ealing Archives - Time for a coffee

December 1, 2025December 1, 2025

Chestnut mushrooms on toast

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in London. One of the hotels I regularly stay at in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. It’s a easy trip from West Ealing station to the heart of London and is always significantly cheaper than central London hotels. They also have a great restaurant, most of the time the food is excellent, though now and again there are sometimes the odd dud dish. I try and avoid those I think could be a mistake. Alas this time I did end up with a slightly disappointing plate.

Looking over the menu I decided I would try the starter of chestnut mushrooms on toast with spinach & truffle.

I don’t know, but I wasn’t impressed. Then again it was what was described. There was a slice of toast, there were chestnut mushrooms, and there was spinach. I couldn’t taste any truffle though.

Maybe I shouldn’t be disappointed, I got what I ordered. It certainly was something I wouldn’t order again in a hurry. I think what was missing was two key things (and I am not including the truffle in that comment). The first the mushrooms really needed to be cooked differently, they needed to be pan fried, whilst avoiding overcooking and steaming them. Secondly, the dish really needed some cream of some kind as well. Oh a third thing, the toast needed to be toasted.

Yup, not one of my best dishes from the hotel, and I wasn’t that happy with it.

November 23, 2025

It wasn’t perfection…

One of the best roast dinners I have had was from the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I remember the first time I had their Sunday roast back in 2022. I said back then: This was probably one the best carvery meals I have ever had from a pub.

Though in April this year I had an even better version from the Drayton Court Hotel. It looked great and was delicious.

The roast dinners at the Drayton Court Hotel are excellent and are a real treat. I have had a few over the years and enjoyed them all. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that I ordered the Roast Sirloin of Beef. It was a fantastic looking plate of food.

So, a recent stay at the hotel on a Sunday I was looking forward to my roast dinner. As you can imagine I had quite high expectations about the food. Probably too high expectations.

This is what I got.

This is what I was expecting.

This was not perfection. I had eaten perfection back in April, this was nice, but nowhere near as good as the dish I had before. The beef was tasty, but wasn’t pink as advertised. The vegetables were delicious, the squash mash and cabbage were particularly good. The roast potatoes however had been standing around too long and had gone soft. I enjoyed the cauliflower cheese (served separately) and there was some really good gravy. The Yorkshire pudding, usually the crowning glory was, well a little flat.

For a roast dinner it was nice, but the problem I had I was comparing good to perfection, and in that case perfection will always win.

November 5, 2025

Pink peppercorn squid

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in London. I had discovered that they has run out of their magnificent roast dinners, so I needed to make a different choice. As well as a main, I decided to have a starter and went with the pink peppercorn squid with seaweed mayonnaise.

Pink peppercorn squid

This was a rather pretty plate of food. I was a little concerned that I might have had breaded calamari rings, but no there were chunks of squid in a pink peppercorn batter.

Not sure I could taste the seaweed, but overall it was a lovely starter.

November 4, 2025November 3, 2025

What, no…

One of the best meals I have had in recent years has been the Sunday Roast from Drayton Court Hotel in London.

So, staying at the hotel on a Sunday I was really looking forward to a roast beef dinner. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I went to the bar to order my food that they had sold out… I would have to choose something else from the menu. As it was a Sunday they had a limited choice, as they usually serve roasts.

In the end I went with the braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy. It was supposed to come with peas, but I got cabbage.

braised beef & ale short crust pie with creamed potato & gravy

It was a nice looking pie, the mash was smooth, and I enjoyed the cabbage. However, the gravy was awful, it had a weird taste, which I realised later was ash like. I couldn’t be bothered to complain, so had my pie and mash without gravy.

I think I was disappointed with the pie, as earlier in the week I had been to Cadbury Garden Centre and had a fantastic steak pie from Walter Smith Fine Foods who have a deli counter in the centre. The pie from Walter Smith was in a completely different league to the pie from the Drayton.

Overall I wasn’t that happy, no roast, and not a very good pie, and horrible gravy. I think that if this happens again, and there isn’t a decent choice on the menu, I will venture elsewhere for my dinner.

April 22, 2025

Roasted Sirloin of Beef

I was staying over at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. Having arrived Sunday evening, I went to the bar to get something to eat. Sunday at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing means that it is Sunday roast day.

Roasted Sirloin of Beef

There was a bed of squash mash, cabbage, roasted carrots, roast potatoes, slices of tender sirloin of beef, all topped with a Yorkshire pudding. On the side was a portion of cauliflower cheese, and a jug of gravy.

The beef was nice and pink, tender and soft, and very tasty. The accompanying vegetables were delicious. This was one lovely roast dinner, one that I would like to have again.

February 11, 2025

Tempura Prawns in a Lobster Sauce

One of the hotels I stay at in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. I was there in January staying just the one night. The last time I had been there was in May 2024. Since I was last there, they had done a load of refurbishment. There was a new larger reception area, and the rooms had been refreshed.

The food menu though was very similar. For my main I went with a pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil which I have reviewed here. For a small plate alongside I went with the tempura prawns in a lobster sauce. Now this sounded like a real treat.

Alas it wasn’t.

The prawns were terrible and the so-called lobster sauce was horrible. The prawns did have a crispy batter, but it was quite greasy. The sauce did not have any flavour of lobster and tasted like tomato puree.

I did not enjoy the dish and did not finish it.

February 6, 2025

Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

The food menu though was very similar. I went with a pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza.

What I like about the Drayton Court Hotel, it has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases.

This was a delicious fresh pizza. The addition of the fresh tomatoes was something I wasn’t expecting.

September 18, 2024

Time for Tapas from Reinata

Across Ealing there are various places to go out and eat. As well as chains, there are a range of independent places to eat. One of the nice things is that as a result there are lots of choices when you’re hungry. I often choose the independent places and one such place was in the (relatively) new Dickens Yard complex. I first went to Reinata back in June 2023 where I had a nice meal. However it wasn’t really a place to go out and eat on your own, as the tapas portions are quite substantial. Having said that and feeling quite hungry I headed over to Reinata for dinner. I went with two tapas dishes and some bread. These were large “small” plates of food.

I had the Octopus, Galician style, potatoes, paprika.

I had this dish before, but this was different to the dish I had back then. The last time I had this dish at Reinata it looked like this. This was a very different dish to one I had this time.

This time the dish was sliced potatoes cooked in the oven and on top was slices of grilled octopus. The octopus was tender and full of flavour.

The other dish I has was the Andalusian Fritters, sherry marinated white fish and squid.

This was breaded fish and squid. It was nice and fresh. I think it needed something more than lime though.

Both were large dishes and would be ideal to share, on my own it felt a little greedy. I do feel that the quality and presentation of the food was not as good as it was on my previous visit.

September 2, 2024September 2, 2024

Lamb Chops from Tony’s Pita

Over the years I have been visiting Ealing, I have been meaning to visit Tony’s Pita. I quite like a kebab now and then. On a recent visit I took the time to eat there. I did think about the kebab, but in the end I went with the lamb chops. These were cooked on the chargrill to order. They were served with chipped potatoes, flat bread, and salad.

These were, I think, shoulder chops, so were not the best quality lamb chops you can get. However it was a tasty plate of food and I enjoyed it. I think I would go back and try one of the other dishes on the menu.

August 6, 2024August 4, 2024

Roast Duck and Rice

The Hare and Tortoise is a chain of Japanese restaurants across London. I was at the Ealing branch and went for their lunch deal. I had the roast duck and rice dish; I have had this dish before at their Kensington branch.

It is slices of roast duck, served on steamed rice with a homemade sauce mixed with cinnamon, aniseed powder and ginger, garnished with Chinese greens and spring onions.

The duck is nice and crispy, though I think the homemade sauce needed a little more oomph. However, as a quick lunch time meal, it is rather good. The lunch deal also included some gyoza and a drink.