Aster Cafe Victoria

Aster sounded very good to me, a Finnish restaurant in the Nova centre, small plates, lingonberries, what’s not to like? Maybe it was my own fault for insisting on a set lunch menu that our first waitress knew nothing about but I am on maternity leave and the statutory only payments are looming large in my future. It can’t all be a la carte.

Let me start with the positives. They were delighted to have us and our buggy, no trouble at all. They have highchairs, there’s ample space and the restaurant is airy and light and tastefully decorated in a sort of Scandinavian chic. It’s very pretty.

Conversely, our menus took a long time to arrive. Then there was the kerfuffle with the set lunch. Then I had to enquire again about the wine included in the set lunch which I had not been offered. Then the meal took roughly an hour to arrive which surprised me as it was made up of predominantly of cold dishes. As I looked around, very few guests were eating. Many had laptops and appeared to be in business meetings.

The a la carte options at Aster may well be wonderful but the set lunch options were not so much. There was nothing remarkably bad about the meal apart from the time it took to arrive but unfortunately there was nothing remarkably good either.

What’s good? Try the a la carte, skip the set menu.

Kid friendly? Yes.

✔️  highchairs available

✔️ cool with breastfeeding

✖️ loads of other parents

✔️ space for buggies

✖️ kid’s menu

✖️ toys/play area

Rating ???

 

 

 

 

 

 

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