The Wheatsheaf, Vauxhall

1st Aug 2010. I went to lunch at the Wheatsheaf with a friend today, it was 1pm and fairly quiet.

We ordered a Gin & Tonic and a Vodka & Tonic. Single shots were served in long glasses filled to the brim with ice and tonic, the spirits were inperceptible.

We both ordered roast beef which was advertised as served rare with potaotes roasted on goose fat. Yum! The whole meal was dreadful; the beef was tough, grey and chewy, the yorkshire pudding, thick and glutonous (although strangely tasty), the tiny strips of carrot were cold, the beans floppy and the potatoes raw, really raw, inedible raw. We complained and with much apologies were offered 2 bits of flabby hot potato as a substitute. I cannot believe these were cooked in goose fat.

The parsnip puree was excellent but there was only about a teasponful. There was more horseradish sauce than parsnip puree.

After lunch we went in to the garden to see the chef in a filthy chefs' jacket chain smoking, nipping back to the kitchen not washing his hands ( I watched him through an opren window) serving up food and then coming back to the garden to continue smoking and to talk to his mate. The chef also continually ran his fingers through his greasy long grey hair.

Meanwhile, the denim hotpants, yellow tights wearing kitchen asstistant was also chain smoking in the garden between serving courses and clearing plates.

What really finished it for me was someone in the kitchen putting his hands into piles of cooked meat ( left uncovered by an open window - in this heat) putting the meat into his mouth and then putting his fingers in the bowl of meat again. I stood and watched for a while through this open window until he noticed me. We were 5 feet apart.

We decided against pudding.

�50.00 for 2
no wine but 1 large G&T and 2 large V&T, small bottle of mineral water

1 Aug 2010 17:05