We stopped by Gaffel & Karaffel (I think I will call it G & K from now) once again in January and it is the same concept as before even if they have changed the name (formerly known as Nick & Jonnies). The booking was made by e-mail as I did not find their online booking on their web page and due to this there was a glitch when we arrived at the restaurant. But this was sorted out and we got a table for 4. I was glad to see that there were quite a lot of people in the restaurant. The menu is still a bit of everything which is great as there is something to like for everyone – and they still have a great wine list with many lovely, aged wine options. You can find the wine menu here.
We ordered the food and found a potential Portuguese wine in the menu – but after some searching, we were told that they could not find it. I know that keeping inventory of the wine cellar is a hassle, but it is disappointing for us as guests when you can’t find the wine – and wasted time for the staff to looking for wine that is not there. In the end we did find a good Barolo alternative but when we asked to get it on a decanter to let it breathe a bit, it did not look like the staff were unfamiliar with the reason for this. We ended up with a very narrow decanter and I guess it could have just been left in the bottle.
I started with fried risotto balls (arancini) with chive mayo, truffle pecorino etc and these were lovely snacks to start with. Nikki enjoyed the shrimp taco and this was served deconstructed on a platter. On a dark, windy and cold January evening, it is tempting to go for comfort food and my main was just that: a braised lamb shoulder with sweet potato puree. The lamb was very tender but was a bit on the dry side, but the puree was delicious, and I would have loved to see a bit more sauce. Unfortunately, the kitchen made a mistake with Nikki’s Greek pasta so she ended up waiting quite a bit while the rest of the party was enjoying their food.
I do enjoy a bit of dessert, and I did order the “tiramisu”. I think I understand now why it is listed with quotation marks as it was not a tiramisu – it was more a dessert with white chocolate and coffee ice cream inspired by tiramisu.
All in all I’m stuck with a bit of mixed emotions. With a great wine cellar, I think it would have been amazing with a bit more focus on the wine and handling of this. It was also unfortunate that the kitchen didn’t manage to serve all the mains at the same time and Nikki ended up waiting 10 minutes for her food. But will return – as you might recall from our visit last summer, G & K have a great outdoor area where you can enjoy snack and good wine when the weather cooperates. Check out the review from a visit last summer here!
Pros:
- varied menu and good sharing options
- great wine list
Cons: - would like to see more wine knowledge - not very attentive staff, we e.g. had to ask several time for tap water refill
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