Tower Thistle Carvery

Tower Thistle Carvery

Tower Thistle Hotel
London
E1W 9LD
Tel.:0845 60 60 611 inside UK All Other Countries: +44 113 251 6310

Sunday 6th October 2002

Marg and I came down to London this afternoon because I have a series of business meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Marg will take the opportunity of a little sightseeing, and lunches and dinners with me around town.

Tonight, however, we’ve had a long drive, it’s fairly late, and we’re quite tired. We walk across Tower Bridge to Shad Thames to check out the restaurants, but do not feel inclined to try any of them, so off back to the hotel, where we decied that the only option is the Carvery.

This is the room in which I’ve had many a breakfast, but tonight it’s a little less personal – perhaps because it’s late.

We opt for the standard 3-course dinner. Marg started with melon with berries and fruit coulis, while I browsed the salad bar. I came off better as the melon was unripe and tasteless – might as well have been cucumber. Salad, on the other hand, was quite good: roll mop, curried potato salad, roast ham, coleslaw, sundried tomatos and peppers plus rather poor samosas and quiche. There was also jellied eel, which was quite good!

Main course saw a selection of roasts: Rib of beef, Turkey, Pork (I didn’t notice anything to satisfy vegetarians!).

The carver was particularly friendly, and was very accommodating. He made a point of asking whether we preferred pink or well done, fatty or lean and so on. Well done.

‘Tis a pity the meat wasn’t as high quality as the carver. It wasn’t too bad – just not very good.

The roast potatoes were poor, Yorkshire puddings soggy and other vegetables looked particularly unappealing. Marg didn’t want a dessert, but I went over to the small selection, none of which appealed. However, I tried the fruit salad. This was a mistake – it was extremely poor.

To my mind, a fruit salad does not employ apples as the main staple, rather as a counterpoint to softer, more succulent fruit. Both the fruit and the syrup was tasteless, and there was precious little other fruit beside the aforementioned apple.

All these negative points may be put down to the lateness of our meal. Nevertheless, I feel that a hotel of this (self proclaimed) standing should be able to offer something better than it did, at any time of day or night.

Verdict: A port in a storm. There are many other better eateries within a stone’s throw.

Sandro Melkuhn