The Depot

I know, I know, it's been a poor show of late, so I shan't say that I deserve an empty echo for this post. After trying really hard to make June a bumper month, my enthusiasm for blogging really seems to have withered in July.

Perhaps it is then appropriate that I begin again with a restaurant which really was "blah". Regular readers will know that over the course of the year I haven't actually been to many blah places; I've been to some rubbish ones and I've been to lots of good ones, but, thanks to good tips and other people's good taste, I've not actually had all that many really unmemorable meals. Well, I did last week at The Depot in Barnes at a work lunch. It wasn't that the food was bad, it's just that none of it really sang in either a good or a bad way. The place has plenty going for it in that it's in a lovely location by the river, the staff are well-drilled and the 3-course set lunch is decent value at, I think, £12.50. I had a celeriac soup, some kind of pasta with peas and girolles, and then some chocolate and chestnut ice creams. All of them were just fine in a kinda 90s brasserie cooking kinda way, but it's always slightly depressing to eat out and not feel all tht charmed by the experience. Perhaps I am setting my standards too high - or perhaps I am lucky enough to live in a city where standards are pretty high at all price points - since this place does what it says on the tin, and I can imagine that the riverside tables are pretty romantic in the evening, but, but, but....