Dinner at The Empress of India

Subject: Dinner at The Empress of India Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:48 pm

Last night we were going to go to our local Argentinian restaurant for a steak after The Actor had watched Jamie Oliver making a delicious looking steak sandwich. Then he changed his mind and decided he'd been eating too much red meat.

So we took a short drive to Victoria Park to The Empress of India. It's owned by the same guys as our local the Prince Arthur. They own a group of pubs that are all totally individual. We've been to The Empress before but never on a Sunday. We're always looking for the "perfect" roast. The current winner has to be the Royal Oak in Columbia Road for their fabulous beef with all the trimmings at £14.

We sat at one of the red leather banquette's around the edge and were given a table for four as it wasn't too busy in the evening, although the waiter told us it had been non-stop all day. I thought the table for four would be great as The Actor's always hungry and orders a lot.

We started with a Bloody Mary each - very good

Then the fresh crab tian with pickled fennel and melba toast - wonderful! I could have eaten three

A bottle of Pinot Noir - lovely!

Then we had the whole spit roast chicken for two to share which comes with everything for two at £26. It looked better than that - I put the flash on which hasn't done it any favours.

We also ordered an extra side of brussels sprout tops with chestnuts. The chicken was good. I'm super fussy so my criticisms were firstly that they'd run out of stuffing balls! Cardinal sin. I always want stuffing with my chicken. At home I make one with wholemeal sage and onion stuffing to which I add really good quality sausages which I take out of their skins, fresh herbs and chopped apricots. Tinned in their own juice will do for this.

The roast potatoes were the right sort of fluffy potato, Maris Piper or King Edwards but I didn't like what they'd been cooked in as it left an after taste. I cook mine in extra virgin olive oil and they always come out golden and perfect. I know you're not supposed to use olive oil because of heat temperatures but it works for me. These were cooked in duck fat. I've used goose fat before and it does make them crispy but I find that has an after taste as well and I never want to add unneccessary extra fat. If you shake the potatoes well them after you've par boiled them it roughs up the edges and the olive oil works brilliantly without the odd after taste.

The vegetables were good but I should have asked for them not to be drenched in butter. I love butter but not on my veg. The pigs in blankets weren't cooked enough for my liking. I prefer my sausages dark brown all over. Why do people always undercook sausages? The bread sauce and gravy were good but I'm not fussed about bread sauce so asked for cranberry which was excellent and tasted freshly made.

To finish we shared a chocolate pot with hazelnut praline flapjacks, double espressos and brandies.

We always try and guess how much the bill will be and I thought it would be about £80 or £90. When it came it was a staggering £124! I think that's rather pricey for Sunday lunch. We could have done without the expensive wine and brandies afterwards and got some from the off licence instead!

That said if you order well The Empress of India has a lovely menu and I will go back and try more of their gorgeous starters as I often order three starters instead of a main.

Rosie, if you read this, I should have called you - next time I prom

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