Windows Restaurant

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• Average price 2 courses:
   £14.50 (set lunch)
   £20 (evening meal)
• House wine: £16.50 per bottle

• High point: Watching food being prepared
• Low point: Smart but bland corporate hotel décor
• Food served: Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm, 5-9.45pm; Sat/Sun 12.30-2.30pm, 5-9.45pm
• Private dining: Up to 10 covers
• No. overnight rooms: 64
• Open since: 1999
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Wheelchair access, Pre-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

High above the city centre streets in the Carlton George Hotel, a vista of rooftops is offered to the clientele of Windows - ladies who lunch, businessmen and hotel residents. The altitude brings tranquility and distance from the city buzz, aided by the restful, if over-impersonal, décor so often characteristic of hotel chain restaurants. A genial waitress knowledgeably discusses the menu which changes every month, offering plenty of fish, game and beef, but a somewhat limited vegetarian choice. In view to diners in an open kitchen area, the chef prepares dishes to order with professional flair. Portions are generous, even for the starters, which can include soft and ivory white scallops, seared with dark burn lines and served with a creamy risotto made from orzo (rice-shaped barley pasta) and spiced with hot chorizo oil. Duck breast is pan-fried, with a syrupy honey and vanilla glaze, and presented with a flavour-packed cabbage parcel stuffed with tender pork cheek and sliced mushrooms. For pudding, warm, soft, sticky oven-baked fruits of pear, peach and cherry are served with a delicate coconut ice-cream.