17 Apr 2024
James Cameron and friends have mixed experiences on their visit to the upmarket restaurant…
The Ivy is a fascinating insight into the workings of capitalism. I remember it from my youth as the epitome of rarefied sophistication, a mainstay of theatre-land where it was impossible to get a table if you weren’t famous or well-connected.
At some point a clever accountant has probably pointed out that if there were that many people wanting tables, then they should probably add more tables. There are now 41 branches of The Ivy across the land, and whilst it was buzzy on the Friday night when we visited the St Albans outpost you don’t need to be Ewan McGregor to get a table there.
This distribution of the Ivy brand to the masses has inevitably led to some loosening of standards, and it now presents itself as a slightly classier Café Rouge. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I miss Café Rouge keenly and hope that they do something with the marvellous seed hall soon.
Dining at The Ivy does still have a veneer of class to it, the staff greeting us wore very natty floral jackets, in line with the overall theme across the restaurant. I don’t know whether this is seasonally updated but if so it seems a bit premature as spring still feels a long way off.
The pricing is certainly more reasonable than the mother-ship.
There is a £19.17 set menu for two courses, but luckily this was not available on Friday and Saturday nights as it would have led to a war between my thriftiness and the dishes I actually want to order, and based on past experience I’m pretty sure my thriftiness would have won.
There was plenty of choice from the menu but it becomes a bit of a logic puzzle if you had allergies and wanted to order from the vegetarian menu, as you had to go onto a separate website to check allergens which included all options, including ones that didn’t seem to exist anywhere else.
The drinks menu was extensive, including local beer from the 3 Brewers served in a lovely frosty mug. Unfortunately with its very thick double rim this wasn’t quite dainty enough for the female beer-drinker in our party, but they were able to arrange a slightly more lady-like highball glass. The wine list was long but definitely on the pricey side, which discouraged any attempts at exploration.
For the first course we ordered a mixture of starters and items from the ‘All Day Menu’. There were some serious discrepancies in portion size here, the Zucchini Fritti were a mass of worm-like courgette chips that could have filled up a family, whereas the pricier Arancini Balls were more sparse, propped up on a folded napkin which left you hopeful that there were maybe a couple more that had slipped below. It is the hope that kills you.
Both were deep fried deliciousness, though, and the Zucchini Fritti were served with a zingy, minty yoghurt dip. In fact, the arancini would certainly have benefitted from some form of saucy accompaniment.
From the starters menu the Duck Liver Parfait was served with a bit of theatre in a bell jar filled with smoke, but this wasn’t just a gimmick and added a real depth to the flavour.
The Avocado Cocktail was topped with pomegranate seeds and a rich sauce that accentuated the freshness of the ingredients, but at the end of the day it was a lot of iceberg lettuce to get through once the sauce was gone, and possibly needed some vinegar to add sharpness.
The Cheese Souffle was absolutely superb. Visually it was reminiscent of a whole baked camembert, but for those for whom eating your way through that much cheese might be a bit much (which regular readers will know does not include myself) it resolved itself into a really light and easy to eat dish.
The melty cheese flavour was still there in abundance, helped out by a pesto dressing, but once finished it left you ready for the main course rather than a nap.
Things went slightly downhill when the mains arrived. The theatre returned with the Guinea Fowl Ballotines where the sauce was poured on very ostentatiously but this failed to cover up the fact that the dish itself was lukewarm.
The Artichoke Tagine was also served at a lower than ideal temperature, and was curiously lacking in the artichokes which one might consider the raison d’etre of the dish. It was served with couscous that had the texture and taste of wallpaper paste.
Slightly better was the Mexican Flat-Iron chicken, although here the waitress did herself a disservice. When I was ordering I asked if it needed any side dishes and she said it was great on its own.
This was very honest of her but a) denied her the opportunity to upsell and b) actually it could have really benefited from a side of chips. Not just because everything benefits
from a side of chips but texturally it was all very soft, despite the presence of blue taco strips, and the crispiness of some fries would have set it off well.
Flavour-wise it was on point, though, with a suitable fiesta of spiciness and welcome pearls of queso fresco.
Probably the best of the bunch was the Sweet Potato Poke Bowl. There was a mattress-like slab of rice (but in a good way), coagulated with coconut.
On top of this was rich, unguent sweet potato with crispy sesame seeds and a fun selection of vegetables. It also had a good dose of spice, possibly too much for the more delicate palate.
There was nothing on the dessert menu that wowed us enough to take the plunge, but as one of our party was celebrating his birthday they bought us a complimentary giant profiterole with plenty of chocolate accenting.
Unfortunately the birthday boy himself was not a big fan of creamy desserts but the rest of us were happy to deal with it on his behalf, and it was a lovely thoughtful gesture.
The Ivy (provincial version) has found a nice little niche for itself. The service, decor and food are all of a generally high standard without being really first rate, whilst the price tag is high without being eye-watering. Our meal was under £60 per head with a moderate amount of beer and wine, and opinion was split about whether this represented good value or not.
On balance I think it does, and it is a good venue to celebrate an occasion that is quite, but not very, special.
One of the in-between wedding anniversaries, for example, or a promotion that brings plenty of extra responsibilities without much in the way of material rewards.
