Mayochup

Southbank is one of those areas which is blessed with a variety of restaurants to choose from ranging from the sublimely expensive to something more reasonable. Of course, doing what we usually do, turn up to one of these not having booked and see if any table is free. More often than not, especially prime time on a Friday, we end up disappointed but we will learn one day.

After a stroll along the Thames, we ended up in this neat looking place called The Wharf. The menu had a little variety and we were both drawn to the seafood options. We were seated upstairs next to a window which offered great views of the Thames and, as dusk fell, the illuminated London skyline.
Anyhow, starters arrived and as you can see, we opted for seafood.


As you would expect from the mussels, it was a lot of work for not that much food however they were cooked well and we were given a finger bowl instead of cleaning my hands on my trousers. The prawns were amazing. Well seasoned and very generous in size. If there had to be a tiny, and I mean tiny, criticism would be perhaps a tad too oily but I stress that's me being very picky but then again, I'm not John Torode.

Seafood again was the flavour of our mains in the form of a risotto and linguine. The picture should be self explanatory.

Unfortunately, I lost the bet in having the risotto but it was a blessing as I was recovering from a bout of man flu and my appetite hadn't been restored to its former glory so I shall start with the linguine. It did look appetising however it had a little too much tomato sauce for my liking but Parmesan cheese came to the rescue. Lots of it. I did leave most of the linguine but that was due to my lack of appetite more than anything. I did finish off and pick out the seafood elements which, as a seafood lover, did not waste.

The risotto was also presented well and did taste lovely but there was no way I would have finished it. It was quite rich with its creamy sauce and subtle enough to convert even the stoutest of seafood haters.

Normally I would not have opted for dessert however we did catch a glimpse of a rather attractive looking cheesecake that another table was having and that was settled. The Wharf kindly offered us plenty of time (whether we liked it or not) between the end of our main meal and taking our dessert order. It did take quite a while to attract the waitresses attention. Anyhow, after what felt like an eternity, we were greeted with our prize - white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.

Bloody hell that was nice! Presentation spot on and the taste... wow. Again, if I was being picky, my only teeny criticism would be to question why there is a strawberry on it? A raspberry surely? Anyhow, the cheesecake didn't last long.

The staff were made to wear these t-shirts which, and I can't quite remember exactly, had written on their back of "Taste Me, Love Me,..." there's two others. I would imagine they would have had a lot of comments of a suggestive nature in the past, that would be if they were paying attention which they were not. Never have I seen a disinterested bunch. As we paid up and left, we never got a goodbye. The only acknowledgement was an excuse me as we were inadvertently in the way.
So to sum up, good food, great location but the customer experience could be worked on.