La Rue, Shipley, West Yorkshire
I’m sorry, but I have to say that this is one of the worst meals at this kind of price I have eaten in a long time. We decided to try La Rue again after some years where previously we had not enjoyed it; not enjoyed it on more than one occasion.
“It’s changed”, say people.
The place was full, which boded well. A little hot for a summer evening, but comfortable and thankfully the music was not on too loud to hear each other.
Had it changed? Well, it hadn’t! From the outset, the choice of pre-dinner drinks was abysmal and the poor waitresses had no idea about anything other than, “there’s beer” pointing to the lager and “… erm … some shots”. Great! I’ll have the German Pils, the only draught beer, which clearly tasted of maize and so could not be a German Pils. Oh well … let’s hope the food is better.
What a bizarre menu! I’m all for adventurous, but taking a classic combination and sticking a polar opposite from out in left field just because, well it just doesn’t work. That went on through the starters to the mains. Scrabbling for something that I could eat, I opted for a Kofta starter with some out of the bottle chilli sauce and a tzatziki without the ziki! My wife had a smoked haddock and pea tart, which turned to the be pureed, rather missing the point of beautiful flakes of smoked haddock and rather tasted of baby food! My good lady said she enjoyed it, though. Oh, the Kofta was on a tortilla! What? Yes, I know …
The mains faired no better. I had lamb shank in a roasted Mediterranean vegetable jus with garlic potatoes. Gorgeous, except for the flavour … which jarred between the roasted vegetable jus and the creamy garlic potato gratin. Nooooo … crushed garlic potatoes. Did I say, classic combinations with a left field entry?
My wife had a piece of salmon, which could have been good if it had been cooked in butter to bring out the sumptuous flavour of the fish and was served with an utterly tasteless risotto. Tasteless? Yes, clearly no use of a good stock made from left over bones, most likely water, salt and perhaps a splash of wine. Even lemon juice would have lifted it a little.
Puddings. How can they mess this up? Well, I was so fed up by this point, I asked for a mix and match from a couple of dishes so as to avoid the bizarre combinations and opted for a custard tart with some vanilla ice cream rather than the chocolate ice cream it was billed with. Finally, I’d found something on the menu that worked, yet I’d had to put it together. I forget what my wife had, but she left it. Just reading this through, apparently it was cheesecake and “one of the worst cheesecake”, no make that “the worst cheesecakes” she’s ever had!
How disappointing!
I got a decent grappa at the end to take the taste away and my wife had a coffee, which they’d manage to burn. Oh well, we won’t be going there again.
Sounding most pompous, I should suggest that the chef find a culinary primer course in classic combinations and stick to it - the basics are good, but when put together simply do not work.
Cost? About £65 including the wine at £20 ish.
I can’t even give the place 1/10 - there were no saving graces. I simply cannot recommend this to anyone. No, in fact, I can give it 1/10 for the really good Georges DeBoeuf Fleurie we had with the meal. That was good.