Bistrotheque: We forgive you! 10-fold!

I embarrass myself sometimes.

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Anchovies (plural)

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Maxine Gallagher	28 May 2010 13:56
To: Bistrotheque
Hello, I finally made it to dinner at Bistrotheque on 13th May for my boyfriend's birthday. I've been wanting to go for ages as I've heard great things, and we only live up the road. The food was mostly great and the service, though a bit slow was friendly and good. However, I wanted to complain about the starter. I do realise that food costs money, and quality costs even more, and I appreciate that you serve up top produce - my lamb chop was extremely good. But we ordered the 'pan-fried anchovies' for starter and were very disappointed with the result. We wanted to share it because we weren't all that hungry and wanted to save space for the main, but what appeared was a joke. Well it made us laugh anyway. We received a mound of lettuce (fine, dressing nice) and one anchovy perched on top. I looked again at the menu on my table and it clearly said anchovies. And to make things worse, it wasn't even pan fried. At the time we laughed it off and happily cut the sad little anchovy in half, and I think we actually found another half lurking amongst the greens, but really it left a bad impression of your restaurant, and left us feeling cheated. I know it's a small matter, but just want to bring it to your attention. We don't spend £80 on meals that often, but I've been to enough restaurants to know that it's really not fair to charge someone £8 for one anchovy. Regards, Maxine

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Re: Anchovies (plural)

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David Waddington	28 May 2010 16:49
To: Me
Hello Maxine Thank you for your email. Im so sorry to hear that your salad didn’t live up to expectations or even the menu description - quite clearly it was lacking in the fish department! So please accept my apologies. Its really frustrating for these things to happen when its a special occasion and also for us, as our kitchen is capable to send great food. But mistakes do happen and we are grateful for feedback. With this in mind please accept an invitation from Pablo, Tom and I to return to Bistrotheque for dinner for two on us. Drop me an email to let me know when you would like to come along. Have a lovely weekend. Best Regards David

When I showed Michael my email, he just said, "Oh no, did we really cut the poor little anchovy in half…how could we do that?" Which is a fair point. But he didn't complain when the very nice guys at Bistrotheque asked us back for dinner. 

We went last Friday and it was absolutely spectacular. I had a growing sense of unease leading up to it. How could I be so greedy? Their crime was only giving us a small starter, how could we take a free meal from them? And worst of all, what kind of 'special ingredients' might the chefs put it in our dinner, especially for the couple at Table Whingebag. I've worked in restaurants before, I know how it works.

When we got there I offered to pay for half, but was told the manager insisted. Uh oh.

I needn't have worried (I think). Even if there were unspeakable additions, we couldn't see any, and the meal was perfect from start to finish. I had a seafood ceviche to start and Michael had (because I ordered it for him so I could try it) a ham hock terrine with scotch egg. Everything on our plates looked and tasted gorgeous. He even had several anchovies sandwiched between his ham and his hock. Several!

My photos are really rubbish because it got darker but the food only got better. Crisped moist seabass for me, with chickpeas and tomatoes, soft and tender steak and tangy Bearnaise sauce for Michael - and chips for me to steal (as is a girlfriend's duty).

I tried really hard to resist dessert and not be so greedy but I couldn't. Perfect little slice of tart lemon tart for M and roast plums (peaches? shit too much rose at this point) with mascarpone for me.

Had a nice chat with the manager, god I've forgotten his name too, that must have been good wine. So lovely (and Irish, good man). He said they don't get many complaints and wanted to remedy this one. They did. There was definitely an all round feeling of more love and generosity in this meal compared to the last one. I must put a gushing review on Yelp immediately to quell my guilt. Or maybe a few Hail Marys will do.