Review of 'Bread Street Kitchen'

Here in the One Change shopping centre it was quite amusing after Jamie Oliver opened his “Barbecoa” that Gordon Ramsey opened his “Bread Street Kitchen” immediately opposite. I have wanted to visit both for some time but, as Bread Street Kitchen is slightly less expensive than Barbecoa… I visited on a Friday evening and was surprised we were able to get a reservation for 7 pm when we called at 5:30 pm. Though it was relatively quiet when we arrived by the time we left at 9:30 it was busy and very noisy. On the ground floor, off of the street, there is a small bar with a staircase leading up into the main body of the restaurant. The high ceiling interior is furnished quite simply with the décor giving the impression of an old, established restaurant with dark colours and traditional furnishings.

Looking through the menu we decided to skip on the starters not the least because of their expense - between £8.50 and £15. The mains were not much more than this with most dishes around the £20 mark though the “Josper Charcoal Grill” having the most expensive dishes (the “Cote de bouef 24oz” at £68 and “Porterhouse 27oz” at £80). It is worth remembering that none of the mains included any sides so those are all £4 except the “Macaroni Cheese” (£5.50). We ended up having a main each and shared a number of starters.

I had the “Slow-roasted Cumbrian Saddleback pork belly and spiced apple sauce” (£17) which was…amazing. Two large pieces of melt-in-the-mouth tender pork belly topped with incredibly crunchy crackling (causing a bit of problem with the knife trying to break through) with a tiny amount of sauce. If anything, the dish was too large with only a single slice (and smaller price) probably being sufficient. The sides were very good as well with the generous portion of “Hand-cut chips” (£4) and “Kohlrabi and red onion coleslaw” (£4) both stand-outs for me. The chips were hot and crunchy on the outside and perfectly fluffy on the inside.

Other diners at our table tried the “Herdwick lamb cutlets” (£25) which was also quite a large portion with 4 (albeit small) cutlets on the plate and a good sized container of sauce. I sampled a bit - A strong lamb flavour (perhaps too strong for some) and very tender, juicy meat. Wonderful.

The wine list is quite extensive but I stuck to a non-alcoholic cocktail which was quite nice with a good kick of ginger.

We skipped on the desserts as we were all pretty full but, to be honest, they did not particularly sound too inspiring and none of the traditional puddings you might expect.

We generally all agreed that although expensive the portions were quite generous and the food very tasty. The restaurant was very noisy when it got busier but otherwise pleasant enough. The service was acceptable though as the place got busier we did have to wait a while.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2015-09-26


Cuisine: American/British

Address: One New Change, 10 Bread St, London EC4M 9AJ ENGLAND

Public Transport: TUBE Mansion House TUBE St.Paul's

Location: London (England) - Bank

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Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3030 4050

URL: https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/bread-street-kitchen/