Bel and I spent an evening at City Social while I
was back, the aim being cram in as many Atherton restaurants as possible
in the 2 weeks. Not really, but we do love him.
This might be a really silly thing to say, but
there were a lot of suits in there. It really is in the City. Duh.
There was a minor kerfuffle when we dared to request the goats cheese
churros, from the bar menu, as we were sat in the
more formal restaurant (they both have the same air of formality
actually) but they let us in the end. They were brilliant. Less cheesy
than I expected with a sweet truffle honey dip (£6). Everything was
quite subtle, didn’t get much truffle flavor either.
For starter we shared the poached egg and
asparagus, and it was a really generous portion given that we’d asked
for it to be split. We thought they’d just given us 1 each actually.
Full list of components - Wye Valley asparagus salad,
parmesan sablé, soft poached hen’s egg, 2 year pecorino, bone marrow
crumbs (£14). Really lovely.
For main I had the Line-caught seabass (£32). I
surprised myself ordering this, it was the accompaniments of deep-fried
oyster, cauliflower, sea fennel and oyster velouté that swung it for
me. A girl at a neighbouring table leaned over
to ask me what I had ordered, it did look good. The fish was a
generous portion and I was really happy with my choice. Loved the deep
fried oyster especially.
For dessert we went for the custard tart (£8),
again to share, served with nutmeg and milk sorbet. There’s a hint of
bourbon somewhere in there too. The pastry was perfect, as you’d
expect. I remember seeing Marcus Wareing doing the
most incredible looking custard tart on the Great British Menu a few years
ago, and this one looked identical.
We moved into the bar after pud and had a few
cocktails. I hated one of them, it tasted like liquid smoke, not my cup
of tea at all and the barman offered to replace it with something far
more up my street. We were the last to leave and
we larked about in the foyer in some Dr Evil type chairs on the way
out. The toilets have the most amazing views across London, I lingered
in there a bit longer than one should. It’s that good.
This won’t ever replace Berner’s as my Atherton
fave, but the food is up to scratch, Atherton’s London take over
continues at pace, oh he is good.
Tower 42
25 Old Broad St
EC2N
8.5/10
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