Having dinner at the Escoffier Room in the Vincent Rooms is one of our pre-Christmas traditions. This year that did not work out though, and instead we went in January. The Escoffier is the smaller, slightly fancier dining room which offers tables for up to four people, there is also the larger Brasserie, which is also well worth going to, which will do tables for larger groups.

The Vincent Rooms is a restaurant of the Capital City College — where they train chefs. The meals and service are all done by the students (with suitable supervision). This has little effect on the dishes, but it does sometimes make for a more haphazard service. That is okay though, as we are now used to this, and students learn by doing these things.

The set menu comes in a normal and a meat-free version. Our menu was "A Taste of Italy". Neither of us chose the matching wine menu, it was a school night after all, and my companion was doing “dry January”. I did enjoy a glass with my starter and mains, whilst she opted for some sparkling water.

Our dinner started with beetroot gnocchi — which were nicely fried, slightly red, and had a hint of beetroot flavour. Then followed a minestrone, which was served with Parmesan cheese crumbs. This was my least favourite dish. I thought it was a little too sour, and the Parmesan did not add much, if at all.

After the starters, a piece of moist, but firm, roast Monkfish followed. This was served on a bed of creamed porcini mushrooms. I thought it worked well together, but my wife was less keen as she thought the mushrooms were overpowering. This was followed by the main course, a porchetta served with artichoke purée, crispy crackling, and some kale. I think this also fit well together, and I thought this was my favourite course of the meal.

For pudding, a Sicilian Cassata was served with biscotti, and some poached pears. The cassata was a bit odd, as we hadn't expected a savoury flavour as filling in-between the two sponge layers. A selection of six petit fours finished our dinner, which we enjoyed with a coffee for my wife, and a glass of port for myself.

Although we normally enjoy our meals in the Escoffier, this one was a little underwhelming, but it doesn’t put us off returning.