Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 32

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STANDARD WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1974- 33 DELIA Evening Standard Restaurant Critic FAY MASCHLER RECIPE SPECIAL For a ready-made occasion Wild duck at Parkway NWl (485 1773) claims to be the oldest rtslui-rant in Camden Town and docs indeed date from 1914 displaying what is now the last word in fashionable decor acid green and black vitrolite tiles mirrored pillars and curly liat-stuncis It has an attractive air of welcoming all comers and the menu covers every eventuality from cod and chips to prawn cocktail roast beer and two veg (44p to shashlik kebab The tnraniosalata we tried especially good the dol- WITH WARNINGS coming from all sides of harsh times ahead shock measures and general belt tightening new restaurants continue to open and people continue to eat out It has always amazed me that so many people are willing to spend so much on what is after all a transient pleasure with little to show for it later but a slim wallet and a pounding head Yet when set against other pastimes such as book-buying or theatre -going it stands out as the one that directly involves other people usually friends and engages yet more people to perform a service you might made brawn meat displayed ana main basement prices £1-85 when game on other jroojple's menus send prices sky succumbed to a confection mades rather less so Greek wines are £1-50 and the carafe (pretty rough trade) £110 Drinking that two could eat here for £3-50 including tax but not service At that price you can even afford to eat out evenings DESriTE the fall-off in the growth of Marks and Spencer and the angry reaction this brought from the company chairman yesterday most women wiu be delighted that this chain of stores continues to enlarge its activities on the food front Tomorrow for the first time in London and offer their brand-new range of wines for sale Tonight instead of a recipe I am celebrating their new wines by compiling a dinner party menu based on some of their excellent convenience foods with the wines to match Aperitif No actual cooking is needed- just heat the-food and open the wine For an aperitif I would choose either the French Vermouth or the Fale Dry Spanish Sherry (both chilled) costing £1 05 and £120 respectively Then for a first course the Ratatouille Flan (37p serves four) with Macon Blanc Villages a crisp dry white Burgundy for 99p For a main course) foil-packed Beef Stroganolf at 87p per pack tf (beef strips and mushrooms in a sauce made with yoghurt and red wine) For four people need two packs And with the Stroranoff maybe a lireen Salad and some foil- packed New Potatoes in Butter 22p for 12os (again need two packs for four servings) For the wine with the main course choose Beaujolais 1973 at 99p Then id finish the meal Lemon Supreme layers of lemon souffle sponge custard and cream (26ip two will serve four) To go with it either a French Sweet White wine at 95p or Asti Spumante a £115 meat resembling but made with more bright-eyed raw vegetables fish pate and so on Also were wild duck quails other ingredients of the courses The menu is not dissimilar from that at Elizabeth Street Mimmo's but the daily specialities gave it individuality and unusual for an Italian restaurant an embarrassment of choices for those who like me have had one too many Sfillimbocca or Polio Sorpresa There were three main courses I Suckling Fig Wild Duck and Sea Bass Having been transfixed bv the steely faze of the fish on the way in chose that My partner took dish the Suckling Pig We started with a a pasta Penne Arragiata which consisted of macaroni-shaped tubes a sauce of tomato olives capers and garlic very robust and very mod and Scared a Donna Roslna 1 which is the brawny dish I described seeming to be made of pieces of lamb and bundles of nerbs all pressed together It was excellent but needed I thought some sott of vkraigretty sauce The pasta is home-made of this week and casts with one hicli is not bad exception 65p which these days and the main courses starting at £1-20 vegetables included seem to be to be also relatively good value wild di particularly the otherwise be obliged to do your-a meat that is to get So despite the threatened inflation in food prices it seems safe to assume a future for restaurants whoever wins the election though there could be I suppose the surprise revelation of a plan for nationalisation As we face the doom ahead we shall go not with a bang but a Wimpy Until such a time you may like to know of a restaurant where I felt for the first time in recent weeks a real sense of enjoyment It's the new Mfmmo d'lschia at 20 Koad NW8 (286 2353) Twenty Abbey Hoad is a monolithic block of flats with a uniformed doorman and last week there was no indication of a restaurant of any kind in the building But down In the basement where you expect at the most a kind of canteen for residents there is a bright and beautiful A pitella-designed room decorated in white and turquoise blue with wicker chairs on-' the mandatory tiled floor and in the centre a long table bearing the most tempting-looking food There were not just the stuffed aubergines tomatoes and marrows oily mushrooms and rubbery rings of squid that usually make up these displays but a Ale of sea bass a home Vintage Room the food is superb impeccable and the total -memorable Dine from 830pm to a five-piece group and 'disco' until 2am a fabulous celebrate almost anything and an average bill for two would be in the region of £5 including tax but not service If ttie opinion polls prove to be correct then you might like to try a workman's caff that now has a licence and offers in addition to 2 Eggs 00a Gree Chips Peas cook- 36p) some gi mg The Primrose Restaurant 64 Mintage Inn fif Hamilton Place THE 01-402 4288 Montcalm HOTEL GREAT CUMBERLAND PIACE Our beautiful rooms arc ready for your daughter's wedding reception cocktail party or a family celebration Why not visit our excellent RESTAURANT EEffiaE templars Til I Mllllkili'll TILL MIUMUIIT A memorable rnglish menu in magnificently traditional surroiiDding-s for luncheon or dinner In the head of Iheaticland open until midnight 1 LMPl ARS (1 1: 1 1 I A D0RI tin I LL At five the service effect and dance from 9pm place to 7 A i i 1 I of sponge cake and- meringue ich fell which fell apart to reveal odd wild strawberry dotted about and cost we discovered on the bill 75pr The cheese was more reasonable and included Taleggio as well as the expected Bel Paese and Gorgonzola wine list strong on Italian wines and featuring an Ischian variety also seemed slightly cheaper than average Carafe wine is £1-60 Drinking that two people would about £8 before tax and service lit would be churlish to discourage you from visiting Moisten 31c Holland Street W8 (937 3224) but I can pro mise no tiring more than unprofessional (in the dull sense) rood in very pleasant surroundings with the assiduous service of two young men from whom the curious name of this place may have been derived We started our meal with Oeuf en Cocotte A la Creme and Crudites The egg was done with sour cream presumably intentionally and was all the more interesting for that lire crudites were a dull bunch containing thickly sliced cucumbers and rather woolly tomatoes and the vinaigrette was ladled on afterwards The broad handed round was nice though There was a choice of six main dishes two fish dishes two steaks a pork cliop and veal escalope There were also a few dishes of the day but that evening one of them was just another treatment of a pork chop We decided on kidneys a dish of die day' which was actually "en very good and the veal whici was cooked with ham and cheese and was upsubtle the meat itself dry and tasteless It costs £1-85 vegetables extra at 35p a time I chose a green salad (40t)) dampened down by another' ladleful from the jug of French dressing The Plateau de Fromages turned out to be Gruvere and the desserts comprised Chocolate Mousse Pears in Wine Fruit Salad or Sorbets The whole meal was rather like the ably the house wine two wo inking that about £8-30 iuld pay including VAT out not service nice small place to It's a very sit Greek kebab houses have for some time been a haven of the impecunious man about town Treating your bird to a skewer or two seems somehow more flash than buying her a curry and wine rather than beer the natural and more seductive accompaniment In tiro Fulham Rood tiro stamping ground of such tea someone has had tiro bright idea of opening a resine ana Kebab taurnnt called Wine 843 Fulham Road 8W18 (352 1967) which has formula food taramasalata houmnfous salad with Feta cheese followed by kebabs loukanika and those overcooked dishes of lamb on tiro bone The wine all costs about RESTAURATEURS ALL-IN POLICY Compretirmlie Imurnnce tariiulm: roM of Credit Card Sale tiroup iliHciMinl tor noire than I wo Re-dill L'oinietltie Halea 100 UndetwrlUen al Lloyd' a CoaUcti KKMPSTCH-LOOO (insuranci anoKinat limited ISO Ceaaaiarcial RS London1 E1 Talaeftnn: 4S1 2S27S 400 S11 Whatever you eat wherever you ga on the Park Paik Lane London Wl Tel: 01 499 0888 Bi One of London's most beautiful restaurants for luncheon or dinner Where elegance abounds With dancing to two bands until L30 am 1C BURY STRICT ST JAMES'S LONDON SWI TELEPHONE: ffH)fi7tT7 7 Or you can try a real Klondike meal Sikes from 601b hips of choice beef fried potatoes coleslaw open-kettle bak ed beans with apple pie to follow At the Skyline Hotel on Bath Road 2 minutes from London Airport Blue Nun from S1C1EL nmnsMSRimmK LilV a romplete reconstruction of a saloon from the days of the Canadian Yukon Gold Ruah Inside starting at eight o'clock every evening except Sunday find Lil and the Banjo Boys playing and singing songs from ibt 189Qs There's a honky tonk piano old time banioi- WhUky Tenderfoot Whisky and eight kinds nf draught beer FOR SHEER CASTRONOMIC ENJOYMENT xr 10AGOLDERS GREEN ROAD NWI 1 8LL Q1 -455 4882 Under the personal supervision of Mario Martinolil Previously Restaurant Manager at Gafo Royala A Kattnors LUNCH TUES TO FRI AND SUN DINNER TUES TO SAT CLOSED MON PRIVATE ROOM AVAILABLE (MAXIMUM 38 PERSONS) Decorate your table with a Keo medal-winner Keo CyprusTable Wines have been Bellapais fine white wine with a awarded over one hundred gold and dryish taste and delicate sparkle silver medals in competitions through Rosella light smooth rosd out Europe Aphrodite medium dry while wine But you be a wine taster Take a bottle home tonight and extraordinaire to appreciate a good Keo give yourself a medal wine with your meal At a reasonable price Othello robust full bodied red wine St Panteleimon rich white wine with natural sweetness CyptUS TclblC WilKSS 3 The right wine every dine 'avu-wanaw' frm iv a ff 1.