Crocker's Folly

Name - Crocker's folly

Location - 24 Aberdeen Place, St Johns Wood, London NW8 8JR

Cost - £26 to £40

Star Appetizer - Oysters

Star Main Course - Mushroom Risotto

My Rating – 3/5

Hello again my fellow foodies, I am back with a review following an invite to a wonderful blogger dinner at a fancy new place called “Crocker’s Follly”. Crocker's Folly first opened its newly fitted doors about a month ago, following a massive restoration that took over 3 years to complete. It is a stunning Grade II* listed former Victorian gin palace, complete with a magnificent saloon bar that features 50 kinds of marbles, so you can understand why it took so long to piece this baby back together. However, this does beg the question - has a phoenix risen from the ashes, or should the old dog be put down?

I am a massive sucker for beautiful architecture and creative interior design, so I was completely in love with the layout of this venue. The downside to this is that when I walk into a place that yells esteem, luxury and class, I expect an equal level of –insert pretentious word- in the way they cook, present and serve their food. I have to make it absolutely clear that whoever restored this old gin palace did a bang tidy job of it, BUT unfortunately it didn’t seem like the same amount of time and effort had been spent on creating a unique menu. If I could base my entire review on the setting alone this place would get a glowing 5/5, but regretfully I do also have to point out some gaping flaws that occurred during the course of the evening.

Firstly I feel I need to point out that although so much attention has gone into the presentation of their restaurant, their website is…well, not good. Website here - http://www.crockersfolly.com/. As someone who lives and breathes online, I get a bit of a twitch in my eye when I see their website, which contains no photo galleries, no menu and no elaborate about us page (it’s a former gin palace, I am sure there is something in there to talk about). I don’t mean to be harsh, but it’s 2014, not 1990.

The food itself was actually quite good. I had nothing bad to say about their tasty starters or their main courses (although I did hear a few people complain about the mushy beans). However, I was expecting the food to be more than just quite good. I wanted it to be great! I have been to plenty of gastro pubs and the food at this restaurant, although nice, didn’t really stand out from your average pub food. If there was one restaurant that I would like to see do really well, it’s this one, but people will not want to pay for the sparkling atmosphere time and time again if they aren’t getting a hell of a firework display in the taste department.

I don’t want to sound like I am being a moaning Nancy for the sake of being nasty. I just want to emphasize how great this place COULD be. Don’t get me wrong people, I absolutely had a good time, and I enjoyed my well-cooked black cod, but there is a reason why most of the reviews for this place go on about the décor and not the food.

I also have to put a little note in about the service. I think I ordered the same drink about three times, and each time the waiter managed to forget. Once my drink arrived he didn’t even remember who it was for. Either he was simply having “one of those nights” or he hadn’t received any appropriate training. There is of course something lovable about a doofy waiter, but I am sure the establishment wouldn’t agree. There was also a hugeeee wait between courses, and I even ended up forgetting that dessert was on its way. Thank god for conversations that run away with you.

Dessert was a mixed bag of greatness and then… well, the opposite. Their chocolate with sorbet was absolutely mind blazingly delicious (seriously). The sorbet was just smooth enough to ease down with the rest of the food in my belly, and it was just powerful enough to compete with the rich taste of the dark chocolate. What I didn’t like was the Clove Crème Brulee. Cloves are extremely strong in taste, and it goes without saying that the Crème Brulee should have been called Cloves, Cloves and more Cloves. Although this might have been a fun little unique Christmas experiment, it did not taste good.

Overall I would say that Crocker’s Folly is an absolutely stunning restaurant that will deliver a unique atmosphere, and a good meal. What I would suggest to them is that they should crank up the volume on their menu, and re-train their staff in order to really set the pace for their coming months. One way of being more unique might be to bring some novelty to their menu by introducing a good gin list (as it is a former gin palace) and some more daring dishes that can compete above the standard gastro pub food. They might also consider updating their website a tad…

So what do you think? Have you been to Crocker’s Folly yet? If you have I would be more than happy to take your comments in the section below.

#restaurantreview #old