Date of visit: May 2021
Angler is the restaurant at the top of the South Place Hotel between Moorgate and Liverpool Street Station so a great spot for a work meal - or any other meal as my review will reveal! I actually visited Angler quite recently before this meal and it was sensational so I booked a quick return. This was the first proper date night with my boyfriend once indoor dining reopened.
They usually serve an a la carte but I think for now they were keeping it to the tasting menu, priced at £100 for 7 courses plus other bits and bobs. The name Angler is probably a giveaway that the focus here is on seafood but the tasting menu did have one meat course.
The wine list is fairly short but they happened to have our favourite champagne by the glass, Arteis, so we started with a glass of that. We then had a bottle of Macon Villages with the meal. I don’t think there is an option for paired wines but that works for us as we prefer ordering individual glasses or a bottle anyway. There are a few affordable wines on the menu below £40.
The Bread and Butter
The bread was a stout bread I believe, fairly simple but a good example of simple done well. The butter was unusual; caramelised yeast and malt. Probably the only butter I have tasted quite like this, with an interesting tang.
The Menu
This menu was really long - all the extra bits you would expect are included here so a really fun experience.
It started off with some pre-canapé snacks - some sort of cheese filled choux pastry. My boyfriend doesn’t like cheese so had olives instead. Next up was the full round of canapés which consisted of a small fine tart with some blobs of purées, a prawn and squid ink cracker with the obligatory taramasalata and a little deep fried cube of pork with apple purée. All were lovely, I’m not sure which was my favourite; probably the tart, but I always enjoy taramasalata and crisps!
The first full course was a sea bass tartare served with oyster cream and apple, which was very similar to the tartare I had the night before at Murano. I think I preferred this one.
Next up was crab with avocado, wasabi and lime. Another lovely fresh dish. The sorbet was really the star of this dish for me actually - masses of flavour and went so well with the creamy crab mix.
The third fish course was roast scallop with garlic purée and a pomegranate dressing. This was the star of the show for me - the scallop was perfectly cooked inside with a lovely caramelised crisp on the outside.
The final fish course was cod with squid, cauliflower and morels. This wasn’t served with a sauce other than the slight drizzle you see on the plate which wasn’t quite enough for me. The fish was perfectly cooked and the cauliflower purée helped bring things together without more sauce.
The last savoury course and the only meat course was veal cheeks with creamed potato. I don’t really like cheek - for some reason it doesn’t sit will with my stomach perhaps due to the fattiness. I have the same issue with pork belly and foie gras. So this was my least favourite dish of the night - I would have preferred a lean cut of meat.
Next was a pre desert with another delicious sorbet, this time raspberry, served with a mascarpone mousse.
For the full desert there was a choice of a Black Forest chocolate tarte with cherry blossom ice cream or yoghurt and honey - this was a bit like pana cotta. We were recommended to order both and share which we did. I would say the tarte was the better dish but it is one of the best chocolate tartes I have ever had. The pastry chef is skilled indeed!
To finish the meal we were served 3 little treats. one was a miso caramel which absolutely would not need to be any larger as it was super intense, but not too intense given its size. Sometimes miso based sweet dishes are just overwhelming but not the case with this. There was a raspberry and thyme jelly and a strawberry white chocolate bonbon which was my favourite of the three.
The Service
The service here is really good, in particular the sommelier who was attentive and gave some good advice this time and also the last time I visited. We ate on the terrace, which is a great spot but the restaurant is beautiful everywhere.
Scoring
Bread and butter: 4/5
A good bread, but not quite good enough to earn 5/5 without another type of bread.
Food: 4/5
A solid 4, with mostly great dishes but just a couple that could be improved (the cod course could use more sauce and the veal cheeks which is a personal preference really).
Service: 4/5
Really good service but not as great as some of the restaurants where you have lots and lots of servers.
Value for money: 4/5
There are lots of things going on here with extras and at a good price for the food, probably about what you would expect given the quality. The ingredients were not especially lavish.
Overall score: 4/5
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