Brigade Bar & Bistro: London Bridge, London

Brigade Bar & Bistro

Date of Visit: 17^th October 2013

Ambience

We arrived at the restaurant at 18:15 and the bar area (just as you enter the main entrance) was already busy and rather noisy.  The noise did travel to the dining area but it was bearable.

The chairs were old and tired (some well so knackered that you “fall into” your seat).  Décor wasn’t anything outstanding and the place could do with a little revamp but otherwise the atmosphere was lively and it seemed quite popular as a drinking venue.

The restaurant had an open kitchen which is quite reassuring - since everything is on show, I would imagine the hygiene levels/cleanliness to be better.

Another observation is the lavatories are miles away from the restaurant/bar (a few flights of stairs/hallways).

Food

We skipped starters and went straight onto mains which I had trouble choosing between ravioli or a burger.  In the end, I opted for the lobster and salmon ravioli which was small enough to be a starter.  It was literally medium sized ravioli filled with lobster meat and salmon.  Needless to say I wasn’t full from it so I had to go for desserts to end the meal.  There wasn’t much flavour to the dish but it didn’t need much flavour as it allowed the seafood flavour to shine through.

For dessert, I opted for a bakewell tart which was served with clotted cream ice cream.  I thought it had too much raspberry jam/compote inside the tart as it wasn’t deep enough; therefore every bite contained half of the raspberry filling which meant it overpowered the almondy cake texture/flavour.  However, a nice brew made up for it (they serve tea pig tea here) =)

Service

Service was generally fine but the wait between main course and dessert was noticeably long and I had to chase it up as my tea was getting cold.  After the chase up, the dessert arrived straight away.

The bill paying process was also a tad slow since the whole restaurant only had one credit card terminal which we had to wait for another couple of tables to finish using it first.

Summary

Overall, the food was ok but really nothing special and I would probably say the same for the whole experience.  One word: mediocre!