Another one I managed to cross off that has been on my list for an age was the Silk restaurant in Oxford Circus. I had heard the food wasn’t outstanding but the idea of eating in a converted courthouse – one that had seen the Rolling Stones and Oscar Wilde brought to task no less really appealed to me. Also, Richard had said they did great food so when a Virgin Experience voucher came online we jumped at the chance.
It was one of the most laughable experiences I’ve ever had as there was a complete mismatch between expectation and what the restaurant was able to deliver. We arrived at about 7:30 to an empty restaurant. No hyperbole. No one else was there. The entire time. Speaks volumes.
Unbeknown to us (because they hadn’t updated their website) they no longer did the Pan-Asian menu Richard had been so enamoured. Instead it was kind of an English/Modern European crowdpleaser type menu. And they weren’te even pretending to be high-end about it. Our voucher entitled us to a three course meal for £25 each which was meant to be a saving of over 40%. But they had brought their prices down so much, we had in effect just paid the price of what a three course meal would be anyway.
I wondered if there had been some mistake and enquired which is when the change in menu was discovered. She asked if the chef could perhaps do some of his old specialities but in the end we settled for a bottle of wine on the house.
The food was actually not bad, it just wasn’t the high-end quality we had expected. And I suppose eating, in effect, in a private restaurant is not something you get to do every day.
Needless to say I was quite keen we get a refund from Virgin but they have been reluctant to address the issue…