It was a Thursday night so my friend Michelle and I decided to go scuba diving in white wine. We started at The Orange, a gastro pub and hotel on Pimlico road. I’d been there before this summer but didn’t eat. I did, however, almost get my phone stolen by dodgy guys who came into the pub and tried to sell us birthday cards. After failing to blag our way into the dining room, we sat in the pub area at a small round table with great food lighting and ordered our dinner. Upon initial perusal of their new menu, my initial reaction was that this food was a bit stuffy for a pub. The special was a burger, which in my opinion should be a staple.
I ordered the calamari to start and was super relieved to see that it came with just the rings. I don’t like to associate calamari with what it actually is. To me, it’s essentially round French fries with protein. It was very very crispy, actually I’d say it was crunchy and the rings weren’t rubbery. Overall, pretty good.
My friend had the pumpkin soup, which she said was delicious and looked fantastic.
For our main, we moved to another table because we had some friends joining. By this time we were almost a bottle deep in the wine (which they didn’t open at the table… ew). I ordered the burger with sweet potato fries because they both had bacon on them. The burger was mediocre. It was cooked well, but a bit dry and the brioche bun fell apart easily. The bacon was just barely cooked and too chewy for my taste. On the upside, there was a nice spicy tomato relish on the burger.
The sweet potato fries were excellent, but it took the waiter a really long time to bring the bacon aioli they came with. Unfortunately, this meant the sweet potato fries started to get soggy by the time it arrived.
Our friends joined and ate most of my fries and wanted to order another. It was 9:59 and apparently one kitchen had closed. She could, however, get an entire pizza. That just didn’t make sense to me. She ordered the pizza anyway and they seemed to enjoy it.
Verdict: Overall the orange was a good way to begin our night but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again.
What to wear: I was dressed as a chic and expensive 1960s prostitute. Everyone else was in jeans.
What you’ll see: Good looking men with cute dogs who are ‘waiting for their girlfriends’.
The Orange
37-39 Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8NE
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