When I first heard about this restaurant, I forgot completely who was behind the kitchen. A weekend ago, I passed by the restaurant while having a touristy visit of the West End and stopped by the window to see that it was quite a busy restaurant for a Saturday lunch.
My wife and I went for a dinner at Arbutus on Saturday and couldn’t wait to taste the food from the former head chef and owner Anthony Demetre at Putney Bridge restaurant (closed now and replaced by the chain restaurant Thai Square). I guess the menu is changed frequently as we had the date on the menu. We opted both for a squid/mackerel burger as a starter and I have the famous Marseille fish course called “Bouillabaisse”.
The starter was absolutely lovely and full of fragrances coming from different herbs. The burger was rather original and very light. Then the bouillabaisse was served with on my right the pan with 3 different fishes and on my left a pot with the lobster soup + mayonnaise and garlic sauce. Then, there was an empty bowl where I could add the fish and the soup together at my convenience. To top it up, I also had some croutons. I was very impressed with this dish. Fish was cooked to the perfection and the soup so tasty.
We didn’t go for dessert and here’s the reason. The restaurant on Saturday night is so busy that you need to shout to your partner if you want to have a conversation. I had to say I am usually patient with the noise level in restaurant, but this was really unbearable. We had to leave the restaurant after only 1 hour 15 min. I couldn’t wait to get out even though the food was absolutely superb. I guess there is nothing the restaurant can do about. People have to shout when they speak in restaurant. I don’t know why but it’s a fact. The waiter acknowledged my complaint and said Sunday is quieter. Maybe I will return on Sunday then but definitely not on Saturday evening.
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