Sweetness and Light at 30 Euston Square

Words & Photography by Felicity Spector

Five floors below, the harassed commuters come and go: yet on the roof terrace of 30 Euston Square, with expansive views across London‘s skyline, it seems a million miles away from traffic jams and bus fumes and passengers cramming onto overcrowded trains. Instead, the building showcases a cool, deliberately urban design: rooms flooded with light, and carefully restored tiled walls and stairways mixing the original architecture with something far more modern.

It has taken £20 million to transform this Grade II listed building into a luxurious venue, complete with grand state rooms which can cater banquets for more than 200 people. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is already in the building: there are even exam rooms for putative GPs. Elsewhere, there's a range of different break-out areas, meeting spaces, and private dining rooms, along with high-spec overnight accommodation, with 41 boutique style bedrooms. This isn’t just a business venue: you can hire it for a wedding - the state rooms and roof terrace, for example, cost around £3,000 for a day, while smaller meeting rooms begin at just £300.

And there’s an added benefit to this space: all profits go right back to the RCGP to help their cutting-edge work in patient care.

The catering, including a café which is open to the public, is all run by Searcys, and they were in charge of the food and drink at the launch event which we were invited to.

In the basement, where a huge 300 seat auditorium was playing the movie Avatar to an audience of one, a chef was hand carving a huge ham as part of a mini charcuterie platter, complete with chunks of house-made black pudding scotch egg, piccalilli, and some Shropshire blue cheese.

We took our charcuterie dishes up to the top floor, to investigate the state rooms, where portraits of past presidents of the RCGP gazed down from the walls. The launch event food was far superior to the usual range of canapés  we enjoyed some crisp salmon burgers with pesto on a brioche bun and potato rosti with spiced aubergine, before discovering some more chefs, who created beautiful little portions of sea bass with soused vegetables, and a beetroot and heritage tomato salad with micro cress, made to order.

Back in the main room, we were transfixed by a vast display of desserts, which seemed to be constantly replenished. We tried one of everything: a fabulous profiterole filled with chocolate mousse and a glossy ganache. A shot glass of pana-cotta with a layer of berry compote and a fresh raspberry. A tart with crème patissiere and compressed strawberry. Some carrot cake and a rich, gooey brownie. And three kinds of macaroons.

We were very impressed by the quality of the food, which comes under the aegis of executive chef Arnaud Stephens, whose professional background includes Maze and Tante Claire. There’s also an in-house pastry chef: hence the glorious selection of desserts.

You’re just three minutes from Euston, yet from one side of the light-filled corridor around the state rooms, you can see the Shard in the distance: the lights from the high rise office blocks wink overhead. We were lucky: there was plenty of space on the roof terrace - it was a perfect evening to sit and relax in this sun-trap, and watch the sun setting over London.

Mission: Find the Best Burger in London - Davy's of Regents Place (**Win a Two-for-One" Voucher**)

**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN**

Isn't it nice to find good quality food where you least expect it? Euston is not exactly the epicentre of London restaurant dining, but there are some interesting surprises there. Around Drummond Street, the many South Indian vegetarian restaurants and sweet shops (Gupta's) were some of my favourite haunts when I lived in Chalk Farm in the '90s.

More recently, I visited Davy's Restaurant and Wine Bar in Regents Place at the bottom of the Euston Tower to try their burgers. Davy's is better known for its traditional wine merchants and wine bars, but has over 30 venues across London including many that serve food.

This branch of Davy's is unfavourably tucked away in a somewhat anonymous area at the foot of a huge office block. Closed at the weekends, it caters mainly to workers from the many surrounding offices, although it is not far from Tottenham Court Road.

The food menu is reassuringly short, with main courses such as charcoal-grilled rib-eye steak, fish cakes, vegetarian linguini and Cesar salad. It is the burgers though that are the mainstay of this restaurant's menu, with varied choices including wasabi tuna, venison, Thai chicken and Moroccan lamb as well as classic beef options. Beef burgers come in two sizes - 200g and 300g.

I opted for the 200g "Cheese and Bacon Burger" (Denhay cheddar and Suffolk back bacon) @9.95, while Dr G went for an "Alpine Burger" @£9.95 with sautéed mushrooms and Swiss Gruyere cheese.

The meat was flavoursome and tender, the patties were perfectly cooked medium rare as we requested, and were served in toasted ciabatta buns. Although I don't favour ciabatta for burgers finding it too hard or chewy, Davy's was just right with a yielding texture. The burgers were served with four of Amy's excellent homemade relishes.

To accompany our burgers we also had a portion of "Hand Cut Chips" @£2.95, and another of "Mac 'n' Cheese" @ £2.95. These were deliciously crisp and cheesy, and I wished I had ordered a third portion.

As would be expected from the offshoot of a wine merchant, the wine list is a cut above the usual burger chain fare. It is very reasonably priced with many options below £20. We drank a bottle of "L'Enclos du Chateau Lezongars 2002" @£25.50, a Premieres Côtes de Bordeaux - a full bodied and easy drinking wine. I was also impressed by the other items on the drinks menu, real ales, lagers and ciders, and in particular the nearly full range of Greenwich Meantime beers.

For dessert, we had a combination of tasting glasses of crème brulée and banoffee with cream which were delicious and ended the meal nicely.

**Win one of 10 Two-for-One Vouchers for Davy's Regents Place - leave a comment below with your name and e-mail address (mrblogsathotmaildotcom) by Friday, 14th January 2011, names will be randomly selected by random.org at midday.**

Thanks for entering the competition. All comments containing e-mail addresses will be contacted by Davys for their Two-for-One vouchers.


Cost: The London Foodie was a guest of Davy's at a cost of around £13 per person for a burger and accompaniment (chips or macaroni cheese) but excluding drinks. Davy's is a member of Taste Card offering 50% off the food bill to members.

Likes: only Davy's branch specialising in a range of good quality burgers, delicious homemade relishes and a very well priced, comprehensive drinks list.

Dislikes: despite the central location, it is slightly difficult to find and a little out of the way.

Verdict: another excellent option for anyone finding themselves in or around north Tottenham Court Road and craving good quality burgers, chips and Greenwich Meantime beers. I will definitely return. Highly recommended.