Bibendum Restaurant (South Kensington)

• The Restaurant is located in one of London's most interesting buildings the Michelin Building
• The food style is more comfort than cutting edge
• We enjoyed the very reasonable 3 course menu du jour the food was well executed
• Luxurious but not pretentious' we found it so hard to choose from the lovely menu which isn't all fishy for those belonging to the 'fish are friends not food' school of thought
• We started with the wafer thin parma ham and fennel salami on buttered sourdough toast with cornichons
• 6 each these were terribly moreish and so effortlessly tasty without spoiling the main affair of prawns sauteed with sherry
• A simple but utterly mouthwatering dish of six perfect prawns with enough sauce to be mopped up with lashings of fresh bread
• The manager questioned my decision and was overtly rude
• He argued that it was common practice not to serve a freshly cooked dish in such an incident
• It only takes a couple of unfortunate illness/power cut events combined with a dearth of new experiences elsewhere to make these pages look
• MeatLiquor and the other Top 100 (pluggy plug plug) are stronger than ever
• The idea (I think) is that it will keep a database of high end or oversubscribed restaurants with last minute availability
• It's early days (the app is still in soft launch mode) but it's already quite a fun way of booking a meal
• Settling into the plush dining room of what is surely one of the more beautiful dining spaces in London
• Michelin House is an Art Nouveau masterpiece
• Stunning outside and in with its handpainted tiling
• Downstairs is the newly refurbished Oyster Bar in the cavernous (and rather chilly) main hall
• 31 for 3 courses) but with thankfully just enough interesting sounding dishes scattered amongst the usual mid high end cliché
• Haddock and chips with tartare sauce
• House bread was from Sally Clarke and was a gorgeous baguette still warm from the oven
• Bibendum himself in what was once presumably an ashtray
• Fennel soup was comforting and had a good light texture even if it was slightly underseasoned
• Came with a couple of crunchy slices of anchovy toast which were incredibly moreish
• The other starter was this generous fillet of brill
• Firm and relatively flavoursome in a creamy sauce that was again perhaps slightly underpowered but still enjoyable
• Apparently) was the more successful
• The fish was absolutely stunningly white and split apart into moist flakes with only the most gentle of persuasion
• The whole thing was spoiled slightly by an incredibly powerful bitter orange sauce
• On the side was a little layered potato fondant thing
• White chocolate fondant inside layers of biscuit is only a millefuille if a bungalow is a duplex
• There were bits that were less than perfect
• Whereas at the time it was all just so much
• Certainly that had something to do with the service
• 130 for two is punchy perhaps
• The ground floor is a casual oyster bar didn't look very comfy with stone floor so I went upstairs to the smarter restaurant
• It has a lovely ambience with smart clientele
• I had six oysters for starter followed by the sea bass which came with gnocchi and a bed of marinated peppers
• The sommelier was very knowledgeable
• This experience by any measure was poor for the following reasons
• Olives never appear until asked for with main course3
• In fact dogs are allowed inside as well
• Table behind us are obviously old colleagues
• They spend the hour I am there with two empty externally bought plastic coffee cups chatting to any member of staff they can get hold of
• One of the waiters on finishing joins his ex comrades in the restaurant area (who are covered in blankets like homeless people) and proceeds to chat further with them
• I refuse service with explanation that this feels more like a café
• Bill comes back with only service removed
• Rouge or local Lebanese is far better value
• Try their steak au poivre which is always on the menu
• Overall value is reasonable
• I booked Bibendum Restaurant (South Kensington) without realising they have been awarded with 2 stars by the Michelin
• What on earth is duck jelly

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