The Angel is remarkably consistent; seriously good food served without pretension in a lovely atmosphere. I always feel relaxed and at peace with the world after eating here.
On this occasion, we had not managed to book a table and were advised that we would need to wait at the bar until one became free; in fact it was only a few minutes. Whilst waiting, I had a glass of house champagne and my husband had a Guinness (complete with shamrock on its head!)
I started with Little Money Bags "a treasure of seafood." Filo pastry, really good seafood within and served in a puddle of lobster sauce. Delicious. My main course was from the blackboard where there is always a great selection of interesting fish dishes; this time I had seabass which was lovely - crisp skin, well seasoned, soft succulent inside. Very attractive presentation.
We then ordered puddings and were waiting for these to arrive. One of the waiters came over and asked, very nicely, if we would very much mind moving to a different table. The 2 of us were at a table for 4 and a family with hungry children had arrived. There was a table for 2 nearby. Could we possibly move to that? Absolutely no problem, we said, and moved there for our puddings. Whilst we were eating these, the head waiter came over and apologised for moving us, thanked us for doing so (no problem at all, we said) and asked if we would like a complimentary glass of wine or coffee? Very kind and quite unnecessary; in fact we had coffee which arrived with chocolates and was lovely.
In due course we went to pay the bill. I think the barman noticed that I had had champagne and asked if our dinner was a celebration - it was, of sorts - it had been something to look forward to after an unpleasant experience that had to be got through. He then produced 2 boxes of chocolate truffles for us to take away 'with our compliments'.
It is this sort of attention to detail that permeates right through the Angel - they notice, they care, it shows.
