The Ivy - Leicester Sq (Restaurants in London in general)

Member Name: byrnehel

Product:	Restaurants in London in general
Date:	23/08/01 (3243 review reads)
Rating:

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Dooyoo have a special Birthday or Anniversary coming up? If so then I would highly recommend a dinner at London's Ivy restaurant.

Situated just minutes from Leicester Square tube station and a favourite haunt of A list celebs, if you are lucky you may find yourself dining next to Madonna or Victoria Beckham.

Although the information on the web says the cost is £70 a head without wine and £100 a head with wine, We had a three course meal for two with a £30 bottle of wine and still had change from £130 including a 20% tip.

Now, I am obvioulsy not a celeb, but I still got treated with the same impeachable service that the stars get. You do not even need to touch the water or wine bottles for a refill as one of the many attentive waiters will refill your glass before it gets to below half full (yes, the glasses here are definitely half full rather than half empty!)

The decor reminded me of a gentlemans club (or what I would imagine one to be like as I have never frequented such a place - being a lady!) The windows are stained glass and the open plan seating (which surprised me) still makes you feel like you are having an intimate dinner.

The menu is extremely comprehensive, with at least twenty different starters, entrees and a good mixture of both sweet and savoury desserts. The food is very traditionally English fayre, such as shepherds pie, steak, fish and chips, kedgeree and pigeon (from nearby Trafalgar Square perhaps!!). The kind of food that your granny would have made, if she had of been a classically trained chef conversant with Fois Gras and Beluga caviar - on the menu for £125.00 if you are interested.

The starters were superb. My dining companion opted for the fois gras whilst I had a crispy duck salad that was full of flavour and extremely plentiful.

For the mains, I had steak, which I ordered medium rare but came more medium than to my liking. My companion ordered the fish and chips whi
ch he said were perfect....well the empty plate spoke for itself!

For dessert - personally my favourite part of any meal. I had the famous sticky toffee pudding (reportedly Madonna's favourite although I can't imagine that she eats it that often!). It was sublime. Moist and full of flavour without being too sickly...it was just a shame that I hadn't left more room to finish it! My partner went for the Blackberry and apple crumble which he said was just as good as my pudding (having polished off the other half of it!).

We spent a good two and a half hours there, and soaked up the atmosphere whilst listening to the rich and slightly famous brag about their holidays in Mustique etc etc which must have been one of the most entertaining nights out i've had for ages.

Some facts about the Ivy;

Posh and Becks had their engagement party in the private room.
A table on saturday night is not free to the general public (read riff raff!) until February of next year.
Traces of cocaine were found on the toilet seats after an undercover investigation by the Daily Mail newpaper.
Madonna has dined with Victoria Beckham here.
The private room can be booked 3 months in advance.

I certainly enjoyed feeling like a member of the glitterati for an evening, but was glad when I rolled out of there at half past ten, that the awaiting papparazi photographers didn't want a photo of my extremely full stomach!

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