Sometimes it’s easy to miss things so incongruous that they should stand out a mile away. At least, that’s how justify my managing to complete a full circuit round Old Broad Street, Liverpool Street Station and Bishopsgate without spotting the compact Victorian Turkish bathhouse building in the centre of a courtyard of high rise offices. Filled with City workers enjoying the last of the Friday evening sunshine, the pretty, mosaic covered exterior of The Bathhouse looked worryingly tiny. However, once down a spiral staircase where the gorgeously ornate dining room was surprisingly expansive. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden lack of light, I could appreciate the room sumptuously decked out in dark flocked wallpaper, with dramatic red velvet drapes and tables filled with candlesticks. The polished marble floors and almost secret underground location made for a welcome escape from the heat and crowds outside.
A club and venue (music, DJ Sets, burlesque shows) on various other nights of the week, during our Friday night visit The Bathhouse was in dedicated restaurant mode, although we admired the ‘Golden Birdcage’ DJ booth behind our table. Classical music and candlelight made for a romantic atmosphere, (although I did feel the prettiness of the surroundings would have been lost on a boy).
As I’m fairly easily excited by quirks and attention to detail, I was quite delighted to find our menus were folded and sealed with candlewax, and our wine list was found within the pages of an aged encyclopaedia (sharing pages with medical diagrams and pictures of weapons – cool huh?).
The menu looked exciting, with organic produce from British suppliers, which was impressive – especially for a place where there was a risk that they’d be more focused on the entertainment side of things rather than the food. Service was also notably friendly, which might not be expected as such a trendy venue.
Starters of ‘Crab & smoked haddock cakes with baby watercress and a quenelle of tartar cream’ and ‘Breaded Camembert with dressed baby leaves and raspberry conserve’, were flavoursome, of a good size, and particularly notable for the quality of the extremely posh tartar sauce (although I’m still not sure exactly what a quenelle is).
Kathleen’s main course ‘Confit of Middle White pork belly, served with a veal bone marrow risotto & crackling’ sounded brilliant (although, as someone who’s not meant to eat beef, I though veal bone marrow was more guilt than I would be able to handle), so I opted for the ‘Coq au Riesling, free range British chicken cooked in a Riesling white wine sauce with baby onions & smoked pancetta, served with sourdough’.
The slow-cooked chicken bathing in the boozy sauces with the salty pancetta made for a satisfyingly comforting main course. Kathleen revelled in the meatiness of her risotto and the crispness of the crackling. Portions were large, and we were perhaps wondering whether these were the most suitable dishes for a hot summer evening.
Thankfully, although we were feeling well fed, neither of us believed that would justify skipping dessert. Eton Mess (with popping candy), chocolate pot with home made shortbread, Elderflower and prosecco martini jelly, were all worthy contenders. However, filled with delusions that Earl Grey panacotta with Kendal Mint cake would be a light and palate cleansing dessert option, we both chose it. Whilst sadly there was very little bergamot flavour coming through, the creamy panacotta was well accompanied by the silvers of the mint cake, although light it certainly was not, and I was defeated even by the innocuously small looking portion.
Fairly pricey under normal circumstances, my Gourmet Society card gave us 50% off the food making it really quite reasonable. The waitress apologised that service hadn’t been super speedy, but we’d actually found it to be a perfect pace. The toilets were decorated in a slightly risqué manner (not a bad thing), and the ambience was great – plenty of diners without it feeling frantic or feeling like we were packed in too closely together.
A definite success and a definite recommendation. I imagine it’s difficult to get in when it is in club/gig mode (the bouncers on the door as we left indicated that), but for Friday evening dinner, it felt like a beautiful and successfully quirky place quite different to what you might expect in the City.
