Rivington Grill
28-30 Rivington Street
EC2A 3DZ
020 7729 7053
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, October 2nd
The Victim: Isabelle
The Damage: £15 each
The Background: I have always wanted to go to the Rivington. I don’t know why I haven’t before. It’s been ages since I’ve caught up with Isabelle, so I invited her out to lunch. Isabelle, you should know, is "HR." Yes, I had lunch with "HR." (When I’m trying to be funny, I refer to Isabelle and her teammate together as "HR"–in an ironic sense, of course. "Hey, HR, can I borrow your stapler?" I don’t think the others get that.)
Anyhow–I called and made the booking by 10 a.m. that morning. We arrive at the Rivington, and they have no record of it, whatsoever. That sucked. But they got us a table anyhow.
The Bread: Is pretty darn good. It’s just white bread but it’s warm and nice. And it’s a LOAF…or well, a half a loaf. Which is so much better than just a few slices in a basket. I’m a fan.
The Entrees: I go for the suckling pig and it’s pretty good, but I am not salivating thinking about. (On their Web site, they say it’s with broad beans and pea shoots, but I think that’s last season’s menu as mine was with a mash of some sort.) Isabelle goes for the fish fingers and mushy peas but she gets a nice little pail of chips. And then preceeds to ignore them. I am saddened by this. She lets me have one though. That was nice of her.
Other Thoughts: I needed a sharper knife for my pig. And I’m not sure how I felt about the f word backwards in neon on the wall. Sorry. I am my mother’s daughter.
And Some Other Thoughts: I liked that they had a bar that you could eat at. I think I might come in here on my own some day and just have some rarebit on toast.
What Isabelle Thought: I loved the fish fingers and the tartar sauce (which I assume had been made from scratch – it looked and tasted like it had been) the minted pea puree was very tasty as well, the chips were a bit large for my liking, but presented nicely. I liked the ambience of the restaurant, it felt French to me (but maybe that was just me?) and was surprised how full it was for a Wednesday lunch. I also remember being surprised when I looked down and saw the table cloth was disposable rather than linen; surprised because the whole place gave the effect of having linen tablecloths (maybe because the napkins were).
The Verdict: Well, if you read my other thoughts, you know that I’m going to go back to The Rivington for some rarebit and toast.
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