Cozy Up at The Corner Room at London's Town Hall Hotel

January 17, 2012 at 2:30 PM | by Heidi Atwal | Comments (0)

Sexy environs at The Corner Room at Town Hall Hotel

Nuno Mendes' culinary "street cred" comes from stints at Jean Georges and El Bulli. As one of London's foremost chefs, he's turned Viajante at the Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel into a destination for discerning diners.

Last year, Mendes opened a sister restaurant at the hotel, a less-expensive and more casual alternative to Viajante's Michelin-starred environs. Despite its comparative modesty, The Corner Room has stirred up considerable talk among buzzy food bloggers and critics. We recently dined at the lauded Corner Room with a couple of fellow gourmands, leaving sufficiently sated and impressed at the value for money.

None of the dishes we ordered topped �13.00�a shocking value for London, period, never mind that the quality exceeded that of similarly-priced restaurants. Generous portions of cod and clam porridge (which tastes much more appealing than it sounds; think risotto, not breakfast), onglet steak, and tender duck with black pudding reduction were all solid mains, while pumpkin profiteroles and a goat's curd, granita, and blueberry dessert provided a satisfying end to the meal. A collection of mismatched, hung lanterns, sleek wood tables, and a well dressed clientele provided the backdrop to the dining experience.

As with most of London's talked-about new restaurants, The Corner Room has a strict no-bookings policy. Even its website is bare bones; there's not a phone of which to speak, though calling would be useless, anyway. We arrived around 7:00 PM and scored a table for three, no problem. By 8:30, though, people were told to grab a drink or wait in the lobby downstairs until a space became free. Chalk it up to good food and East London hype.

[Photo: The Corner Room Facebook]

HotelChatter

Select a Destination:

London Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Food / East London Hotels / → All Tags