Ego is a small national chain of restaurants in pubs. And we’ve been to their outlets a couple of times before. The food is pan-Mediterranean, so expect paella to sit happily on the menu next to pizza and pork fillet wrapped in prosciutto. It’s all OK but it will never be as good as the dish you ate while you were on hols in the Med.
Coquilles St Jacques is one such example. Yes, it’s served on the scallop shell and, yes, there’s a nice cheese sauce. But instead of big juicy scallops, there’s king prawns and chopped up bits of scallop. That was followed by a sirloin steak, cooked accurately as requested. It came with a lovely confit tomato, not so lovely soggy onion rings, undressed salad (the server quickly brought dressing when asked) and nice crisp fries.
Strips of squid had been floured and fried to a nice crisp. They needed nothing more than a squeeze of lemon and the garlicky aioli for dunking. A chicken and chorizo kebab was fine, with chunks of onion, peppers and courgette contributing to the “five a day”. Yoghurt and mint was ideal as a sauce and there were a couple of tortillas for a carb.
