The Don
Tel : 020 7626 2606 | The Courtyard, 20 St. Swithins Lane, EC4N 8AD | last visit : November 2005
The Don was very good, if very
expensive. We did of course go banana on
the booze front so managed to rack up a bill of £250 between the
3 of
us.
I'd had quite alot to drink by the time I got there as I wandered
across the city popping into 3 pubs on the way cos Viv was going to be
so late. Then had a pint with Kev in the C&W before he had to go
home. Then had a pint or 2 with Viv and Maz.
Then we hit the ressy - I had a Sherry to start and they pour huge
glasses - v.nice though
Then we had a bottle of Argentinian Malbec which was fantastic - so
smooth it was almost not there. The again it should have been pretty
special. I don't know exactly how much it was cos Maz ordered it but we
set him a limit of 40 quid and he said he went over it.
The food was very much like Reuben , almost but not quite as good.
I had almost the same dishes as at Reuben too. Duck salad to start
which was aLorange instead of smoked and with parmesan.
Then had the Fillet Steak Rossini which is the one with the foie
gras - very nice, very rich, very expensive. served on a celeriac disc
with spinach and some tiny pots.
Maz had the same. Viv had the plain steak avec ftites, not the foie
gras cos we told him what it was (without going into detail)
Then we hit the dessert menu and Viv had a kind of bread and fondue
thing , I had a kind of strawberry and lemon / brandy snap bowl/cream
thing - can't remember what it was called. All washed down with an
excellent 20 yr old Tawny port (the youngest and cheapest they had !)
I couldn't get them out of there after all that so we sat guffing
for another hour which was why I ended up getting the 11:41 out of
LdnBdg which entails the very boring 25 minute wait at EC for the last
Brighton train home whch gets in at 01:10
v.good ressy though - a fairly big room with tall ceiling but
not that many tables so nicely spaced. Not too bright and not too dark.
Staff were absolute pro's and perfectly nice to us without being OTT.
Food 10/10
Service 10/10
Atmo 2/10
Vege 0/10
Alco 10/10
Total 64%