Bloomsbury St. Bar & Restaurant

Before reviewing Bloomsbury St. Restaurant, I’ve never heard of it before and found out the reason why.

Dimly lit, the long narrow restaurant is dark with loud percussion music playing in the background. Although the furniture and design are chic the room somehow lacks personality. Tall and wide leather doors unsuccessfully hide carvery and buffet stations, no doubt used on Sundays to please the public with a roast meal. What a waste of space it is the rest of the week.

The bartender was heavy handed with the rum and mint which made for one failed mojito.

All starters were beautifully presented. The crispy skinned home-salted cod (£8.50), paired with cauliflower puree and vanilla oil, was a winner as well as the marinated fillet of beef served with horseradish rosti and mushroom cream (£9.50). At £14.50 I found the duck platter (smoked duck breast, duck confit, seared foie gras, duck liver parfait and fig chutney) to be overpriced for the quantity served.

What could have easily been mistaken for chicken, the roast pheasant (with braised red cabbage, black pudding, chestnuts, game jus and gratin dauphinoise, £16.00) was dry and unremarkable. Stickily sweet caramelised onions could unfortunately not save the overcooked tower of calves liver (£14.50), which got stuck in the gullet when eaten. Surprisingly, the simple prepared roast rump of lamb (with courgettes, artichokes and thyme with slow roast tomatoes, £17.50) was the best of the main courses.

Although the creamed spinach (£3.50) was pleasant albeit standard, there was nothing roasted about the “roast” root vegetables (£3.50). With no brown edges that could be discerned and with a crunch in the bite the unsweet vegetables could have definitely done for longer in the oven.

What a shame that no one could tell us where the cheese had been sourced from but the upside was that the platter (£8.50) was very generous.

Rum and raisin ice cream that came with the spiced pear (£6.00) didn’t live up to its name although the fruit itself was pleasant enough. My apple and blackberry tarte tatin (£6.00) lacked the wow factor due to the fact that its base was super soggy. Bummer.

P.S. Want to hear another’s point of view? Check out what Sarah from Maison Cupcake wrote in her review.

Bloomsbury St. Bar & Restaurant
Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel
9-13 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3QD
Website
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