Dining out Reading

[The Moose]

I am looking for a restaurant in Reading.

Am bored of the standard TGI/Pizza Express/Frankie & Bennies/La Tasca/etc and looking for somewhere a bit different but not outlandishly expensive.

Am thinking 15 mins (drive) from the town centre.

Any and all suggestions would be fantastic.

Cheers

The Moose

[GTIR]

Out on your own again eh?

Cheers,

The Moose

[The Moose]

LOL - meant to say - am out with the misses!!

Cheers

The Moose

[CpnSpankyPantz]

There is a great little place in the centre past the cinema, old orleans etc, and just by the bridge towards debenhams, can't for the life of me remember the name!

Failing that in the surrounding villages there are some really nice pubs, not to mention the Packhorse (bluebeckers pub) on the road from Caversham to Oxford, some great pubs for food in both Pangbourne and Goring...

[mouseymousey]

Ninos in the town centre or Dolce Vita were both favourites of mine when I lived there, also the Thai restaurant (Old Siam I think?) in Kings Walk, don't know if they're still there though.

A friend told me the Mal Maison was good too.

[CpnSpankyPantz]

mouseymousey said:

Ninos in the town centre or Dolce Vita were both favourites of mine when I lived there, also the Thai restaurant (Old Siam I think?) in Kings Walk, don't know if they're still there though.

A friend told me the Mal Maison was good too.

The Thai is really nice and still there.

Mal Maison tends to be fairly pricey (at least for drinks!).

The place I meant is called London Street Brasserie.

There is a couple of nice places near Forbury gardens too, think they are pricey too.

[CpnSpankyPantz]

Meh, while I'm at it I may as well name drop some more good eateries.

In Goring the Catherine Wheel is ace, nice food reasonably priced, and great pub, also the Indian restaurant (Masoom's) is top notch, (get an al-krishma lamb, pure porn!), the Miller of Mansfield is good too, but fairly pricey.

The Elephant in Pangbourne is quite nice to eat, but I'd crack on to Goring personally!

[Famous Graham]

Is Nino's in Market Place still there? Traditional Italian, ie jampacked Good food though, and reasonable.

Second Old Siam in Kings Walk, and London Brasserie.

The Tandoori and the Elephant in Pangbourne aren't bad, but, as said, not somewhere I'd take a trip out to especially.

Oh, Chef Peking in Henley is pretty good.

Edited by Famous Graham on Tuesday 13th October 17:52

[Puggit]

No mention of Sweeney Todds yet?! Tsk...

CpnSpankyPantz said:

There is a great little place in the centre past the cinema, old orleans etc, and just by the bridge towards debenhams, can't for the life of me remember the name!

London St Brasserie. It's good, but has recently been usurped by http://www.myalacarte.co.uk/ in Caversham (the mya daily menu is utterly fantastic value) - you'll need to book.

Alternatively Caversham also has Kyrenia, a great Cypriot restaurant, and also Picassos - a fantastic Spanish restaurant (along with decent Indian, Thai and Chinese places).

[Puggit]

Famous Graham said:

I Second Old Siam in Kings Walk

I've lost count of the number of food safety scares it's had (closed down at least once...)

Edited to add: Are you sure you want to eat here?

Edited by Puggit on Tuesday 13th October 18:01

[Famous Graham]

Yikes

[jep]

If you can drive, I liked the Bull at Sonning. Nice old pub with log fires, great for a chilly night.

[DocJock]

If you fancy an Indian, Miah's on the main street in Spencers Wood is great.

[W333]

I always enjoyed Chronicles www.chroniclesrestaurant.com

Edited by W333 on Tuesday 13th October 20:10

[zakelwe]

Have you tried Dan Brown, or perhaps some Jackie Collins ?


Regards
Stan Boardman.

[bigandclever]

Reading isn't exactly overrun by decent restaurants

There's the Warwick Castle that does decent Thai, particularly if you ask for Nish and get him to recommend you something off-menu; we had a pleasant enough evening at Loch Fyne last week, but we did just go for the big platter and a couple of bottles of sparkling, so we didn't stretch the cooks; London St Brasserie as already posted is OK; I went to Nino's yesterday - thought it was pretty average to be honest. There's also Carluccio's in Forbury Square, but to be honest I find it a bit over-priced for what it actually is; Sweeney Todd's has brilliant pies but, frankly, is a sthole inside - I believe that's "character" though We've had some really nice curries at Miah's Saffron, they do 'contemporary' (show off) and 'traditional' menus.

[Puggit]

bigandclever said:

Reading isn't exactly overrun by decent restaurants

Come to Caversham!!!

[mouseymousey]

W333 said:

I always enjoyed Chronicles www.chroniclesrestaurant.com

Edited by W333 on Tuesday 13th October 20:10

I used to work just behind there. There used to be a knocking shop above it.

[Bullett]

Reading area has L'ortalan and the Vineyard at Stockcross but they are a bit pricey.

I like the Crab at Chievely for out of town dining depend ou your definition of reasonable though.
The Hand and Flowers in Marlow is excellent and good value at Lunch (2 course for £10).
The Hindshead in Bray of course.

In the centre of town I like wagas, yo! and Zero Degrees (micro brewery on site) good value pizza and mussels.
Bel and the Dragon is also worth a shot.

[toxgobbler]

+1 on Loch fyne in Reading, it's a chain, but if you like fish it's a nice change.