I went to this restaurant nearly two months ago, it had been so long ago now, that even the menus have completely changed on their official website. Situated in St John’s Wood, One Blenheim Terrace is local for me – it’s 10 minutes on the bus – and it is certainly one of a tiny pool of decent restaurants in this part of town.
The Chef Patron is Ed Shaerf, who cut his teeth in very glamorous kitchens including Claridges, The Ivy and the Fat Duck. Nostalgia is the theme of his solo restaurant, a homage to the good ol’ days.
Given the new snack bars openings nearly every week, sometimes it is nice to take a break from the trendy things to ‘discover’ more conventional restaurants with considerably less buzz. Though I must admit, I wasn’t drawn to Ed’s revival of British retro ALC – which lists Duck Wellington, followed by Monkish Paella – but rather I was interested in one of Ed’s many set menu offers. Specifically the (now defunct) £25 six course dinner menu on Tuesdays. As of writing, this has been replaced with one that offers a whole lobster or large steak with chips and fizz, for the same face value.
On ‘Flipping’ Wednesdays, the waiter flips a coin at the end of the meal, and winning the coin toss slashes the bill in half.
No.1 – Tuna Tartar.
Served with some kind of wasabi mayonnaise (I think), the tiny spoonful was more of an amuse than an actual starter, but very pleasant.
No.2 – Goats Cheese Salad.
Not much to say here really, warm goats cheese with greens. It was delicious.
Wine by the glass are a very generous 175ml (and probably a little bit more than that). I drank a French Carignan (£6), the wild vines varietal that is coming back in vogue, a good table wine, oaky and fruity.
No.3 – Mussels, with beer bread and a shot of beer.
This beer themed dish is when the meal became more interesting. A small pot of mussels in a creamy broth, presumably also cooked with beer, served with a brioche-like bun made with beer. We rally enjoyed the creativity.
No.4 – Lamb and potato terrine, beans and mint gravy.
Richly seasoned, it smelled like a hearty lamb stew, the crispy and toasted potato exterior, was really quite brilliant. It may appear utilitarian, but it was well seasoned, tasted correct and was delicious. I could have easily had another portion of this. Good recipe.
No.4 (alternate) – Sirloin with beans.
The better half doesn’t eat lamb, so the chef swapped it out with a small (approx 200g) sirloin steak. Served it on the same bed of beans, mint sauce as the lamb terrine. Yeah, correctly grilled, nicely pink.
No.5 – Toasted Marshmallow with chocolate fondant
A single toasted marshmallow with a hot chocolate fondant sauce on the side.
No.6 – Bakewell slice with cherry ripple ice cream
It doesn’t get more classic than this. The pastry was a little dry, but I cannot say the ice cream didn’t go down well.
We paid £69.19 for two, including two glasses of wine and service.
Some dishes seemed more like palate cleansers than actual courses. Really this is a 3 course meal with plus plus. However, we did feel like there was enough food to eat and I think the spirit of this menu was delightful. You’ve got to admire a chef pushing the boundaries, especially someone who has chosen to explore to the very extremes of rock bottom pricing.
It did feel like Ed has had to cut some corners to make this practical, which is to be expected for him to keep 6 courses down to £25. Having said that, I think Ed made the best of the ‘self inflicted’ compromise. It was creative and the cooking – where it matters the most – was good. For us, it was an enjoyable midweek meal, at unbeatable prices. If this is what he can do with a £25 menu, it makes me wonder about his ALC and full priced tasters.
I suppose travelling to St Johns Wood for a lobster, chips amd a glass of bubbly (for £25 on Tuesdays) is not quite as glamorous as queuing up at (a) B&L, but at least you don’t have to shout above the noise to be heard, and the dining room is a comfortable alternative. OBT seems like a hardworking neighbourhood restaurant – and while I don’t really have a feel for the general eating habits – which I’m sure is supported by people who live in and around St John Wood.
I do wonder if it is really worth OBT putting up the myriad of weeknight offers, which as with all set menus, sacrifice quality for the sake of pulling in human traffic. Having said that, it was a mid-week offer that had attracted me to this party, where I did enjoy the preview, and have now become curious about seeing the rest of the show. At the end of the day, I think there are delicious things to be uncovered in One Blenheim Terrace and it is worth visiting. It is far from being the coolest restaurant in town – it doesn’t stack fried duck on top of waffles for example – but the chef can whip up a good meal and prices appear to be stuck in a time capsule, which is always welcomed. Old fashionedness as it turns out, is a fabulous thing.
Details
One Blenheim Terrace
British. £30 – £60pp
1 Blenheim Terrace, St Johns Wood NW8 OEH
Tel : 020 7372 1722
Tube: St Johns Wood
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Tags: london, one blenheim terrace, st johns wood
Your review on One Blenheim Terrace does not do the culinary level of its cuisine justice. The constant back-handed compliments – so much that one gets the impression it almost hurt you to praise the good cooking -are extremely annoying.
The foodies bloging-sphere is slowly spiralling out of control and it seems too many have a tendency of misjudging the qualities of good restaurants because of their lack in trendiness. Whenever trendy became equal to good eating remains a mystery to me. One thing is sure, One Blenheim Place is a local restaurant that proposes extremely good cuisine, and by that I mean “a-point” cooking and perfect seasoning, combined with a touch of creativity at affordable prices.
I liked its chef, its interior luminosity, its terrace, our server… And I will go there again in order to enjoy a well-cooked meal in a nice atmosphere. Because that is what you get at One Blenheim Terrace.
For the buzz and pretentious-atmosphere junkies, dabbous yourselves…
Aurel – I’m surprised by your comment, and am a little saddened that I have been misunderstood. I agree with your praise of the restaurant. This is why I’ve chosen to write about it.
But to be absolutely clear, I have not given any back handed compliments, and I’m sorry if it has been interpreted that way. I will go about editing the language slightly to remove them.
I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, and I thought I had described the positive experience to that effect, but clearly I didn’t. So my apologies for that.
Perhaps this hint of negativity was because I was eating from one of Ed’s set menus. I stopped short of heaping more praise because I felt this menu is suppose to be simple, affordable and its like a preview of the full menu. Because it wasn’t the full menu, it may not express Ed’s potential fully. And that’s why it warrants another visit to experience it in full and to then write about it in a fuller manner.
I did say that it’s certainly worth visiting, and I don’t think I can give better feedback than that.
I’ve used the trendy talking point actually to advocate a visit to OBT instead of a more popular place like Burger and lobster.
The reason I wanted to write about OBT is as you say, because I wanted to give this fantastic neighbourhood restaurant which certainly produces fabulous meals, exposure. i think it really does deserve mentioning, even though it hasnt enjoyed the same popularity as other restaurants.
Kang.
This is one of my favourite places and, if you can find a deal there, will probably be the nearest thing to the Fat Duck for a fraction of the price. The chef there trained at The Fat Duck and the tasting menu is the kind of adventure in food that you would hope for (butterkist popcorn drink, vegetable patch where topsoil is made of crushed hazelnuts and olive with shallot mayo underneath, consomme poured from a teapot into a bowl with goldleaf etc)
hey come on guys..!! Reviews on this restaurant will be very helpful whatever the review the author has written will be true..What is the necessity for the author do share the false info?? Well am completely satisfied with the review..Am following this blog very closely since last month..Hope everything in this blog is very true..
I do a lot of work down in London so i’m always looking for new places to eat in the evenings. I have to say that the food in the pictures looks amazing! The food looks so well presented, that steak is making me hungry!
Great photos and review of this restaurant. This is the first I have heard of it but now have it on the list of spots to try.
What a lovely review! I ate at one Blenheim terrace long before I started blogging and thought it was delightful, not its not outrageously trendy but the food was extremely satisfying and for the prices we paid excellent value.
The marshmallow looks exquisite!