We were London bound this Easter in case junior decided to put in an early appearance. The weather was pretty rotten which prevented us going very far afield from Notting Hill. Saturday morning was reasonably good so we made plans to meet our friends Zoe and Nick and their six month old son William. We usually brunch at "202 " with them which is pretty good but it gets far too busy in there and though they are used to buggies it can get very cramped. A friend of mine had tipped me that "the Electric" was good so we booked a table there. The process of booking was a bit convaluted but arriving with some trepidation on Saturday morning we were happy to be shown to a comfy table at the rear of the restaurant with plenty of room for William and his pram.
"The Electric" is the Notting Hill outpost of the "Soho House" organisation, it is part private members club, part cinema and part brasserie. I've used the cinema on numerous occasions and it is a comfortable yet pricey place to see a film (The Coronet or Gate are much more reasonable). The brasserie always looks really busy as it was on Saturday. Obviously with the market on you get a lot of tourist in and locals in however we were away from the main crush in the dining area at the rear. Zoe and company were running late so we waited at our table. The staff were very pleasant indeed, taking our coats, bringing us coffee and chating away to us which was nice. They have a good staff to customer ratio here so you never have to wait long for anything.
Our friends arrived and after a lot of cooing over William by the waitresses we ordered a selection of breakfast. My lovely wife was really hungry so had french toast and scrambled egg and bacon, she really enjoyed it, I tried her french toast which was delicious. The others had the full English breakfast which they enjoyed. Nick in particular found it great for restoring him after a heavy night at the Mall Tavern. I fancied something different so went for the steak and eggs. It has to be said I was a bit underwelmed, nice egg and chips but a very small piece of underseasoed steak. I was expecting better especially as the "Electric" boasts a well staffed open kitchen. However my coffe was really nice much more generous than the thimbleful you get at "202". We weren't rushed at any stage and could have stayed longer but William was needing some fresh air.
It has to be said I was rather impressed with here. It really looked the part and on the whole the food was good. I also found the service professional and friendly which you don't often get in Notting Hill. The bill was about £20 each which was pretty good as we all had a couple of rounds of coffee. Apart from my dish the portions were very good value for money. I can definetly see us venturing in again with our baby. I don't know if I would risk walking in without a reservation at the weekend as it was extremely busy.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8