Vivat Bacchus

Walked past this place plenty of times, but never paid much attention to it.

Food

I had one piece of Raisin bread and one of White bread, which were both fresh and fine tasting, but they never offered to fill up any more. I was amazed that they actually brought out an amuse for us. The Chicken and Mushroom Broth, I would describe as more interesting than tasty. Interesting in the fact that the meat and broth came separately, and you had to pour the broth over the chicken and mushroom to eat.

The entrees were definitely more promising though. Crocodile Spring Rolls (£6.95) - Oriental Vegetables, Sweet Chilli Sauce, off the a la carte menu, was very Asian tasting. I am not sure how much the crocodile meat adds to the spring roll, but the skin was crisp, the vegetables still retained a crunch and flavour, and the sauce was excellent. The set menu’s Vanilla and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup was well executed but not very exciting. Mains were even better than the entrees, the Honey Roast Crisp Pork Belly (£14.95) – caramelised apple and cider jus off the a la carte was excellent. Really succulent, melt in the mouth pork belly, nice crispy skin, nicely caramelised apples. Simple things done well. The Roast Red Bream with Salsa Verde and Sushi Rice off the set menu was better than expected too. True, it suffered the usual fish in the UK problem, however, I found bream much more agreeable than the old seabass. No idea what the point of the sushi rice was, which in my opinion, did nothing for the dish.

Desserts though, was the best of the lot. Crème Brulee with Chives Tea, from the set menu, was very inventive. The subtle tea flavour cutting the richness of the very creamy indeed crème brulee. Chocolate Fondant (£5.00) - Hazelnut Semifredo really oozed out with dark, molten chocolate. The hazelnut semifreddo was light on the hazelnut, but creamy and light enough to eat with the fondant.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

The upstairs bar was packed out with office workers and very noisy. The restaurant downstairs though was quieter, and decked out with wine memorabilia. I was impressed that they have a very impressive looking, well, the clear glass enclosure ensured that you get cheese envy.

Rating - 1.5

Service

It was very nice for them to walk me to the restaurant itself, which is separate from the upstairs bar area. I was also surprised that we were given amuse to start with. The service was mostly excellent and professional in manner, except for the fact that they kept placing the wrong order in front of us and had to do the switcharoo a couple of times.

Rating - 3

C-factor

The set menu, at £19.95 for 3 courses, was very good value, however, choices were very limited. The a la carte menu was not outrageous, but costs considerable more.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

47 Farringdon Street
London
EC4A 4LL
Phone +44 (0) 20 7353 2648
Website