54
24 May 08, 19:30
Above expectations
The 54 has a lot to offer and the food is good value. You will find things on the menu you probably wouldnt normally eat so its good to get out of your comfort zone and try something different. Its manily malaysian and quite traditional.
Groups: horizon
For the love of pork.
17 Oct 07, 13:59
Above expectations
Pork belly has to be one of my altime favourite dishes, and generally speaking i can find something to love in even the most unsympathetically cook swine's belly, but this one really was something else.
Underneat a perfect layer of crackling lay soft and yealding meat, with all of the fat gently cooked out to leave some the moistest (is that even a word) and giving pieces of piggy flesh it has ever been my joy to sample. I'd go back again just for this dish. Loveley apples, nice gravy beautiful stiff by smooth mash and some nice and fresh cale rounded off a superb dish.
I had other food as well, a lovely rabbit terine with some yummy puy lentils cooked in garlic, and the bread was fried giving an excellent crunch for the soft terrine to sit on.
Dessert of cooked figs and cream and banana ice cream was so good one of my companions tucked in as heartily as I did. Other dishes around the table looked equally as lovely, but for me, the star of the meal was the pork, really, really, i can't say really enough really, great.
Oh, and mustn't forget the service, our lovely Canadian waitress was a delight!
Malaysian \\ British Fusion
17 Oct 07, 10:58
Above expectations
54 Restaurant hasn't been open long, only a month or two, but it already seems to have built up a bit of a reputation.
The food is a Malaysian \\ British mix, think traditional cuts of meat like Pork Belly and Lamb Shanks with hot and fruity Malaysian spicing.
To begin I had a Pumpkin soups served with Foccacia and a selection chilli oils. The warm bread and oils were delicious, however the pumpkin soup left me a bit disappointed. It was too sweet, and to thin, I prefer a thick rich pumpkin soup, this felt more like a desert.
The main however was fantastic. A lamb shank that had been cooked in a traditional red curry. The meat was perfect and tore straight off the bone, while the sauce itself was delicious.
The decor was pleasant, however, I did get a bit frustrated with the music that was slightly too loud. That said, we were the only people in the restaurant so this may have been why.
Overall: good.
