A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be treated to a date night with Jack to Berners Tavern. We had meant to go a few months ago, but when our reservation came round I'd had an allergic reaction and was feeling very sorry for myself and was struggling to eat. So we re-booked and went on a Saturday night.
For those who have not heard of Berners Tavern it is a stunning restaurant attached to the London Edition Hotel in Soho and is Led by Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton. It has become one of London’s most sought-after restaurant reservations, famous for a space that marries historical charm with modern sophistication, it offers all-day dining with a menu of seasonal, contemporary British cuisine - also known as a bloody nice place.
We had a 5pm reservation (as we are really oldies at heart and don’t like being out too late) and had booked through Opentable we had a confirmation call a few days before our booking which made a nice touch. When we arrived I was blown away by the impressiveness of the restaurant, there were these incredibly detailed and intricate high ceilings, with the walls covered in paintings and art work it was really a sight to behold and so much to look at.
We were taken to our seats, our coats were taken and menus brought over. We were then brought the Champaign trolley (I need one of these in every restaurant I go to!) and were offered a ranges of glasses of bubbly. We had a glass each of a very delicious Brut while we perused the menu. We both ordered some cocktails, I had the Rum crumble which comprised of rum, apple sherbet, biscuit foam, gingerbread bitter, rum and apple sherbet mixed with spiced biscuit foam. This has got to have been the best tasting cocktail I have ever had it also looked impressive. Jack went for the loggers camp, which comprised of whiskey, blueberry shrub, grape must verjuice, cranberry, bacon flavours and berries, and again this was so delicious.
Onto our meals, for starters I had the Pork Pie, which came out as a whole log where the waiter cut off a slice and then dressed it with an assortment of pickles and condiments to make it possibly the best dressed pork pie I have ever seen. Jack chose the beef tartar and they were both delicious, and came out in a good amount of time. The pork pie was so tasty with such a good quality pork used and a lovely pasty (there was not a soggy bottom in sight). Jacks Beef Tartar was a lovely rich, rare beef complemented by hazelnuts and horseradish. Once we had finished the table was cleared promptly.
For mains Jack chose the Mac and Cheese with the Beef Blade. This came out looking huge, there was so much tender beef and the mac and cheese used big pasta with such a creamy cheese sauce! It was comfort food heaven! I went for the Highland Partridge which was so beautifully presented. The meat was so flavourful and the bacon ragout made such a difference to the meal. It was super tasty and we cleared our plates in no time. I always think the mains is a good place to discuss the service. The service we received was top notch every waiter was so nice, polite and attentive, all smart and uniformed, but also not rushing us or being too present it was the perfect balance.
Finally onto desert we decided to share and have the chocolate and hazelnut flaming Alaska which was more than just a desert. This was a show in itself. The waiter came out with all the ingredients, Poured the flaming alcohol onto the Alaska before pouring on the crumble and custard. Now this was incredible. I have always been a dessert person, but this was another level. It was like every little aspect added to the overall experience with the crumble being a particular favourite of mine. We managed to polish the dessert off pretty quickly. With dessert we ordered the recommended desert wine each and these were very nice, not too sweet and perfectly complimented the desert a great recommendation.
Now onto the final aspect of our experience, the bill. This is an expensive place to eat and we were aware of this before booking so it wasn’t a shock when the bill came. of course a few pounds cheaper and it would have been a whole lot more enjoyable, but this is the kind of restaurant that unless you are some kind of millionaire a visit is likely to be a planned occasion so you will be aware of the price range. You are also paying for so much more than just the food and for the whole experience the price was worth it. Despite that though the whole evening was very delightful and I would highly recommend a visit to Berners tavern to anyone and we would love another visit sometime in the future.
Have you ever been to Berners Tavern? Let me know your favourite London restaurants as we are always looking for new places to try. And would love to hear some of your recommendations.
Make sure you are following this blog for a new post every day during November at 10am, you can follow by subscription or follow me on bloglovin. You can also keep up to date with what I’m up to over on my twitter and Instagram profiles, or if you fancy come and chat over on my Facebook page.
Until next time
Emma Jayne
xxx
1 comment
Rules Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in London having been opened in 1798. It is on Maiden lane (Covent Garden) and serves a range of traditional British cuisine and game. It has a strong claim to fame having a staring role in Downton abbey and James Bond Spectre! (How exciting!). I was lucky enough to be taken here for my 25th birthday meal and was so impressed I just had to write a little blog post review about our time there.
We booked a table for 2 about 2 weeks before our visit on the 30th March and even then they were nearly fully booked so we had to have an early dinner at 5pm, this was perfect for us as we wanted an earlier meal so wasn’t an issue, but of you are hoping to eat a little later I would suggest booking even more in advance.
When we arrived it was lovely, there was a very smart and kind doormen to let us in and then the host greeted us and took us to our table. We were sat in a corner by the window, a lovely table and I was immediately in awe by the décor. Now the rules interior won’t be to everyone’s tastes but as someone who is a fan of the National Trust and tradition I LOVED it! There were an array of impressive deer heads and antlers, multiple photos as well as huge silver trophies and a beautiful ornate mirror. Everything is a deep dark red with very traditional patterns.
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| The Interior |
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| The Menu while we were at Rules |
Once we were seated we both ordered a cocktail (special occasion and all), I had the Kate Middleton’s ‘Royal 29’ a very strong Gin and vodka based drink while Jack had a Black velvet served in a silver tankard – a nice extra touch! The waiting staff were all really nice, friendly and very professional and were on hand at any moment. We ordered fairly quickly and everything came out promptly and we didn’t feel that we had to wait particularly long for anything.
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| Kate Middleton's 'Royal 29' |
To start, we had an oyster each which were great! – I have only ever had one before and this was a significant improvement! I then also had the Duck Rillette, a pate style starter while Jack had the Sea Trout Gravadlax special. Both were so flavoursome and very much enjoyed!
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| Duck Rillette |
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| Sea Trout Gravadlax |
Now to mains, I wanted to have something a little different so went for the Rabbit leg while Jack stuck with the seafood theme and chose the seared Diver Scallops. Both were again delicious and I can honestly say there was so much flavour in the rabbit dish that I was so impressed by it – I would highly recommend this if you ever get the chance to go. With our mains we also decided to have some wine and went for the Volnay 1er Cru Robardelle, a very smooth fruity red. We really liked that there was the option to have certain wines by jug as a bottle can sometimes be a bit much!
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| Seared Diver Scallops |
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| Rabbit Leg |
Now onto the dessert we both had the Chocolate Tart with Vanilla Brulee Centre and this was honestly a showstopper! There was GOLD on it! GOLD!!!! Not only did it look amazing it was delicious too! While on the topic of dessert as we had already gone all out we thought hey let’s get some dessert wine, so we did! I had a glass of the Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas and Jack had a glass of the Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos Patricius and this has got to have been the only thing in the whole evening that I got a little bit of food envy for - after trying both wines I did prefer the one Jack had picked, it was slightly sweeter, lighter and tasted like melted honey, much more up my street than the darker one I had picked – but don’t get me wrong they were both delicious!!
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| Chocolate Tart With Vanilla Brulee Centre |
Now We have talked about the food I wanted to quickly chat a little about the atmosphere as it was really relaxing and calm, the other patrons were of a variety of business men and friends catching up over dinner, so we did not feel out of place. I did notice that we were some of the youngest in there, however this didn’t make any difference, it was just something that I did notice.
Once we had finished it was time to pay, and this is my only little warning about Rules, we knew the price range going into this meal so were not surprised that a 4 course meal with cocktails and wine (and the gratuity charge) came to £250. So this is an expensive place to eat, however we had a lovely time celebrating my 25th birthday and I could not recommend Rules highly enough for a special occasion or as a more luxurious place to eat. We would love to return to Rules in Grouse season as neither of us have ever tried Grouse. Rules have their Grouse season from August - December so I'm sure we will find an occasion to visit during this time as we really enjoyed our visit.
You can book a table online on the Rules website or by calling +44 (0)20 7836 5314.
Let me know your thoughts on Rules in the comments below. Have you ever eaten at Rules? What would you order? Also let me know your favourite restaurants in London, I am always looking for new places to try.
Make sure you are following this blog for a new post every Monday 10am, you can follow by subscription (put your email in the box on the left hand side) or follow me on bloglovin. You can also keep up to date with what I’m up to over on my twitter and Instagram profiles, or if you fancy come and chat over on my (new) Facebook page.
Until next time
Emma Jayne
xxx
Yum yum yum yum yum!! <- That’s it! That is all I
have to say! Post over!
OK I will elaborate a bit more! Burger and Lobster
have recently opened a new restaurant in West India Quay/Canary Wharf which
just happens to be nice and local for us. So on a lovely sunny Sunday, Jack and
I decided to head over and try it out. We were seated straight away in the
non-smoking outdoor area (exactly where we wanted) and left to ponder the
menus.
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| The Menu |
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| The outdoor bar menu |
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| Of course I HAD to get a Pina Colada! (My Fave!!) |
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| Donning the bib! |
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| The Canary Wharf Combo |
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| The Beast Burger |
Now this was not a cheap meal. In total it came to
around £80. Jack was already aware of the price range that burger and lobster
sat in so we weren’t too surprised and it was a really lovely setting, with friendly
staff and super tasteful food to justify it. That being said it may be more of
an occasional visit and not your weekly outing due to the price tag (unless you
are rolling in it!). I would love to go back to burger and lobster, though maybe
the little burger (with cheese and bacon!) would be enough for me to keep the
portions and price down.
Overall I was very
impressed and would recommend it to anyone who likes that kind of food. Let me
know your thoughts on Burger and Lobster. Also let me know your favourite
places to eat so I can check them out too!
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Lots of love
Emma Jayne
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