NS had the Roast Chicken and Chips with garlic moyonnaise - the chips were quite lovely - hot and crisp with lots of ultra crunchy bits, which NS totally ruined with a liberal sprinkling of malt vinegar. ARGH! The chicken was, well .. dry. My roast of the day beef was fine. Served medium rare with buttered rosemary scrented greens, non-crunchy spuds, an over done Yorkshire pudding and mediocre gravy.
I gleefully laddled on the horseradish (it came in a cute little Kilner jar) only to realise that Canteen's freshly made horseradish sauce was more horseradish scented crème fraiche. There were a few high notes when the heat kicked in but it mostly fell flat. Think roast beef with a cream sauce.
The Chocolate Brownie Caramel Sundae was probably the highlight of the meal (except when NS kept digging out the peanuts that littered the brownie. I, on the other hand, adore peanuts). The vanilla bean ice cream was lovely - more milky than creamy, which is a particular preference of mine.
The bread pudding was really nice - nicely spiced and lots of little nuggets of raisins. The caramel ice cream though was really not my cuppa tea. Jaw achingly sweet. Yes, I know ... it was caramel ice cream! Like my mother says, it's no point eating caramel if it isn't sweet. Ok, fine.
I really want to like Canteen. I've been there a few times over the years but I just haven't clicked with it. There's always something niggling. Chicken too dry, the hit and miss service, the kitchen's heavy hand with sea salt .... my list is pretty long but almost not substantial enough to completely wipe it off my list of potential places to eat if I so happen to be in the vicinity and fancied myself hungry.
Canteen
Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX
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