Gordon M.
Yelp
A special occasion calls for a 'special meal' and so it was that we found ourselves at Rogano ordering cocktails whilst we waited for our table. One super smooth gin martini for me, and a zingy, punchy margarita for the lady and we were whisked to our table.
I've been in a couple of times for a cheeky champagne cocktail but never to the restaurant. It looks just as you imagined, like stepping back in time, which thankfully doesn't mean it looks tired and dated, but properly classy and old in a wonderfully retro way.
I'll start with the service as, in this class of establishment I expect it to be top notch and we weren't let down. The waiters serving our area (two of them) were friendly, helpful, attentive to detail and had a sixth sense of when to wander by (to top up our wine glasses) and when to stay distant. What a difference it makes!
Double points for pointing out a better wine to suit our meal than our choice which was also £7 cheaper! :)
But what of the food! I hear you cry.
Well, fear not, the food was sublime!
As we sat we received a salmon pate sampler, which was very tasty but not as good as the amuse-bouche of crab bisque, rich, light and with a real double hit of flavours it certainly woke up my tastebuds!
I started with scallops on black pudding, four large, plump sweet scallops on a sliver of black pudding which gave enough savoury bite to the dish without overpowering it. Clare had the dressed crab which was delicious.
For mains I treated myself to the fillet of beef, medium rare, which ... well I'm not sure how else to describe it but fellow steak lovers will know what I mean when I say that each bite induced a small mouthgasm! Succulent, smooth, and perfectly cooked, I could quite happily have just eaten that, but the thick cut chips were great, crispy but floaty light inside, and the thick slabs of meaty mushroom brought the whole dish together while a drizzling of hollandaise added that perfect zing.
Clare opted for the catch of the day, turbot, which was very tasty and quite a meaty fish. The sample I tried was a tiny bit boney but I'm very fussy (and it's why I rarely ordered fish, I have a bit of an 'ick' thing about bones!). The accompanying samphire and shrimp dressing certainly helped bring it back to the 'sea', the crispy skin an extra treat!
We were both starting to feel full so, for once, sensibly decided not to opt for a dessert. Clare doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and I'm always a little wary of being let down, especially as the rest of the meal had been so utterly divine.
What we hadn't accounted for was the waiting staff picking up on the fact it was our (first) anniversary and so when the petit four arrived, with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate on the plate, it topped off a wonderful wonderful meal.
Great food made from high quality ingredients, a wonderful bottle of wine, and some very very well drilled waiters (did I mention the smooth coordination as we switched between courses, after a well timed wait, one would swoop our dirty dishes away and the other was slide our next courses into place, a beautiful gastronomic ballet!)
I probably should fault it for price, it is expensive but it's an institution and it's not like they pretend to be anything other than a high end restaurant.
And given that they pull that off with aplomb, I can only give this five stars. If not more!!