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Description: A location in the very heart of the City makes this "cavernous" classic -- a former banking hall -- "an archetypal choice for a business lunch" (and so, of course, "totally over-priced"); those paying their own way may wish to head for the "noisy" but (somewhat) cheaper brasserie area.
Food:
Service:
Ambience:
Phone: 020 7929 6611
Website: http://www.1lombardstreet.com
Open: Monday to Friday: Bar: 10.00am to 11.00pm (Tapas menu from 5.00pm to 10.00pm) Brasserie: Breakfast 7.30am to 11.00am A la carte menu is served from 11.30am.to 10.00pm Restaurant is open for lunch from 12.00pm to 2.30pm and dinner from 6.00pm to 10.00pm
Dress code: Smart casual
Good for: Business, Good food, Ambience.
Payment options: All major cards
This review was first published in August 1998
It was Christopher Fildes in his City column in The Spectator who said that the economy was not so much heating up as eating up. Two restaurant openings last week at 1 Lombard Street and No 1 Poultry, the first located in what was previously a bank, would seem to bear out the observation. Another City bank falls into the hands of caterers and panders to the occupants of Grub Street when early next year Harvey Nichols turns what was the Bank of America at 147 Leadenhall Street into its seventh restaurant operation.
How sweet it is to be able to order a daiquiri where once you felt obliged to make a deposit. And how ironic it will be if the scraping-up of a last delicious spoonful of an ice-cream coincides with the bottom falling out of the market. Just desserts, you might think.
But restaurant critics mustn't think like this. It is food and eating well that matters above all and the City has been notoriously poorly served by restaurants in the past. There are explanations for this, such as business being, by and large, confined to five services, Monday to Friday at lunchtime, and private dining rooms creaming off the really fat cats. But now that City blocks are being converted into exciting loft-living spaces and traders are obliged to work to a global clock, there is deemed enough potential for the new enterprises to keep evening as well as daytime hours.
At 1 LOMBARD STREET, an enterprise created by Soren Jessen, who was previously Oliver Peyton's main backer and is a director of Atlantic Bar & Grill and Coast in the West End, the concept for the decor, menu and wine list is said to have been inspired by Titian's The Rape of Europa. Doubtless Mr Mandelson, who has apparently been charged with masterminding the campaign to take Britain into the single European currency, will soon be seen ensconced in the restaurant proper due to open next month.
In the meantime, the rest of us can enjoy the brasserie now up and running. The European emphasis becomes immediately more meaningful when you realise that chef for both restaurant and brasserie is Herbert Berger.
Berger, born in Austria, trained as a chef there and in Switzerland before coming to England to work firstly at Le Connaisseur (sic), a restaurant in Golders Green for which he somewhat improbably secured a Michelin star, before moving on to work in Michel Bourdin's kitchens at The Connaught. From there he went to The Mirabelle and on to Keats in Hamp-stead. More recently Berger was shabbily treated when Granada took over Forte and proceeded to sideline his efforts at The Caf? Royal where he had become executive chef. Time off to travel and think and the chance to design his own kitchens has resulted in Berger coming back with a vengeance, not that such a stance would occur to this extremely amiable, gifted man.
Dinner at No 1 Lombard Street was a reminder of how superficial, how assembled, so much modern cooking is. Here is a chap with his roots deep in European culture providing dishes with depth of flavour and the sinews of tradition. His stocks are properly made, his combinations all have a rationale. I haven't enjoyed a meal so much for a long time.
It started with asparagus served with a pattern of accompaniments which comprised pecorino cheese, a pur?e (unfortunately called a coulis) of roasted peppers, truffle oil and herb jus. You could say this was just an assembly, but it was a well-thought-out, diverting, successful one. Pig's trotter galette served with a mesclun and herb salad was a blissful rissole, a faggot which had achieved saintly status, a perfect sausage, crisp on the out-side, nubbly and savoury within.
In the main course lamb kidney, sweetbreads and bacon skewer served with smooth mash and long-simmered succulent gravy was the ideal brasserie dish. Blackened wood pigeon with braised endive was crusty on the outside, daringly rare inside.
We did not try dessert but the petits fours made by a pastry chef who has been lured from Monte's provide evidence for their integrity - and delectability.
Last week's soft-opening deal provided house wine free of charge. The list has been compiled by Jessen and Peter Sisseck, a young wine maker, owner of Dominio de Pingus. The bottle of Miranda Estates Oaked Chardonnay 1996 sold at £13.75 was even more of a bargain at nothing at all. Outside the section of house wines, all also offered by the glass, some prices take off with the verve of the FTSE Index on a good day. But City work-ers will be interested to know that Pommery Apanage Champagne is £28.
The conversion of the spacious neo-classical interior from bank to brasserie has been done with fitting reserve. There is gravity in the colours used (including dull gold) and a nice solidity to the seating. The bar takes pride of place under the domed skylight designed by Pietro Agostini.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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