The Top Floor Flat

My friend Sarah is better than anyone I’ve ever met for finding deals and freebies in the city – possibly because she actually reads the mailing lists for which she signs up instead of just deleting them like I do. Because of that, I’ve gone to free events, discovered Top Table (which I mentioned a last week), and witnessed the ridiculousness that is helium karaoke.

This week, The Slug and Lettuce, a restaurant/bar chain was inviting everyone on their mailing list to the restaurant for a free meal of tasters from their newly released fall menu. Never ones to pass up free food, Sarah, Steve and myself headed down to the Slug and Lettuce in Wimbledon to see what was on the menu.

We were a bit late so ended up crowding into a table with some other people (with whom we awkwardly didn’t exchange any conversation. Oh well, that’s London for you). As this was a completely free meal, I wasn’t expecting too much (we had to seat ourselves, and get our own plates and silverware) but the glass of champagne when we entered definitely started things on a high note. From there, we were immediately served from platers of Reggae Reggae Chicken Burgers which were by far the best sampler of the night – the burger was served on a sesame seed bun with a thick slice of pineapple and I kept hoping they’d bring around another tray but no luck.

The rest of the food was decidedly sub-par, pub fare. We tried chicken and lamb skewers, beef and mushroom pie, prawn and lettuce tostadas (with what I expected was a tartar sauce but turned out to be a huge dollop of mayonnaise), spring rolls, a hideously bad chicken carbanoara (I couldn’t tell what was the chicken and what was the pasta), and stuffed tomatoes.

Beyond the burger, the other two dishes that I might have gone out of my way to actually pay for were the goats cheese and roasted veggie tostadas and the vegetable tempura (which were really just deep-fried vegetables but still tasty).

Of course, I’m never one to complain about free food, but the whole reason for the promotion by the Slug and Lettuce was to show off the new items on their menu. Now, never having eaten there before, I can’t really say whether or not these items were a step up but overall it seemed a lot of effort for some fairly unexciting additions. After a quick scan of the menu, it turned out that the delicious Reggae Reggae Chicken Burger wasn’t even a new addition but part of the original menu.

So, Slug and Lettuce, I will always come by when you offer me free food. And I might even be back for that chicken burger. But thanks for the champagne and let me know when you update your menu again.