Smiths of Smithfield

I dined at the Top Floor restaurant with a party of six on a busy Friday night service. The dining room is noisy and it was hard to hold a normal conversation above the invasive din. Service was very slow, with dishes taking a long time to come out of the kitchen (over 15 minutes for the starters).

They had run out of squid by 9.30pm, so their popular starter of salted squid was unavailable. We were only told about this when it came to ordering, so half the table had to choose another starter at the last minute.

I opted for the Dorset crab on toast as a starter. One third of the toast was burnt, literally black, and turned upside down in the hope that I wouldn’t notice, as if the chef thought I had no taste buds. It only led to an unpleasant shock when I took a bite to discover the taste of bitter, charred toast, which ruined any flavour the crab might have had.

For a main I chose the Hereford rump, pan-fried with a béarnaise sauce. The steak was perfectly cooked (medium rare, as it should be) and flavoursome. The chunky chips were nice too. The béarnaise sauce was delicious although it had been poured on top of the steak already, and I prefer to have it on the side for my chips. A slight bug-bear of mine.

The chocolate dessert was good, nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either.

In summary, John Torode needs to spend some time in his restaurant, ironing out the problems in the kitchen and front of house. And they need to have a serious word with the chef who served the burnt toast. I wouldn’t expect that in a greasy spoon, let alone here. Prices are way too expensive for the low quality of service and cooking they currently offer. Sorry John, you need to get out the bull whip!

Top Floor at Smiths of Smithfield, 67-77 Charterhouse Street EC1M 6HJ. Tel. 020 7251 7950.