Eurofrutta – welcome to the fresh delivery

Considering my previous visit a week earlier had resulted in a night in Accident and Emergency, I hardly expected to be singing the praises of E&O, the salubrious Notting Hill eatery. However, after being invited back by apologetic staff my partner and would like to offer credit where credit is due to a fine Pan Asian restaurant.

Now unless you’re minted E&O is not the sort of place you go to every week, but my Missus swears that they makes the best black cod this side of Alaska – and at £21.50 so they should. As she had a birthday coming up and I was looking to get into her good books, having fallen out of them to a deafening fortnight-long wall of silence, I thought that by taking her there I could kill two birds with one stone. Unfortunately, I almost succeeded, albeit with a rogue prawn, rather than a stone.

Unfortunately, apart from being the fussiest eater in the world my better half is also highly allergic to shellfish and so we were left with no real option other than make a beeline to the nearest hospital once she had bitten into a prawn and chive dumpling, erroneously presented before instead of the seabass dish ordered. Off we shot to the nearest hospital with said partner’s throat rapidly closing up – for once not because she was refusing to talk to me – in a taxi driven by the slowest driver in the world by far. “I’ve already got three points,” he said. “That’ll be the least of your problems if you don’t step on it,” I replied pointing to my semi-asphyxiated girlfriend.

We got there eventually, though. Central Middlesex hospital took good care of their patient, rushing to her aid immediately administering all the proper drugs and injections until we were discharged, eventually, at 3am. I was initially rather annoyed at the restaurant, not least because they hadn’t rung to enquire about Nadia’s well-being, which I thought was poor form. But I then recalled that in the panic to hail a cab the restaurant’s assistant manager had begun apologising profusely, given me his business card and insisted we return again.

I expect some people might have actually decided to sue and I’m sure we had reasonable grounds. But I don’t really believe in cashing in on what was essentially an honest mistake. Furthermore E&O didn’t actually know my girlfriend was allergic to prawns and quickly admitted fault at having brought her the wrong dish:- a seemingly harmless oversight which unfortunately could have been far from it.

Nonetheless, we decided to go back last weekend if only for the blessed black cod that had not got around to being eaten the first time around. The service couldn’t have been better. 10/10. Everyone had clearly been briefed on the situation but the point wasn’t laboured. So we began with a couple of fabulous cocktails in the sort of fancy bar so dimly-lit and adorned with attractive punters, you feel like an extra in an episode of Sex And The City. I recommend the Rickshaw, by the way (a refreshing concoction of Stolichnaya raspberry vodka, lemon, sugar and raspberries).

Then came the feast: a fabulous cornucopia of dim sum, tempura and sundry savoury Asian delights. Having recently turned vegetarian I plumped for a warm aubergine and coriander salad to follow up the chilli tofu parcels. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? After the tofu dish, which was a touch too sweet for my tastes I wasn’t expecting much from the aubergine salad. After all, who goes to a restaurant to eat salad? Well, from now on, me. For that dish I’d even get in that same taxi again.

Piled high on the plate like an aztec totem pole, it was a towering success of chilli-sprinkled succulence. The vegetable phad thai – a dish I had been unable to finish at a place called Boys Café on the Harrow Road that week so rank was it – was perfect. The only reason I struggled to finish it here was because I was so full.

So all things told a good night was had by all. The black cod lived up to its reputation and E&O preserved theirs. Everyone makes mistakes but the important thing is being big enough to own up to them. Needless to say, the meal was on the house but that is not the reason for my being won over.

Such is the atmosphere, the service (the waiter responsible for the initial faux pas made a point of seeking us out discreetly at the end to say how bad he had felt) and the sheer quality of the food that I will happily return there and part with my hard-earned the next time I’m in the doghouse.

Verdict: Flash Pan Asian fair for when you’re feeling flush.

Rating: 8.5/10

E&O

14 Blenheim Crescent

London W11 1NN

Posted on September 29th, 2008 under Uncategorized • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback