Categ0ry: Brasserie
“Life is too short to drink bad wine”–that’s the motto of Vivat Bacchus,a wine bar (upstairs) and restaurant (basement) close to London Bridge station. I have been to the wine bar quite a few times and I have to say that they live up to their principle and do indeed have some very good wines (also by the glass). In the upstairs bar they also serve some decent sharing platters.
Now I finally made it to the restaurant in the basement. Even though basement restaurants are not the most attractive thing in general,they managed to generate a comfortable dining room. We were welcomed by jazz and friendly waiters which immediately created a nice atmosphere. And it was raining outside anyway,so who needs windows when you can dine with Bacchus,the god of wine. You will realise,at this point we had already gone through 2/3 of a bottle of rather lovely Valpolicella Allegrini (26£) and Bacchus was our god! Now we really needed some food and thank god they had scrumptious bread (white ciabatta, brown bread and bread with dried tomatoes) and olive oil and they generously served us with both.
Their cuisine is “South African with French influence”. They do have some exotic dishes on the menu such peppered ostrich fillet (17.95£) but we thought that the set menu sounded great and it was incredible value for money: 2 courses and a glass of champagne (actually not champagne but deliciously smooth sparkling wine from SA) for 16.50. The bread and olive oil they generously served us with was very good,moist and
We started off with the beetroot soup which was very tasty indeed. I used to hate beetroot until very recently,so I am still always very surprised that I enjoy it now so much. The beautiful earthy flavour of the beetroot was complemented with slowly melting horseradish cream on top. Also the second course was enjoyable. Hake with broccoli and potatoes. The hake was cooked to perfection,moist and with an herby,garlicky crust on top. The broccoli –not one of my favourite vegetables –was ok. Only the potatoes disappointed:tasteless and uninspired.
We still had some space so we shared one cheese platter. It was a tiny cheese platter (it was so nice we could have clearly eaten twice the amount) with 4 different cheeses:2 soft goat cheeses,one blue cheese and one hard cheese,served with 2 sorts of crackers. We were too lazy (and possibly also to tipsy at this moment),but in the upstairs bar area there is a huge cheese room from which you can pick the cheese after your liking.
The service was very friendly and quick but on the downside,the service charge of 12.5% was included in the bill and they were obsessed with topping up our wine glasses. I mean the glasses were close to overflowing and they still felt the urge to pour more. What is wrong with those people??
In summary the food was very good if maybe not the most inspired. The set menu is definitely worth the money but I am not sure if I wanted to pay the full price.
- Food:7/10
- Service: 7/10 (they lost 1 point for their pouring wine obsession)
- Ambiance: 7/10
- Value for money: 7.5/10 (the set menu)
- Chances of returning: 50% (for the set menu)
- Verdict:Good food,good wine and good set menu
http://www.vivatbacchus.co.uk/london_bridge.asp
4 Hays Lane,London Bridge,London,SE1 2HB
0207 234 0891
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