This year, for my birthday, I decided to try somewhere a bit more upmarket than my usual junk food haunts. So my best friend and I got our gladrags on and went to Ladurée, having seen it frequently heard it being spoken highly of, and wondering what the fuss was all about.
Not a whole lot, as it turned out.
Pretty much the second we set foot into Ladurée, I knew it wasn’t for me. I whipped my BlackBerry out to take some photos of the inner décor, as I thought it was cute, and I was swiftly informed that I wasn’t allowed to take photos. What the hell kind of pretentious rule is that? Ladurée is so up itself that one isn’t even allowed to use photography inside the restaurant. What, is the flash on my camera going to damage the paint on the overpriced walls?
Once I sat down and saw the menu, however, things got even worse. A fruit salad (which contained about 40p’s worth amount of fruit in, tops) cost £6.80, and those so-called famous macaroons of theirs tasted completely bland; I’ve had far better macaroons from Paris, or even just Waitrose.
My friend had this dessert thing that tasted like something that Sainsbury’s decline to sell because it's past it's sell by date, and the customer service was atrocious.
My friend and I were both more than appropriately dressed for a place with such a high self-appraisal, but the waiters seemed to write us off in their minds as soon as they saw we weren't carrying Hermes bags. They immediately prioritised the older, wealthier clients as they saw greater potential for a tip there. And of course that calculation proved to be a self-fulfilling one; Anna and I didn’t tip a damn penny.
Overloaded with jarring clay models, and a pretentious clienete intent on loudly showing off their opinions about the op-e-rahhhhhh all the way through lunch, and a menu that offers as little quality as much as it overcharges, even Theo Randall compares favourably to this letdown.
Grade: F
For more of my restaurant reviews, click here. If you would like me to review your restaurant, drop me an email at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment