Rating A Great Budget Restaurant (Rating 4.4/5)
5pm deal was £11.50 for two courses. At that price, you'd expect something quite basic, but Matilda's cuisine and its presentation well exceeded expectations. My companion's starter was Rillettes of Pork with a leafy side-salad and I had King Prawns with Chili and Lime - also served with the salad in a sweetish (balsamic?) dressing. Both excellent. For main course, we had Caramel ginger chicken with roast peppers & greens and fragrant rice and Slow braised shin of beef, pearl onions and pancetta, green beans and creamed potato. Both were perfectly cooked, tender and tasty. Given that Matilda's is a much a patisserie as a restaurant, I was tempted to have a brownie and mascarpone confection served with pouring cream. Yummy! The service was excellent, friendly and attentive - actually, maybe a wee bit too attentive - but better that than being ignored!We accompanied the meal with a large bottle of fizzy mineral water and a very tasty oak-aged Cariñena that Tesco's were selling half-price at £4.99. Matilda's is unlicensed but charges £5 corkage/bottle. This works out very cheaply indeed. The whole meal for two worked out at just under £44 (including my Tesco bill!). OK, it's not the hautest of haute cuisine, but the chef certainly knows how to get the best from his ingredients and we had a very enjoyable meal. Ambience-wise, it's a little basic as the space has more of a shop & cafe air rather than a restaurant, but at these prices, and for this quality, I'm not complaining!
Was this review helpful
Yes /
No
Robert Leslie - 28/03/2015