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Forbury’s Restaurant and Wine Bar at Reading

May 23, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 8 Comments

I have spent much time wandering around Reading trying to find somewhere half decent to eat that wasn’t the London Street Brasserie. I feel like I exhausted the Brasserie a long time ago and if you’re wondering, they do fantastically good puddings. I wanted good food at a reasonable price and I found exactly that.

Forbury’s looks a bit pretentious from a distance but when you read the blackboard outside you’ll find you can have 3 courses for £14. For that price, you can’t complain! It’s a really airy, modern, light space with all these newfangled flower arrangements and the like but what they are truly about is wine. What I am truly not about is the waiter being so obviously uninterested in us when we declare that despite being in a wine bar we’d rather not have a glass of wine. He looked like he was about to vomit each time we raised our offensive soft drinks to our mouths. 

There were so many tempting things on the menu I couldn’t decide what to have. I decided to start with Gazpacho. I’ve never had it before and thought that this would be the perfect place and time to do so. I was fully aware that it was a cold soup but despite this knowledge it was still a complete and utter surprise. It looks like tomato soup, it smells like tomato soup, they’ve given you a soup spoon but none of this prepares you for the first mouthful. It’s a strange and wonderful sensation and was lovely. Vibrant, fresh, clean and delicate Gazpacho is definitely something I will have again. 

The main course was Spring vegetable risotto. I was craving asparagus, courgettes and peas and the risotto did not disappoint. It was exactly what I wanted although a bit more generosity with the Parmesan would have made it a little better. There was what looked like turf planted on top of the risotto but it turned out to be tarragon. Fortunately there wasn’t an abundance of it as too much aniseed can ruin a meal. 

By this point I had consumed tomatoes, various green vegetables and a little rice. I was feeling a little bit well behaved, threw caution to the wind and ordered dessert. It was a bright mango parfait. Two very generous slabs were consumed with gusto. It seemed to have little pieces of toffee or honeycomb along with pistachio embedded in the parfait. This was surrounded by mango and raspberry coulis and raspberries themselves. 

Things got a little weird at the end of the meal. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and tea and coffee was being enjoyed amidst much merriment. Suddenly this bubble was burst as, without warning, the bill was put on the side of the table. The bill had not been asked for. There are restaurants where I wish the bill would turn up as I’m so bored of waiting and trying my hardest to get the attention of the waiter. On this occasion, we were the only people in the restaurant and they couldn’t have made it more obvious they wanted us out.

I am very confused about this meal. Considering the meal was £14 for 3 courses I was pretty impressed and I’d love to go back and sample some of their A La Carte menu it all sounded incredible. However, the service did not match up to the food. If you’re in Reading and bored of the restaurants on the riverside, venture out a little. You’ll be surprised what you might find.

All That I’m Eating

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Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: Reading, Restaurants

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Comments

  1. Janice says

    May 23, 2011 at 20:18

    Sounds like they need Fred to come in and sort out their service! You meal sounds lovely, just the waiter who should be sacked! Maybe you could email the restaurant and complain about your treatment.

    Reply
  2. Greedyrosie says

    May 24, 2011 at 00:08

    Hm. I would probably email them a link to the review and let them make of it what they will. For me, someone serving unannounced tarragon on my plate to eat by accident, would make me very pretty miserable. I hate tarragon. There are so many herbs that go with spring vegetables…

    But gosh, I am a picky cow 🙂

    Reply
  3. Catherine says

    May 24, 2011 at 11:41

    Your meal sounds lovely; shame about the poor service! I would definitely alert the management to what happened, as it seems to be the only things preventing it from being a truly fabulous restaurant! I’ve never considered trying gazpacho, but your description has convinced me to give it a go!

    Reply
  4. Belinda @zomppa says

    May 24, 2011 at 22:14

    Yuck to the service, but yay to the price. I’m imagining how the food all looked!

    Reply
  5. Ilke says

    May 25, 2011 at 03:14

    Can’t believe the rude service! I agree that you should email them with your review and see if anything changes next time!
    Gazpacho description made me want to have a bowl. I have never had one, thinking I can not bring myself to eat cold soup!

    Reply
  6. Andrew Davies says

    May 25, 2011 at 09:12

    I hope you didn’t leave a tip. If ever I’m in Reading and really really stuck then I might give this a go .. and not order any Wine …. just to see …

    Reply
  7. Jill@MadAboutMacarons says

    May 30, 2011 at 14:19

    Oooh. I do hate it when the service is lousy – but then if the price was good, it does make it a difficult decision!

    Reply
  8. All That I'm Eating says

    May 31, 2011 at 19:36

    Thank you for your comments. I think I’ll have to go back and try again!

    Reply

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Hello I’m Caroline

Welcome to my site All That I’m Eating. You will find inventive recipes using seasonal and foraged ingredients as well as everyday easy meals and a few indulgent recipes too.

I believe humble food doesn’t have to be hum drum so whether you’ve oodles of onions, superfluous sausages or apples aplenty I hope you enjoy having a look around.

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