Giraffe is now a medium sized restaurant chain with 46 restaurants in the UK. It has a reputation for selling fairly healthy food though it is a bit expensive.
Myself and miss s decided to take advantage of an offer giving us 40 percent off our food bill and we also got half priced wine as well. My over all verdict on the food here is that the portions are quite generous though the menu was a little unimaginative and I would not want to pay the full price for the food.
As usual with Westfield Stratford restaurants, the atmosphere is far from intimate. It feels and sounds as though you are eating in a walled off area in a shopping centre which is true but places like Kings Cross station do a better job of allowing units to create their own atmosphere.
for starters then I had olives which were fairly plain but good quality. and I had them with a barbecue duck tostada which was duck in orange sauce with salad in a crispy tortilla a bit like a taco. this was tasty though I thought there was not much duck.
Miss s had something called Pot Stickers which were essentially Chinese style chicken dumplings. I didn't try these but she said they were tasty.
For mains I had baby back ribs with skin on fries and crunchy coleslaw. the baby back ribs were nice and tender and smothered in barbecue sauce. they were messy but the meat fell easily off the bones. The fries were crispy but there was no skin in evidence and I can't say whether they were frozen or not. generally I like fries thicker than these were though the fact that they were properly cooked meant that I didn't mind them. the coleslaw was a real disappointment though. It was just salad with a bit of extra cabbage in vinegar. no mayo or anything to make it creamy!
Miss s had chicken with garlic in parmesan breadcrumbs (posh chicken Kiev basically) served with mash. she said she quite liked this though she was not keen on the mash as it tasted instant. I didn't try it so can't say.
Miss s still felt hungry so she had a BBQ Chicken & Smoked Cheddar Quesadilla which came with salad and some of that horrible crunchy coleslaw which as I have already said was particularly grim.
Miss s did not have a dessert but she had a cointreau hot chocolate instead. I had the frozen vanilla yogurt which tasted more of yogurt than vanilla though it was acceptable. I wish I’d gone for the fruit sorbet instead.
I finished off with a cointreau hot chocolate myself and miss s had 2 of them.
Over all the food was reasonable, with a few exceptions. the menu is not extensive but it seems that most dishes are cooked quite well. without the food discount it would have cost over £45 each and while the quality of the food was pretty good, it was not mind blowing and at full price it would have been rather expensive. given the helpful nature of the staff, I give this restaurant a 6 out of 10.
I can see no reason not to eat here unless coleslaw is important to you, though given the price tag it's not a place to go on a tight budget.
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