This place has an amazing buzz about it. I went with two friends on a Thursday evening after work and we arrived a little early thinking we could have drinks first on the roof terrace. We went into the shopping centre to be greeted by a long queue waiting to go up; we weren’t the only ones with that idea.

An hour later we came back and went up to the terrace; it was heaving and the ambience was great. I felt very much “in the action”.

The view is pretty spectacular – see photo below.

The restaurant is inside but the big windows remind you that you’re high up and it’s summer. Cocktails are lovely – I had a strawberry cocktail called Angel Lips (I ordered it mostly for the name) and it was delightful, the type of drink that makes you feel like you’re in the Caribbean.

Food:

To start I had Salt Cod Croquettes – they were tasty. Perhaps they could have been teamed up with something a little more interesting (there was only a tomato based sauce).

For main I had pappardelle with zuccini, mint and panne granato (parmesan). I wasn’t impressed. It was pretty small. You could argue that I’m displaying gluttony here, but my fellow diners agreed that it was more of a side dish portion size. It didn’t taste great either. And it looked horrible; it was entirely green. I had imagined a colourful plate of non-green pappardelle with fresh zuccini dotted with shavings of parmesan. It was just all green and the zuccini was burnt. Oh and there was no panne granato! I had to ask for it.

Both friends ordered the fish and chips – I tried a little of the fish and it was good.

For dessert we shared a rhubarb pannecotta, chocolate sundae and tropical fruit salad. The pannecotta was OK, nothing to write home about. The chocolate sundae very much the same and the tropical fruit salad was basically this in a bowl:

It was my favourite dessert, I’m not dissing Del Monte, I just didn’t need to pay 10 times the amount I would have paid for the tin.

In conclusion:

Go to Madison for the view, drinks and buzz. Order something staple such as fish and chips or a burger. Don’t get dessert.