One Lombard Street: Eat, drink and be merry in the City

ONE LOMBARD STREET restaurant in the City of London, with its Michelin star and dramatic former banking hall interior, tickles our editor’s tastebuds with its Festive Season menu.

Much as I adore the traditional Christmas meal, it can be overwhelming, so it was with great delight that I found that the Michelin-star One Lombard Street restaurant, in the City of London, is offering a special Festive Season dinner menu. My tastebuds were suitably amused by the celeriac and apple veloute with warm truffle oil. Then came the starter, a delicious warm salad of caramelised scallop and John Dory, Jerusalem artichoke and pomegranate seeds, ginger, curry and lime vinaigrette. Don’t think curry, think delicate flavours that enhance and don’t overwhelm the seafood. As a nice change from turkey, the more traditional goose followed: a confit with seared foie gras and stuffing, glazed winter vegetables and chestnuts, black winter truffle sauce. Seriously tasty. Followed by a palette cleansing clementine and mint granita. Normally the thought of Christmas pud in any form is too much for all but the most ardent Christmas foodie at this stage of a Christmas dinner but, because of the perfectly sized portions so far, we’re still up for it and the Christmas pudding souffle, vanilla ice cream, brandy butter makes the perfect conclusion to this delicious meal. 

This former banking hall, right across from Bank underground station in the City, has a fabulous grade II listed neo-classical interior, with domed skylights by Pietro Agostini, under which is a circular bar. There’s a brasserie in the main banking hall and a separate, more formal restaurant at the back. If you’ve got any space in your festive season diary or are visiting London for Christmas shopping (and fitting in a visit to the nearby Tower of London, too), One Lombard Street’s Michelin-style Christmas cuisine, with its more delicate portions, is definitely the way forward. Tel: (020) 7929 6611.