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There’s a lot going on at Villandry. It’s a deli and catering company as well as an all-day bar and restaurant, and is so large it has entrances on both sides of the block. The restaurant is a pleasing modern space, decorated in a restrained way, with only the odd flourish. Diners sit at solid wooden tables and choose from a crowd-pleasing, monthly-changing set of European dishes. Typical starters include the house salad (a splendid medley, with polenta croutons), crudités with an anchovy dip (finger-lickingly good) and beef carpaccio with wild rocket. Mains might be fettuccine with roast aubergine and sun-dried tomato sauce (our only poor dish – just a notch above a student supper), seared tuna niçoise, steak tartare, or salt and pepper squid (a decent, not too greasy version). As well as Villandry’s famed cheeses, there are desserts such as baked alaska and eton mess. An attractive wine list and charming service add to the sense of well-being. The bar looks and feels much like the restaurant, but tends to get packed. This is where breakfast is served, and once again the menu presses all the right buttons; porridge, bacon sandwich, and french toast with maple syrup all make an appearance. An on-form operation.
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
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My husband and I had supper in the bar areas last night and I have to say that I was really surprised at just how poor and expensive the food was. My husband had a main course of pasta, which was the size of a reasonably modest starter in most places. The cost was £13 and the taste very indifferent. I ordered fish and chips, at £17. The fish consisted of 2 prawns and three small chunks of other types of fish, all covered with a large frizz of curly lettuce to disguise the size (the lettuce did not have a drop of dressing on it either). The choice of fish was strange, why deep fry tuna and salmon? Chips were indifferent. Overall the quality of food was comparable to what I might expect in my local (Tooting, South London) caff or pub. There are no other words to describe it but (if you will excuse the 70s phrase) rip-off! We have not eaten in the main restaurant, but if this is what you serve in the bar then clearly the food in the main restaurant will be bad and over-priced. I am quite surprised by this as in general, there are more and more good quality restaurants in London serving good food at reasonable prices, I cannot think that the place can carry on for much longer like this, relying presumably on passing/one off trade. I work just around the corner so we thought we might as well try it, but we will not come back here to eat.