After a good but busy kind of a week, it felt fitting to take some time out and go out for dinner. The location of Pescatori was at the quieter end of Charlotte Street, away from the many other eateries.

The initial vibe that I got when I first entered Pescatori was that it felt very welcoming. This continued throughout the whole evening. The restaurant had a rustic feel to it with its dark wooden beams, arches and alcoves. There was also a boat and oars hanging from the ceiling!

Sardines are so underrated; they are one of my favourite fish. Three butterflied chargrilled sardines with salsa verde was my starter dish. The lightness of the sardines went well with the rich tomato salsa verde. The sardines were served with half of an Amalfi lemon. A delicious start to my evening meal.

The next course consisted of a steamed Severn and Wye salmon fillet. The salmon was a big chunky portion and it was nice that it wasn’t dressed with lots of additional flavouring, just a simple cream sauce. The salmon was supposed to come with crushed potato and watercress salad. As I wanted something hot, I had the black venere rice instead of the salad. The crushed potato came mixed with olives and capers. The steamed salmon dish was a satisfying and filling meal.

The evening would not have been complete without the dessert. Originally, I was going to have the almond pannacotta but then thought that it may be too creamy for my liking. So, the apple and blackberry sbrisolata was chosen. This was like a fruit tart topped with a pistachio and hazelnut crumble. The fruit was perfectly sweet and it was lovely with the ice cream and the sauce.

The staff were really friendly and professional. They made the whole dining experience feel special. It was nice that they recommended dishes. It was good to see the chefs at work in the open kitchen at the back of the restaurant. The staff were attentive, but let me take my time over the meal.

Dining at Pescatori was a perfect evening out and it felt like a real treat. A good end to a busy few days! It seemed that Pescatori was a busy and popular restaurant and I look forward to returning to try some more of their dishes!

Pescatori, 57 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 4PD

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A beautiful hot summer’s day meant a lovely day to be dining al fresco. The outdoor area at this restaurant was enclosed by hedges, so it really did not feel like we were close to the main road.

The menu at The Brasserie showcases mainly seafood but there are a couple of meat and vegetarian options as well. There wasn’t anything that really caught my eye for the starters. But on the main dishes, there was a spring vegetable and parmesan risotto. I asked the waiter if it was possible that I could have a starter portion of this dish and he said that was absolutely fine.

The risotto was perfect in size, presentation and taste! It was jam packed with vegetables including peas, green beans, baby corn and carrots. It was topped with slices of parmesan cheese. We were also given some bread to go with our meal.

It was a tough decision whether to go for the fish and chips or the sea bass for the main dish. As it was such a summery day, I thought that the fish and chips may be too heavy a meal.

The actual dish was sea bass fillet with sweet parsnip puree and vanilla saffron sauce. I love sea bass but I wasn’t sure how well the parsnip puree and the vanilla saffron sauce would go with it. The two fillets of sea bass were cooked just right with crispy skins and soft flesh. These were on top of the parsnip puree with the sauce surrounding it. I was thinking that it may be too sweet with the parsnip and the vanilla saffron sauce, but it wasn’t. The flavours were well balanced.

My friend had the crab cake for the starter and the grilled large prawns with green salad for the main. The crab cake was of a good size and came with salad. Juicy big pink prawns, cooked perfectly, were very satisfying!

As we were at this restaurant for the whole afternoon, we had time and space for some dessert. Even though I mostly think as crumble being a winter’s day dessert, it took my fancy. The spiced apple and plum crumble came in a big shot glass with a scoop of ice cream. Big slices of apple and chunks of plum were topped with crunchy crumble. Again, another dish done well!

The service was great and our waiter was really friendly. He let us take our time with deciding on our order. When he realised that we were not in any sort of a hurry, he said that we should just call him when we were ready to order! It made us feel that we could just relax and enjoy our time dining at this restaurant.

All of the food at The Brasserie was of a high quality, fresh and delicious. It is a fantastic restaurant to dine at and together with the service, it is a great place to go to.

The Brasserie on St John St, 360-362 St John Street, London, EC1V 4NR

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Loch Fyne is a lovely fish restaurant and it does have a few non fish items on the menu as well. This place is quite deceiving from the outside as it looks quite small. But when you go in, it is quite big!

The fish soup was very filling and quite hearty! It was tomato based with salmon and bream blended into it. It came with two slices of garlic bread.

For a side dish, the seasonal vegetables were ordered. Normally in restaurants, the seasonal vegetables are something like root vegetables. But in this case, we were pleasantly surprised that it was red cabbage with raisins, broccoli and carrots. We really enjoyed the sweet cabbage!

The beer-battered fish and chips was a huge portion! The haddock tasted very fresh but the batter was a little too heavy. The chips were perfect; they had the fluffy centre and were nice and crispy on the outside. The fish and chips were served with mushy peas and tartare sauce. All in all, this main meal was a match made in heaven!

We managed to have a little space for some dessert, so we had the chocolate and orange tart. It was presented really nicely and was served with berries and a berry sauce. The tart was made of a chocolate mousse, a layer of chocolate sauce and the base was a nutty biscuit. The flavours of the orange definitely came through. This dessert was so yummy but very rich!

It was good to complete the meal with some hot drinks! The latte was good and creamy. The English breakfast tea came by the pot and it could easily have served two people.

The staff at Loch Fyne were really friendly and helpful. We were given a bread basket while we decided on what to order. We had great service and could not fault it at all. The waitress was sweet when she brought us the dessert menu! It was not the typical hand held card menu. She actually brought us the dessert menu board!

The restaurant was great all in all! It felt very clean, tidy and spacious. There was also a fresh fish counter. Loch Fyne had everything for a nice relaxed good quality meal out.

Loch Fyne, 5-6 Egham High Street, Egham, TW20 9EA

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