The Foyer

Bridge Street, Aberdeen

visited 22/10/11


The Foyer is an admirable place—not only is it a venture by a homelessness charity in Aberdeen, but the food is great too. It’s in a former church, rather randomly converted but with lots of space between tables. I came with a party of about 16 which they dealt with admirably, if slightly slowly. The food is both simple and ambitious—well chosen, seasonal (on the whole) ingredients with clean, direct flavours but quite a number of different elements on the plate. To be honest, they could cut down on the complex dishes, as it allows slight mistakes to creep in, but this may have been an effect of our large party.

I had a ham hock salad with pancetta, pea shoots, and apple jelly. The pancetta was a little unnecessary and the salad slightly underdressed but no real complaints—these were lovely flavours and some quite excellent bread was handed round. Next I had hake, with a chorizo risotto, crab cake, and asparagus (the latter surprising well flavoured for what must have been air-freighted, despite the restaurant’s seasonal credentials). This dish was a risky one to order in a party of 16 but it was very decent—all my minor criticisms of the timings of the elements are unlikely to arise if you book a table for two. I also tried a well-made risotto ai funghi and had good reports of the steak

Portions are very generous, leaving no room for pudding. Good espresso, nondescript house wines. In general I really liked this place and am looking forward to a second visit.