When we were looking for a restaurant to celebrate my Mum's birthday, The Butler's Wharf Chop House seemed the perfect choice, coming highly recommended from various colleagues who have impeccable dining taste. One of the Conran Group's restaurants, it's situated right on the river overlooking Tower Bridge, the setting is wonderful, and was particularly great for my Mum, whose Dad actually designed the engine inside Tower Bridge. For a London restaurant it's actually very accessible, particularly for parking, as there is a multi-storey car park just around the corner, or if you are using the tube, it's just s short step from London Bridge tube.
On arriving at the restaurant we checked our coats in (I hate when you have to sit with your coat over your chair - pet hate of mine!) and were led into the main restaurant to our
table where my Mum, my sister and I were told that "two gentlemen" were waiting for us - my Dad and my boyfriend, a surprise for my Mum who'd been disappointed that we couldn't all do something together!
The décor in the Chop House is great - all light wood panelling, giving quite a nautical effect and tables are nicely spaced out so you don't feel that you're sharing your meal with another table. The windows along the front by the river are all floor to ceiling glass which in the summer they open up and you can dine outside. Obviously on a cold November day they were fully shut, but I'd love to return in the summer when everything is open! The atmosphere as a whole was wonderful - buzzy and considering how great the food and service was, remarkably unstuffy. Dress code was relaxed (although, as my Dad had told my sister earlier in the day when she asked if she was dressed alright for the restaurant, "There will be better dressed people there"!)
As soon as we sat down we were offered water and given the menu and wine list. We were struggling to choose a wine, as while my Mum and I were having fish, everyone else was having red meat. However, the waiter recommended a Spanish white, which we all thought an odd choice, but I'm really glad we went with his recommendation as it was fabulous and complimented my meal perfectly (and at £23 was one of the cheaper on the menu, so good to know that they don't just recommend the most expensive wines just to sting you for more money!)
The menu is modern British in style and when we were there they had a special's menu in honour of St Andrew's day. My main meal was smoked haddock with spinach and poached egg, which was absolutely wonderful. A really big piece of fish, deboned perfectly (another pet hate), and the whole dish was simple but really filled with flavour. My boyfriend had Lamb Shank on pearl barley which he said was the best lamb he'd ever tasted. Side dishes are ordered separately and we had some greens, new potatoes and cauliflower cheese, all of which were lovely and not overcooked, as is so often the case with vegetables.
The dessert menu is a real treat for those who like their traditional English puddings, which is the main reason why we'd chosen it for my Mum's birthday as she can't get enough! You could choose from bread and butter pudding, sticky toffee pudding, spotted dick, or (my choice) chocolate brownie with ice cream. My chocolate brownie couldn't have been better - warm, chunky, rich, and with the ice cream just melting on top. The sticky toffee pudding, which is what my Mum went for, smelled amazing - the pudding was sitting in a steaming pool of hot toffee and the smell was amazing.
The service we received here was impeccable - I don't think any of us ever got close to having an empty glass, the waiters were so attentive. We were asked twice during our meal if everything was ok, which may sound rather overbearing, but managed not to be intrusive at all. I think the only criticism I could have would be that we ordered coffee with dessert and it was brought to the table while we were halfway through dessert. This does happen in a lot of places, but I do prefer it to arrive after dessert. But hey, I'm just being really picky!
Price wise, this wasn't cheap - considering that we didn't have starters and had a reasonably cheap bottle of wine, the bill came in at £200 for 5 of us (including service). I think given the quality of the food and the service, this was actually quite a reasonable price, at £40 per head.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this restaurant for a special occasion - the food was fabulous, the service was great, and the setting was wonderful (though would be more stunning in the summer).
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