Eastside Inn

Maybe we shouldn’t have eaten at Trinity, because everything else afterwards has been a bit of a disappointment. Maybe I have been expecting so much from the Eastside Inn, that too be honest it left us very much under whelmed with the whole experience.

It’s not that anything was really bad, infact the opposite. The food was delicious, well cooked and presented beautifully. The wine was great, the ambiance was nice, and the décor has a lovely warming feel to it, which kind of makes you feel at home. The service was not terrible. It wasn’t good. But it was passable. It was polite and courteous but no more.

I think we confused them by ordering cocktails in the restaurant before our meal and not at the bar. This seemed to throw everyone off course from then on. Menus were handed out, and then taken away. Cutlery was laid then taken away. All this before my lovely martini had shown itself. 

As we had eaten a large lunch we were not all that hungry, so all I fancied was a main and maybe to share a pudding afterwards. So the cote de bouef was out, even with the maître d’ selling it to us so well. Thankfully we said no, as when it came to a table near us, it was huge. Two big guys had trouble polishing it off. It is carved tableside for dramatic effect. Nice touch. You do not see that at all these days.

So with the starters rubbed out, we went straight for the mains.  There is an excellent looking cheese trolley, so even pudding could be forgotten about as well. I’m gonna be in the sub-continent for 10 weeks, fine cheeses will be off the menu for a while.

Lina opted for the butchers steak (onglet) with green pepper sauce that came perfectly rare. The sauce was sticky and unxious as it should be.

I had the steak tartare, which after making hundreds of them in restaurants before, I was yearning for some raw meat. The meat was silky smooth and the heat level was nice, but I would have preferred a little more, a personal preference. Plus a tad more salt as well wouldn’t have a gone a miss as well. The downside was that I had to ask for my toast twice, and all I got was 3 small stingy pieces of bread, not even toasted as stated on the menu. Luckily we still had some more bread in the basket.

Both the mains came with some gorgeous French fries, which we were told were fried in beef dripping. Damn they were good. Although the portion was small. I wanted more. Both the mains were well presented, the onglet steak was cooked to perfection, nice and bloody.

The highlight of the night though was definitely the cheese trolley. Oddly enough we were not asked if we wanted any cheeses. The waitress just pulled the trolley in front of us and started reciting the cheeses that were there. I just assumed she had been reading my mind all night and knew we wanted them. Her name, I forget (sorry) has a fantastic knowledge of cheeses. She explained to us every cheese in depth, their tastes, whether long or short, strengths etc. She made it too tough for us to choose. You know sometimes is just easier to let the experts make the selection for you. The highlight, apart from the Roquefort, was a soft, creamy goat’s cheese that had a hint of lemon. Really nice and creamy. It’s very unusual to get a cheese trolley, and I suggest everyone make use of it when they can.

As I said nothing was out of synch. Nothing to make a night bad, but we just felt under whelmed with the place.

I’m not sure if I will give Eastside Inn another chance, for what we had it was quite expensive, and I wonder if I would remember the meal in a few days. (I don’t remember it). I think I would prefer to spend my money just down the road at St John’s, or even south of the river at Trinity which costs less and you got much more. Not only on the plate, but in your soul as well.

But as with everything in life. Some places are not for everyone.