Harvey Nichols First Floor

Saturday Lunch in Harvey Nichols First Floor a couple of months back -
good buzzy atmosphere, families with adopted chinese babies for the mums, lacoste pullovers and thomas pink shirts for the dads, juicy couture for the girls and tommy hilfiger for the boys. but also a happy bunch of siblings clearly enjoying each others company - wish my family could go to lunch in such harmony.

Riletete of crab, gazpacho shot, tartar of avacado - good dish with all elements in harmony - tangy gazpacho, lemony avocado and soft crab for spreading. small dish but tasty.

cappuccino of butternut squash, pan fried scallop, curry alioi (sic). also good and tasty if a little meagre. possibly too much salty stock in the soup rather than the creamy sweetness I was hoping for.

HN Fish and Chips, pea puree and tartare sauce - chips (all 9 of them) were arranged in a criss cross fashion and (just barely) managed to be crisp. fairly certain these were cooked just once. Fish was fine - could have been better, crispier, bigger but could have been worse. strike that I enjoyed it, I have spent a lot of time on this dish at home so I always hope for perfection and not everyone is as obsessive as me.

Sirloin of Irish Angus beef, bourguignon garnish, fondant potato, red wine jus.- taste was good but I have had better beef. fondant potatoes were excellent. I got rather cross (in a seething way) when the waiter scoffed at my question - is this a sirloin steak or a roast of sirloin? (its not my fault they dont know how to write a menu). "A steak of course" was the response. I pointedly explained that the menu implied no such thing. Cue v. grumpy service for the first course, exacerbated by a very long delay in the arrival of our wine - we were half way through our first course. waiter did not like being reminded that we still had not received our wine (clearly he considered it no longer his problem as he had passed the order to the wine waiter). Me getting cross now. Then the maitre d' spots me (forget his name - bald head, very charming and good at his job). He recognises me from the launch of the restaurant and comes over to chat. he gets our wine in seconds and apologises profusely. me happier now. Grumpy waiter passes by and notices that I am known to his boss - cue overly friendly service for the remainder of the meal including little jokes - "can we order dessert?" - "NO! only joking of course you can!! - laughed?, I nearly did (apologies for cliched joke). I preferred him grumpy.

Dessert of raspberry cheesecake was fine. a bit lacking in flavour but I ate it all. cheese was in good condition but small portions. lots of those wheaty biscuits that overpower the flavour of the cheese.

So in conclusion this is a very good restaurant but I would like to tweak a few things including the size of the portions.