A few days London for work

So, I was in London for three days, for work. Wasn’t planning on writing a report here, so I don’t have a lot of pictures. But I’ve had a few good meals again, so just wanted to share this info.

One of my favourite restaurants in London is Barrafina, the Spanish tapas bar with a few branches across town, some of which (all?) have 1 Michelin star. I’ve been going here since their opening in 2006 I believe! And ever since I’ve been at Barrafina at least once a year. For the past few years, I have always picked the Adelaide Street branch, near Charing Cross station.

In all those years I’ve only had 2 subpar meals here, and this week was the second time. Just like the other time, a few years ago, they were too heavy handed with the seasoning. As a result, the quality of the ingredients was masked. I usually order from their daily specials, but as I came in at 8PM many of them were already sold out, like their razor clams and cardon salad. So, I ordered a grilled cabbage, a grilled john dory (whole fish, see pic) and some deep-fried baby squid (chipirones).

On their good days the food rivals that of very good tapas places in Spain, and the subpar meal puts them at the level of many regular tapas joints in Spain. Still good, just not excellent. Their kitchen staff also has quite a high turnover, I think. I always see new faces.

The next day I had lunch at Bread Street Kitchen, on South Place, near Liverpool Station. Right in the middle of The City, London’s financial district. I started with crab on toast, and had a California roll as a main. The crab was good, though the chef took the easy solution to make it taste good for most people, by adding dots of mayonnaise. Which I don’t necessarily like, but it was easy to eat around it, so no big deal in the end. The California roll was so so. Their menu has a mixture of British, Indian, European and then some Japanese items. Usually this isn’t a good sign, and it was the same here. I did not choose this place by the way. I had a meeting here, but it wasn’t particularly convenient because of the noise levels.

Dinner that day was at The City’s current hotspot The Ned. It’s a former bank building, and one of the most beautiful decors in London I’d say, certainly very impressive. The large building houses a collection of bars and restaurants, it’s completely open, and in the middle, there is a podium for live music. It’s a place where all the bankers and lawyers go for drinks after work, and it was completely packed on a Wednesday night. We started off with drinks in the main area. Cocktails are very good; I had three gin martini. Then we moved downstairs for dinner. At The Parlour. A smallish place, reminiscent of a cabaret club, with live jazz music and a lady singing classic songs. We were with a group of 5, and shared a big seafood platter to start. The quality was excellent: we had a big lobster, mussels, oysters and then we also shared a few plates of tuna tartare. For main I chose a Dover sole (whole pan fried flatfish). It was really delicious, very good quality of fish, and completely au natural, just butter and salt. The whole ambiance with the music is quite lovely.

On my final day I only had lunch, at Scott’s, London’s famous seafood restaurant in the tres chique neighbourhood of Mayfair. My first time. Lots of power lunchers there: from celebrities to people in finance and media. I was with a business relation, a regular luncher there, so I went along with his suggestions. As a starter I had very good grilled prawns off the shell, with chilli pepper and a very nice, creamy reddish sauce. As a main I picked a fillet of halibut with again prawns in a shellfish bisque. My table partner had a lovely dish of pieces of lobster in what looked like again a very nice sauce. It’s typical food for this kind of business people: very good but not outspoken in terms of flavours.

That’s it!

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Only one out of five locations have a star. Dean Street.

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It all sounds wonderful despite some of the sub-par food. I worked at biotechs/agencies with vigorous work lunch cultures and I miss it. Thanks for reporting back!

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In all fairness, ‘sub par’ means different things to different people… The food was very good, I’m just (overly) critical I guess.

I think my short trip showcases again what I often find in London: there are just so many good places. To the point where you’d want to venture out away from the obvious names (like Barrafina).

As for Scott’s. It was my first time there, and I didn’t even look at the menu closely. So, I cannot make a fair judgement on this one occasion. And still the quality of the food was miles above most ‘seen and be seen’ places, even in London.

The one thing that I didn’t mention is pricing. Of course these aren’t cheap places. I’d say pricing would be comparable to what I’ve seen in the US. For example, the one place where I picked up the tab myself was Barrafina, and I paid 91 pounds sterling for 1 person. So, the three dishes mentioned, 3 (4?) beers, and a mandatory 15% service charge.

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