Joshua Harvey
Google
A confusing, or perhaps confused, meal at Whyte’s. Beautiful oysters to start, if a little too attached to the half shell, and drowned in horseradish sauce. The Yorkshire pudding arrived proud, then toppled under the weight of its roe-packed toppings and fillings. This felt like a fitting metaphor. Under-roasted parsnips sitting in a curdled brown crab sauce followed. The biggest disappointment was the halibut schnitzel (£75). While the fish itself was fresh, delicate, and crisp, it was suffocated by a cold wet blanket of chewy crayfish in a vinegary (Marie Rose?) sauce. Maybe save that for filling sandwiches. Chocolate orange crémeux was dominated by the crunch of salt.
The bread and wine we had were very good. People seem to like the music from reading other reviews, but personally I didn’t love hearing Jamiroquai, ‘Virtual Insanity’ the first time or the second. Sitting at the bar is fine, but hooks or someplace to put coats would have been nice.
In hindsight, should we blame ourselves for ordering poorly? Everything basically tasted of iodine and salt. But it seemed the dishes we tried, no matter how tempting they sounded, lacked balance in execution and taste. Whyte’s felt less experimental and more like throwing things at the wall to see what, if anything, sticks. Our very competent server told us that Whyte’s is shutting up shop in February to embark on a ‘World Tour’. Sounds exciting! Personally, what I would find exciting are dishes that taste good individually and cohere as a reasonably priced (!) menu.