London Date Ideas – The Folly, TED & The Jugged Hare

Every week on 30 Dates I share some of the places I’ve discovered in London with you – in case you need a date idea.

The Folly

This week I visited the sister restaurant of The Anthologist and Happenstance, where I’ve dined in recent weeks.  Like the other restaurants the decor is unique and eye-catching – we sat beneath an entire wall covered in plates.  All three restaurants share the same menu, however it’s clear everything is prepared on site as things like the babaganoush in the starter platters tasted completely different at all three restaurants.

Like The Anthologist and Happenstance, The Folly is located in the City – a good option for dinner or a drink after work.  It felt the biggest of the three and the downstairs area made for a particularly good location for drinks.  If I had to choose between the three, I would say the Anthologist is best for single-girl drinks (LOTS of hot City boys there after work), the Happenstance had the nicest location and restaurant, and downstairs at The Folly would make a great location for a drinks-only date.

T.E.D. – King’s Cross

T.E.D. stands for Think, Eat, Drink, and is the result of an initiative designed to change the way the food and drinks industry approach their supply chain. The concept revolves around ethical dining.  ‘Sustainable’, ‘biodynamic’ and ‘carbon-neutral’ are all expressions used on the menu.

With large, comfortable booths, the atmosphere is sophisticated and serene.  Mains are between £15 and £20, but I would have happily paid more.

A short, five minute walk from King’s Cross, I’d definitely recommend it as a date venue.  The food was delicious, the location perfect, and the ethical lessons good, but at the same time not stuffed down your throat!

The Jugged Hare

My favourite date location the week has to be the Jugged Hare.  A stone’s throw from Chiswell St Dining Rooms, the gastro pub is the place to go if you’re a game or meat fan.  The beautiful restaurant is decorated with butcher’s tiles, the key feature the theatre-style kitchen.

I would rarely pick game as my first choice on a menu, so it was great to have a real education in flavours.  I started with the sizzling Queenies – incredible scallops fried with chorizo and garlic, but then ventured on to share the incredible Game Board.  There were boar and blood sausage croquettes, teal and grouse.  With three different birds, gravy, bread sauce, potato chips, mashed potato and cabbage, we were absolutely stuffed.  And everything was delicious.

The game was a real talking point as we tried tastes and flavours we’d never tried before, and everything was so interesting and well thought out – from the flavours in the bread sauce, to the incredible novelty of the pink peppercorn ice-cream served with our desserts.

 

The atmosphere was wonderful, and novel – though the stuffed birds on the wall on the way down the bathrooms were a rather odd sight, having just been eating them!

A perfect dinner date to go on with a foodie … just make sure you only have a light lunch that day!

Miss Twenty-Nine xxx