Eighty Queen Street

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £20 (lunch)
   £20 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12.95 per bottle

• High point: Great ambience
• Low point: Some dishes fail to live up to fantastic menu descriptions
• Food served: Mon–Fri 8am–3pm, 6–9.30pm; Sat 8am–9.30pm; Sun 12.30–5pm
• Bar open: Mon/Tue noon–11pm; Wed/Thu noon–1am; Fri/Sat 11am–1am; Sun noon–6pm
• Private dining: Up to 16 covers
• Open since: 2001
• Also offers: Children's portions

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
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Soft candle-light, live jazz and good cocktails are surely on the recipe for a good start to any night out. Eighty Queen Street displays these elements in abundance to ease you into your meal. From an extensive menu, which is served from 8am Monday to Saturday, start with a winning baked oysters and chorizo concoction. Finely diced chorizo lend the dish both colour and spice, with fresh spring onion setting off the flavours nicely. Linguine with peas, pancetta and venison ragout, available as a starter or main course, is wholesome and rustic, though it misses the black truffle oil promised on the menu. A meaty venison burger made with good quality meat is tasty and well textured, though hungry diners might expect more than eight chips for nearly £10. For dessert, hot chocolate pudding has a soft chewy crust, a luscious molten filling and tuille biscuits for dipping (though what the solid lump of frozen crème fraiche is doing there is anyone's guess). A selection of petit fours includes a lemon tart, rosewater meringue, mint biscuit with chocolate ganache and a cinnamon Madeleine. There are plans for a major refurbishment later in the year. Watch this space.