- Katrina Conaglen compared a 始める，決める menu at London's Leroy with lunch at Prezzo?
- She spent the same at both but had wildly different experiences for her money
- READ MORE:??Travel 専門家s put three main U.S 遺産／遺物 運送／保菌者s 長，率いる to 長，率いる
The 使節団 was?simple: a restaurant rumble - gourmet versus mainstream.
I spent £35 in 批判的に-祝日，祝うd restaurant Leroy - a Shoreditch eatery with a strong Italian 影響（力） that won a Michelin 星／主役にする in 2019 and 保持するd it until February 2024 - and then in high-street 同等（の） Prezzo, a popular Italian family chain.
Why? I wasn't hoping to kickstart type-2 糖尿病, I 保証する you. But with people so often defaulting to a chain restaurant when they're looking to get bang for their buck, do they really 代表する the best value??
High-end restaurants will frequently 申し込む／申し出 直す／買収する，八百長をするd-price 始める，決める menu lunches on weekdays - it helps spread word about the restaurant's cooking and train-up staff for the more 集中的な dinner service. So, the three-course 始める，決める menu lunch at Leroy it was - then to see what £35 would get me at Prezzo.?
So, which 申し込む／申し出d the best value for money??Are gourmet restaurants stuffy, pretentious and boring? Did I have to take a nap after my meals? (Spoiler: yes.) Read on...
LEROY
Katrina 始める，決める out to spend £35 in gourmet restaurant Leroy and then the same in high-street 同等（の） Prezzo, a popular Italian family chain. Leroy 申し込む／申し出s three courses for £35 as a 始める，決める lunch on weekdays
Leroy (above) won a Michelin 星／主役にする in 2019. High-end restaurants like this will frequently 申し込む／申し出 直す／買収する，八百長をするd-price 始める，決める menu lunches on weekdays to spread word about its cooking and train-up staff?
'With hardwood 床に打ち倒すs, smoky jazz, and natural light, Leroy (above) has 平易な 信用／信任, like George Clooney,' 令状s Katrina, who 追加するs: 'It's a restaurant so aware of its 資産s it doesn’t have to brag about them'
Haute cuisine queen: Katrina says the one chink in Leroy's さもなければ perfect veneer was a pricy ワイン 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） - but the drinks were 'staggeringly good'
If you 推定する／予想する starched white linens and a reverential, solemn atmosphere from high-end restaurants, Leroy may surprise. With hardwood 床に打ち倒すs, smoky jazz, and natural light the whole 共同の has 平易な 信用／信任, like George Clooney - a restaurant so aware of its 資産s it doesn’t have to brag about them. It doesn’t want anything from you but for you to have a good time.
The menu, which changes 週刊誌, doesn't over-令状 itself. No extraneous adjectives or obscure farm 指名するs in sight. No foraged foodstuffs, deconstructed dishes, or modish 泡，激怒することs. In short - nothing pretentious.
The waiters are friendly and unobtrusive - knowledgeable and helpful when I ask questions, 解散させるing into the kitchen like benign apparitions when I want to be left alone to moan contentedly at my food.
I 吸い込むd a starter of 支持を得ようと努めるd-roasted winter vegetables, roast garlic, and hazelnuts. Soft, hushaby-甘い veg (this is 広大な／多数の／重要な produce) balanced perfectly with the 満足させるing crunch of hazelnut. An acrid knuckle-割れ目 of raw garlic in the dressing was 顕著に perky, leaving a pleasant 燃やすing in my throat like a dram of excellent whisky. I kept having to remind mysel f to slow 負かす／撃墜する.
The Leroy starter: 支持を得ようと努めるd roasted winter vegetables, roast garlic, and hazelnut. Katrina 述べるd it as 'soft, hushaby-甘い veg' that was 'balanced perfectly with the 満足させるing crunch of hazelnut'?
Katrina said the garlicky winter salad 'left a pleasant 燃やすing in my throat like a dram of excellent whisky'
Not a looker: Choux farci of veal and chicken 肝臓s with mashed potatoes. What it 欠如（する）d in 外見 it made up for in taste, Katrina 宣言するs
The Leroy dessert was 'a sticky, plump doughnut, titivated with pearly pink rhubarb and carrying a custard payload'
The main: choux farci of veal and chicken 肝臓s with mashed potatoes. Yes, choux farci is French. Please let that go - it just means stuffed cabbage, as the waiter obligingly explained.
It was not a looker. Indeed the hefty dumpling ? 完全にする with 明確に 境界を定めるd veins from the cabbage leaf ? did look a little like a bull’s testicle. But what it 欠如（する）d in 外見, lord! Did it （不足などを）補う for in taste. Buttery mashed spuds ? the 肉親，親類d you wished your mother made ? smoothed out the アイロンをかける-rich diced veal and chicken, happily cuddled up to the ferrous 強い味 of oil-drenched spinach.
No element overpowered any other: it felt perfectly harmonious. Yes, veal is an ethically 疑わしい foodstuff; yes, chicken 肝臓 is scary seventies food. But boldness in ordering and 約束 in Leroy’s chefs paid （株主への）配当s. I wasn’t eating food as 罰; it wasn’t a showboating dish designed to 'challenge'. This was what I 言及する to as a 'bedroom meal' ? a dish so good it elicits low groans and delicate sighs as if... 井戸／弁護士席, you catch my drift.
Dessert: a sticky, plump doughnut, titivated with pearly pink rhubarb and carrying a custard payload. Here I had to put 負かす／撃墜する the spoon ? ineffectual at pierci ng the syrup-drenched 肌 ? and 引き裂く apart my pudding by 手渡す. Lips, fingers, cheeks ended up sugar-tacky. A giddy, child-like sugar 急ぐ to an さもなければ elegant, relaxed time.
The 法案 for Leroy:?£35 for three-course 始める，決める menu, £24.50 for two 125ml glasses of ワイン and an £8 gratuity
I was utterly replete but not bilious. What a meal.
PROS
Inventive yet simple food, knowledgeable staff, staggeringly good ワイン, 広大な／多数の／重要な vibe.
CONS
ワイン was pricy (£11.50 for a 125ml white ワイン), only two 選択s per course.
星／主役にする 率ing: 4/5.
Cost: £35 for three-course 始める，決める menu / £24.50 for two 125ml glasses of ワイン / £8 gratuity.
Total c ost for food: £43.50.
Visit: www.leroyshoreditch.com.
PREZZO
Prezzo, on Brighton's Marina.?Adore choice? You’re 井戸／弁護士席 served - Prezzo 申し込む／申し出s 34 main courses
In Prezzo, Katrina noticed that the leather seats were 'frayed and 天候d'?
Pumpkin and mozzarella arancini, 'bobbling 頂上に a moat of truffle mayonnaise'
Katrina enjoyed a 'small bucket of ひどく 冷気／寒がらせるd Gavi' in Prezzo that 証明するd 'reassuringly unobtrusive'
Prezzo on Brighton Marina is a cavernous space: seated at a booth, I noticed the leather seats were frayed and 天候d ? this wasn’t a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す that cared too much about its 外見. No 事柄. The food is what I cared about.
This is 明確に a multi-generational restaurant. There is nothing here to alarm, and something to 満足させる ? if not 正確に impress ? any palate. Pastas, pizzas, even burgers, 大波ing big desserts. The menu items feel reassuringly familiar, even the Italian words.
Adore choice? You’re 井戸／弁護士席 served. While at Leroy you had two 選択s for each course, at Prezzo I counted 34 main courses.
My waitress was a lovely woman. I asked which was driest white ワイン. Wide smile. ‘I don’t know!’ No problem. I ordered what turned out to be a small bucket of ひどく 冷気／寒がらせるd Gavi, which was reassuringly unobtrusive. By the meal’s end, I was glad of the size of the 注ぐ.
Don’t get me wrong. I really liked my waitress. I’m not sneering at her. It was just a stark contrast - a 欠如（する） of food and （水以外の）飲料 training in 証拠 versus the Leroy staff, who could have written a dissertation on their menu, which changes every week. The menu at Prezzo is 直す／買収する，八百長をするd. You can tell from the wipe-clean plastic.
To begin, I went for pumpkin and mozzarella arancini. Four arrived, bobbling 頂上に a moat of truffle mayonnaise. They roused a 公式文書，認める of 楽観主義 ? gosh, how light these were, when arancini can so often 申し込む／申し出 a claggy wallop.
Spinach and mozzarella cannelloni: Katrina's 問題／発行する with it was that she 'could have made it better'?
The flavours were muddy, yes, but as 深い-fried mush went it was very 安心させるing. I couldn’t taste any truffle in the mayonnaise but it did smack gorgeously of lemon. So far, so good. 価値（がある） the £9.25 price tag? Not if I thought about it, no, but I did have a good time snuffling them 負かす／撃墜する and 製図／抽選 on my ワイン.
For my main, I 選ぶd for the spinach and ricotta cannelloni. A warming pile of fresh pasta, cheese and sauce sounded restorative. Oooh, it was 麻薬を吸うing hot. That’s where the superlatives ended.
I am not a snob, but my 最初の／主要な 問題／発行する here is that I could have made the dish. In fact, I could have made it better: the tomato sauce had the 厚い thwack of a supermarket jar of passata, homogenous to the point of anonymity.
It wasn’t bad, but we were 支援する in the realm of hot mush ? a nursery dish. I ate most of it, felt stonkingly 十分な, and wondered why a restaurant that operated at sca le 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d £17.95 for a meal a hair better than one you pierced the film on.
Sicilian Lemon Meringue Pie: 'An 豊富 of albumen agitated into a comically large 頂点（に達する）'
'The わずかに wet, granulated meringue' let Katrina 負かす／撃墜する, but the curd was '広大な／多数の／重要な' and the pastry 爆撃する 'would have the 裁判官s on Bake Off waxing rhapsodic'
I had high hopes for pudding: Sicilian Lemon Meringue Pie, my 砂漠 island dessert. The meringue wobbled promisingly; an 豊富 of albumen agitated into a comically large 頂点（に達する）. Tooth-tinglingly 甘い, the わずかに wet, granulated meringue let me 負かす／撃墜する, but not for 欠如（する） of grandeur. 支え（る）s, though, to a 広大な／多数の／重要な curd, and a pastry 爆撃する that would have the 裁判官s on Bake Off waxing rhapsodic.
I used to live with four teenaged boys - I know how important 部分 size can be to many. I’m not 匂いをかぐing at the notion of 供給するing an 豊富 of food, which is what one theoretically gets from Prezzo.
But if it’s value for money, it’s not really 申し込む／申し出ing that. The only truly unique selling point for Prezzo was that it was out of the house - there was nothing to the food that you couldn’t eat at home having （警察の）手入れ，急襲d 示すs and Spencer's 'Our Best Ever' 範囲.
The 法案 broken 負かす／撃墜する: Starter £9.25, main £17.95, dessert £8.50, £12.25 for 250ml ワイン and a £4.59 gratuity
PROS
Generous 部分s, plenty of 選択s, 本物の, friendly waitstaff.
CONS
Hefty price tag for 普通の／平均（する） food: it's a 広大な／多数の／重要な thought, 存在 able to 満足させる a whole family, but not if you have to remortgage the house to 料金d your brood spag bol.
星／主役にする 率ing: 2.5/5.?
Cost: Starter £9.25 / main £17.95 / dessert £8.50 / £12.25 for 250ml ワイン / £4.59 gratuity.
Total cost for food: £40.29.
