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What is the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten at?

182 replies

PosyPrettyToes · 15/12/2023 20:28

Just ate some delicious pho for dinner and it reminded me of a tiny place a few streets away from my childhood home. (Rural, EU foreign country) There was a little Vietnamese family run restaurant and it was the most INCREDIBLE place. They didn’t speak anything but Vietnamese, and while my dad spoke a little, it wasn’t very good and most of the diners spoke none at all. There was no menu either, they had a card with vegetables on you could point at if you were a vegetarian, you’d sit and delicious food would just start appearing. It was always packed, and they never turned people away - if there were spare seats on your table you’d get budge up gestures and be joined by whoever just came in. I loved that place! We used to eat there every week as a family.

From what my dad understood, the couple who ran the restaurant moved over with their adult daughter who was some kind of wealthy banker, and they were supposed to be retired but they got bored so they started the restaurant. We later understood all the waiting staff were their grandkids and all spoke the local language perfectly well but the grandparents thought it was fun to bamboozle the locals Grin

OP posts:
whattodo235 · 16/12/2023 00:02

theotherfossilsister · 15/12/2023 20:37

A really amazing outdoor mezze/tapas place in Athens just outside the anarchist area

Wish I could remember what it was called

oohh any more info/clues? Near Exarchia?

MargaritaThyme · 16/12/2023 00:20

Charmatt · 15/12/2023 23:05

That's exactly what Sat Bains has turned his into - an over priced tasting menu restaurant. It's gone really downhill. Style over substance for a ridiculous price!

That’s a real shame. It used to be so good.

Gingerkittykat · 16/12/2023 00:42

TastesLikeStrawberriesOnASummerEvening · 15/12/2023 23:55

It wasn't Chez Jules was it?
If so I love that restaurant

No, not Chez Jules, it was really close to Charlotte Square as we walked there from the book festival. It's the main road where there re loads of buses, maybe Charlotte Street?

4

therealcookiemonster · 16/12/2023 01:22

getting some amazing ideas here...

the gulai house in langakawi
the blue elephant and la porte des indes in London (both closed now due to brexit)
colbeh persian in London (the worst service but brilliant food)
outlaws kitchen in port isaac

Getoverit1965 · 16/12/2023 08:12

An amazing Asian fusion restaurant called ME in Barcelona about 15 years ago. The food was absolutely amazing, as were the cocktails. Sadly closed.

SwishSwishBisch · 16/12/2023 16:39

Gingerkittykat · 16/12/2023 00:42

No, not Chez Jules, it was really close to Charlotte Square as we walked there from the book festival. It's the main road where there re loads of buses, maybe Charlotte Street?

4

La p’tite folie maybe.

PrincessW11 · 16/12/2023 16:45

Le Gavroche-formal/traditional
Ledbury-lovely/innovative initially
Chez Bruce-fabulous Sunday lunch,not crazy ££
Core by ClareSmyth-atm my favourite, the boring potato gets upcycled x5 up

Delatron · 16/12/2023 16:50

Buttercup176 · 15/12/2023 20:58

H&F was one of my worst, everything was so salty, really disappointing. Such a shame as we stayed in their accommodation which was great.

The Olive Tree in Bath is lovely.

Yes I’ve been a few times to H&F. They completely over season everything and it’s so rich you end up feeling quite ill.

TheFlis · 16/12/2023 16:59

I almost don’t want to tell you but 104 in Notting Hill. It’s teeny tiny (6 tables!) and there are only 2 staff but my god, it’s incredible. I have eaten at lots of fancy / Michelin starred restaurants including Le Manoir and the Sportsman and the food at 104 is honestly comparable except it feels like you are in someone’s living room.

dressedforcomfort · 16/12/2023 17:01

The Fish Company in Reykjavik

I'm not one for fancy restaurants but I practically inhaled the food there....

bellsbuss · 16/12/2023 17:07

The Boathouse in Central Park in New York, the food , surroundings , the staff were just all amazing

Movinghouseatlast · 16/12/2023 17:11

Paul Owens in Holetown, Barbados. One of the best meals I've ever eaten. And the most expensive!

Rick Stein's Cafe in Padstow. The cheapest of his restaurants there but the food is so good.

Sam's On The Beach in Polkerris does the best fish I've ever had in my life- really simply cooked- and the views are absolutely amazing.

I also love The Witchery in Edinburgh.

Slidingsocks · 16/12/2023 17:11

Le Manoir, or a shack on the beach in Ngapali, Myanmar. Incredible coconut crab curry and tempura chips.

bringonyourwreckingball · 16/12/2023 17:15

Lamberts in Balham, sadly no longer there but when I lived there I’d have taken Lamberts over Chez Bruce any day.

SausageAndEggSandwich · 16/12/2023 17:15

I've been to loads of fine dining places and enjoyed the night tremendously but the places I remember the most are the ones you stumble on in a city you've never been to before

The Punjabi canteen two blocks from Times Square that isn't there any more - one veg, one non veg, daal, rice, roti. Served by two ladies behind the counter, plastic chairs and wipe clean tablecloths.

One of the many hole in the wall noodle places in KL - just point to things and they cook it all up for you. KL is memorable for me for being the first city I'd been to where the hot food was actually hot. Strips of skin started dissolving from my mouth 😅

The banh mi stall down the road from the hotel we stayed in in HCMC. Had a massive long queue so we thought well this must be good, right? Total revelation. Many years later we saw the same stall on an episode of Somebody Feed Phil.

Oblomov23 · 16/12/2023 17:22

Hibiscus tasting menu was fab. London. Closed now.

SleepingStandingUp · 16/12/2023 17:23

A Thai and Lao place in Cheddar Gorge about a decade back, altho my friend did complain they'd used fabric conditioner on the table cloth which spoilt the smell for him

PaulaPocket · 16/12/2023 17:26

Café Maitreya in Easton, Bristol. Gone now, and sadly missed.

StColumbofNavron · 16/12/2023 17:26

Mari Vana in Knightsbridge is my favourite place for an occasion. I have been twice for my birthday and loved it. It’s small, kitsch and just hits all the right notes for me.

For hearty, no nonsense, a restaurant called Anatolia in Dalston that did the best Lahmacuns and you can have a total feast for barely any money.

herewegoroundtheblueberrybush · 16/12/2023 17:27

This is such a show off thread 😅

catwithflowers · 16/12/2023 17:39

Le Gavroche. Amazing and also closing down 💔💔💔

BingoMarieHeeler · 16/12/2023 17:41

SleepingStandingUp · 16/12/2023 17:23

A Thai and Lao place in Cheddar Gorge about a decade back, altho my friend did complain they'd used fabric conditioner on the table cloth which spoilt the smell for him

Really! My local! Will have to have 😄

notfeeblebutPhoebe · 16/12/2023 17:51

Some very nice meals, which were a surprise as I was not expecting a 10/10.
Fish in west of Ireland near the bridge to Achill Island.
A steak at a Mayfair business lunch was real melt in mouth. They never got it so right ever after.
Similar, not steak traditional food in Tehran and Cairo.

bustedagain · 16/12/2023 17:57

The Walnut Tree in Abergavenny. I had deep fried oysters. They tasted like the food of angels, so delicate and light and ethereal.

The other meals which come to mind are the fresh moules on holiday in Brittany. Hauled in onto the quayside just a few feet away, cooked a la marinere and served with a huge bowl of frites. We worked our way through the dark gleaming piles using the shell of the first mussel to pinch out the orange flesh and mopped up the last of the delicious broth with torn chunks of baguette.

Weirdly I don't even like shellfish that much. 😂

AlltheFs · 16/12/2023 18:03

It doesn’t exist now, but it was a little independent in Newport Pagnell. They did the best fillet steak in the world. I loved it there. I have been known to dream about it and it’s been shut about a decade.

I have eaten in some very fine dining places which were all amazing experiences- but ultimately not a patch on this little place.

Le Manoir is technically faultless, but I don’t love it. Just doesn’t give me all the feels.