the tour (while viewing the largest private whiskey collection in the world). I skipped the sample since hard liquor doesn’t agree w/ me. Of course, you exit through the gift shop. We were looking at the pictured small sample until some guy from Glendora (very friendly) pointed out that we could buy it BevMo (!!!). Partner decided on Eradour, and he says he likes it very much.
@LeeByTheSea: we made it to Mother India! Or, at least, I think we did, b/c there were 2 on my map. We went to the one on Infirmary Street. We had the lamb achari, chicken on th ebone, aubergine fritters, and saag paneer. I thought Maharaja was slightly better (maybe b/c the flavor profiles were new to me); @SpockSpork liked Mother India better. The food comes out shockingly quickly, and it was delicious. How nice to saag that actually tastes somewhat like a vegetable… Place is huge and packed.
We went to dinner after Nina Conti is Monkey. She is BRILLIANT!!! I was laughing and crying the nearly the entire time!