The 1st of August marks my wedding anniversary,
this year it was our second year of marriage that we were celebrating. What
better way to reminisce on our Scottish wedding than with a visit to a Scottish
restaurant?
I booked a table at Boisedale of Canary Wharf months ago, not because you need to
but because I am that organised (and I got chatting to a man that was promoting
the restaurant in the Excel Exhibition Centre when I was visiting the Grand
Designs show in May).
The restaurant itself is rather majestic in its location and
setting. The vibrant red walls, tartan carpet and eclectic mix of furniture and
art work make for great surroundings. The female waiting staff wear kilt style
skirts, but much to my disappointment the men are in trousers. The menus are in
a Rennie MacKintosh reminiscent font, and the ‘Ode to a Haggis’ is printed on
the menu, with other little quirks and quotes throughout which make it feel
that bit more Scottish.
Renowned for its Whisky selection, the inventory of bottles
behind the bar should be viewed with awe, and really I do not know how anyone
can ever make a choice with such a selection on hand. The whisky list comprises
of over 40 pages and really is a sterling selection, with over 7 varieties of
Rosebank – distilled in the town where my family were drug up in Scotland and
hard to get your hands on! The piece de résistance has to be a Macallan at over
£1300 a measure…
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| Boisedale interiors |
We stopped off in the bar downstairs for a pre-dinner drink,
Pinot for him a Georgia Mint Julep for me. The downstairs area is somewhat more
relaxed than the main restaurant, as it is a ‘bar and grill’ with an oyster bar
and seafood prominence. We soon got uncomfortably hot, what with being sat by
the windows and the sun streaming in (there was a ‘beach party’ on the terrace
so for our own privacy we stayed inside) and it seemed there was no air
conditioning circulating. We made our way upstairs and took our seats near the
window (after requesting not to be at
the window to avoid the whole too hot to eat, sweaty and stuck to the leather seat
scenario).
So let’s get to the food; I passed on having a starter to
allow for a calorific dessert however Hubski opted for the Wester Ross Scottish
Salmon Gravadlax though wasn’t keen on the cold poached egg, which I happily relieved
from his plate. We both went for steaks as mains, 14oz sirloin on the bone for
me and 10-12oz fillet on the bone for him. The ‘Special Meat’ of the day was a
1kg porterhouse on the bone, which we were shown raw on a chopping board, even
with my repertoire for devouring steak it would have been a tad too much for
two, but at £74 would have been a value for money option for a party of say 4
people.
I come from a family of meat lovers, and if there is one
thing we are good at it is eating steak. I take mine medium, closer to rare
than well, which to me means a nice shade of pink in the middle and a bit of juiciness.
Whilst I had the colouring in my sirloin I did find it a tad dry (even with my café
de Paris butter on top), however it wasn’t to the point of not being edible and
my anticipation and appetite meant I had no problem getting through it.
I never toot about side dishes but the hispi cabbage,
chorizo and caraway seeds was delicious, as was the broccoli with lemon and
toasted almonds, and may even try making them at home.
The real indulgence was the desserts, I chose the chocolate
and peanut butter parfait with peanut brittle and he went for sticky toffee
pudding with clotted cream. For me it was borderline sickly in an ‘I can’t stop
eating it way’ and I quickly recovered so no harm done, other than to my
waistline. Naturally I washed this all down with a celebratory glass of champagne,
and him a glass of Malbec.
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| Elements of my meal |
Whilst there are elements of silver service, it is not
entirely so and there seems to be an element of waiting staff trying to be
informal but being formal at the same time which works for some but makes
others a little rigid. There were several larger parties seated at a similar
times to us and the clockwork for the staff serving caused a little confusion
but nothing to really write home about. Though I must admit, for me, having
used empty glasses left of the table for the duration was a little annoying but
there’s my pinch of salt.
The damage came in at just under £150 for the two of us, that’s
for 2 glasses of wine, a bottle of water, a glass of champagne, 1 starter, 2
steaks, 3 sides, 2 desserts and service. To us, not unreasonable given that it
was a special occasion and is what you would expect from this calibre of
restaurant in London.
In terms of my fork scoring I am going to award Boisedale of
Canary Wharf with 3 forks. I can’t put my finger on why, I am just not
ravenously keen to get back there, and whilst yes I would recommend it and may
well suggest a family meal there in future I don’t think I will be a regular in
the restaurant, the bar on the other hand I can see myself frequenting for a
dram or two.
Kx
