Restaurant on the river

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It is too cold to eat outside in winter, but in the summer the Galleria at the foot of Magdalene Bridge can be a perfect location.  We dined inside, and I began with Thai-spiced crab and prawn fritters with a sweet chili and lime dipping sauce and a sesame and soy dressed salad.  It was good, but not as spectacular as the main course I chose, which was grilled lemon sole fillet with chive puree potatoes and roasted fennel with a herb butter sauce.

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This was a first class piece of fish, beautifully done, soft and succulent.  The mash and fennel were good, too, as was the sauce.  After it there was no room for dessert, but when one of my companions ordered a Highland coffee, I gave into temptation and did the same.  It was lovely, with thick cream on top and a few coffee beans thrown in for flavour and contrast.

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For wine we drank a South African Broken Rock chenin blanc (12 percent). It had a distinctive golden yellow colour, and had a crisp fresh green fruit tang.  Afterwards we decided it was just warm enough to sit at one of the street tables, where two of us enjoyed H Upmann cigars while we finished off with cognac.