The Fabulous Express Elevator Lunch Menu at Oblix West

Words & Photography by Margot Carone and Luiz Hara

Name: Oblix West at The Shard

Where: 31 St. Thomas Street, Level 32, The Shard, London SE1 9RY
https://www.oblixrestaurant.com/oblix-west/

Cost: The Express Elevator Lunch Menu is priced at £40pp for 2 courses – starter, main (or main and dessert), a side and mineral water. For a 3rd course, desserts can be added at £7 each. The menu also offers the option of unlimited white or red wine for £20pp or Chandon sparkling wine for £25pp. The menu is available Monday to Friday, from 12:00 to 2:45pm.

About: Oblix West has been a notable feature of the London dining scene since 2013, when it was opened by the chef and restaurateur Rainer Becker (of Zuma and Roka fame). It’s a regular destination for City folk and the occasional celebrity. Regular readers of The London Foodie will know that we are fans of both Zuma and Roka, as you can read here and here.

On the 32nd floor of The Shard, arriving at Oblix West is an experience in itself. Security staff, state of the art lifts, and hostesses to bid us welcome give a real sense of occasion and anticipation. As the name suggests, the restaurant is on the west side, while on the east is Oblix East, a bar with a more casual menu, and live music in the evenings.

Oblix West is a spacious, sleek restaurant, with a buzzing open-plan kitchen, presiding over magnificent views of the London skyline.

The Express Elevator Lunch Menu (go up, dine and down in an hour) has been designed for those who like to dine out for lunch but are time-pressured.  It is aimed at those heading out for a lunch meeting, as well as those visiting the capital and seeking to lunch in style, enjoying delicious dishes and incredible views across the city. However, the unlimited sparkling wine option (see What We Drank) as well as the tempting desserts meant that there was nothing express about our visit!

What We Ate: We started with the truffle flatbread, pancetta and ricotta. With a heady scent of summer truffles, the shavings were sitting delicately on top of the ruffled ricotta and pea-shoots. The flatbread was crunchy and still warm. If you like truffles, you will love this.

Next up was the sculptural iceberg lettuce (a signature dish of the restaurant I tried on an earlier visit) with caramelized walnut, candied cranberry, pickled onions and crumbled Stilton, sprinkled with pancetta and pan-roasted fresh rosemary leaves. This is the poshest iceberg lettuce wedge I have come across, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The first main course was pork chops with feta cheese, olives and pancetta served with freshly-made apple sauce. The pork was tender, richly marbled with fat, and very well flavoured. What a rare joy to find pork of this quality in the UK. The triple-cooked hand-cut chips were the perfect accompaniment.

The 200g beef sirloin (supplement of £4.50) was served with a light, freshly-whipped Béarnaise sauce. The meat was tender, flavoursome and perfectly cooked just as ordered, while the side dish was a well-made Macaroni cheese.

For dessert, the light and crunchy strawberry pistachio éclair had great textures. It was served with a refreshing raspberry sorbet, and sprinkled with fresh basil leaves that added an herbaceous lift.

Even better though was the toffee banana & crème brûlée tart with coffee ice-cream. The light pastry and crispy oats were dreamy. This dessert made us gasp with pleasure. I would go back to West Oblix for that dessert alone.

What We Drank: Cocktails are not included in the Elevator menu, but proved irresistible on this glorious London summer day. We had a refreshing Melon Spritz (£14.50) - a mix of gin, Aperol, bergamot, cantaloupe melon and Champagne.

The menu offers the option of unlimited white or red wine for £20pp or sparkling wine for £25pp by Chandon. We opted for the latter, and had a few glasses of the excellent Chandon Rosé – created by Moet Chandon, using native Champagne varietals Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and produced in Argentina. This is perfect for summer days, with its fine bubbles, delicate flavours and soothing light peachy hue.

Likes: Spectacular setting and views, that banana dessert was the best thing I have eaten in months. Both the pork and the beef mains were fantastic, and it was great to have the option of unlimited, good quality bubbly. 

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: With great food, spectacular views and very fine bubbles, the newly launched Oblix West Express Elevator menu has it all, and at £40 per person (excluding drinks), it’s excellent value too.  Highly recommended.

Galvin at Windows - A Korean Tasting Menu by Head-Chef Joo Won

Name: Galvin at Windows

Where: 28th Floor, London Hilton on Park Lane, 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE, http://www.galvinatwindows.com/

Cost: The 6-course Korean tasting menu costs £115 (or with wine pairings at £169, or including wine pairings and a welcome cocktail at £189)

About: Entry to Galvin at Windows could hardly be more dramatic. Situated on the 28th floor of the famous Hilton Hotel on swanky Park Lane, the lift whisked us from the hotel's lobby in a matter of seconds, to be greeted by a spectacular view over Hyde Park to Knightsbridge, Kensington and Bayswater.

Opened in 2006, Galvin at Windows, at the top of Park Lane's Hilton Hotel, was awarded a Michelin star in 2010. Korean Head Chef Joo Won has been at the restaurant since the start, and has made his way through the ranks from Commis to Head Chef, which he achieved in 2013.

Now for the month of October 2016, Chef Joo Won is presenting a special Korean menu featuring some classic dishes from his home country. We were there to try his Korean inspired 6-course tasting menu.

What We Ate and Drank: We opted for the Menu Degustation Deluxe, which included a Korean Soju Sour cocktail. With apple juice, cucumber, a drop of bitters and egg white, this was strong and refreshing, with crisp acidity from the green apple.
  

With the cocktail we enjoyed a couple of amuse bouche – they were chilli spiced chicken and some light and delicately flavoured kimchi arancini. To follow we also had a clear, flavoursome fish soup with clam, tofu, spring onion, chilli and radish.

The first starter was raw Orkney scallops served with soy bean puree, confit ginger, crushed peanuts, chilli and nori powder. Cleverly conceived, this had great texture and heat from the crunchy peanut and chillies against the delicate raw scallop.

It was served with a glass of Bekseju, Kooksoondan, Korea. This blend of aged rice wine, ginseng and herbs was aromatic, with a herbaceous and vegetal nose, with oxidised overtones which reminded me of a Sercial dry madeira. I thoroughly enjoyed it by itself, but its flavour profile was transformed by the pairing with the scallop, taking on rich and complex caramel-like notes.

The salad of raw crispy vegetable was next - we loved the the combination of raw and tempura vegetables with sweet, chilli and herbaceous sauces (chilli dressing, sweet soy and seaweed emulsion) and with an excellent balance of texture and flavour. The salad had a mix of different ingredients including baby carrot, onion, cucumber, radish, Padron pepper, mushroom, tempura-style spring onion and glazed fig.

With it, we were served a glass of Vouvray, Domain Champalou, Loire Valley, France 2015. Made from the Chenin Blanc grape, this was a well-made, off dry wine, with quince and pear on the palate.

The seared foie gras, served on toasted brioche, with mushroom fricassee, red wine jus, elderberries and blackberries had kimchi as the Korean touch. Delicious as it was, I did not feel the creamy foie gras was a great match to the spicy kimchi.

To partner the foie gras, the menu matched a glass of Soju- Hwayo 25% and home-fermented plum juice. This had quite an alcoholic burn, but was rich and semi-sweet. I enjoyed it as drink, but with the foie gras, the combination was noticeably greater than the sum of the parts.

The main course was marinated Iberico pork bulgogi, with barbecued chilli squid and cucumber salad, served with flaxseed rice, soy and spring onion. The pork (pluma cut) was soft and rich with great marbling (though a tad overcooked, the best way of eating Iberico pluma is medium rare in my opinion), the squid was however tender and spicy.

The pork was paired with a deliciously silky glass of Pinot Noir Jubilee, from Hugel, Alsace, France 2009.

Pre-dessert was a Greek yoghurt sorbet with pine nut, blackberry and shiso granita. The sorbet was refreshingly light, and the shizo granita delicate and herbaceous.

We finished with a magnificent Korean dessert of white chocolate and deonjang cremeaux (made from soy), with Castella sponge (ultra-light Portuguese sponge cake, much loved in Asia), caramelised red bean, pomegranate and pumpkin ice cream. I am not a dessert person but for me this was the highlight of our meal – light, creamy, and not overly sweet, it had a great combination of unexpected flavours and wonderful textures.

To accompany it we had a glass of Korean Myungjak Bokbunja, Kooksoondang. Made from fermented raspberry and wild strawberry, this was 13 per cent alcohol. To my palate, it was a naive drink - fresh and very fruity, but devoid of acidity, complexity or interest. 

Likes: Our favourite dishes were the crispy vegetable salad, the Orkney scallop and the magnificent Korean dessert. Service was excellent.

Dislikes: None. 

Verdict: We thoroughly enjoyed chef Joo Won’s cooking and his refined Korean-French tasting menu, dishes were well conceived and faultlessly executed. If you would like to try his Korean tasting menu at Galvin at Windows, you will need to hurry, as it is only available during October 2016. Recommended.

Oblix at The Shard

Words and Photos by AGirlHasToEat and Luiz Hara

Name: Oblix

Where: Level 32, The Shard, 31 St. Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY, http://www.oblixrestaurant.com/

Cost: Oblix Lounge & Bar offers various menus depending on the day and time.
During weekdays there is a deli menu priced at £29 for three courses and on weekends the champagne brunch is £58 for three courses. The evening menu is a sharing menu with starter-size plates ranging from £6 to £18.50, seafood dishes from £24 to £38 and meat dishes from £18.50 to £80. 

About: Oblix on the 32nd floor of the Shard offers some of the most spectacular views over Central London that money can buy. Oblix is divided into two sections  - the Restaurant and the Lounge & Bar, both with different menus and different perspectives.

The Restaurant serves a more formal à la carte menu overlooking St Paul’s, whereas the more relaxed Lounge & Bar offers a deli menu during the day, brunch on weekends, and a sharing style menu with wonderful live music in the evenings (comes with a £5 cover charge). From the Lounge & Bar diners have a view over London Bridge and Tower Bridge which dazzles at night.

The mastermind behind Oblix is Rainer Becker, who along with Arjun Waney launched Zuma and Roka, helping to explain the various Asian influences in the Oblix menu. The Executive chef is Fabien Beaufour who previously worked in The States at The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park, both of which are three Michelin starred restaurants.

What We Ate: AGirlHasToEat and I dined in the Oblix Lounge & Bar and we really enjoyed it’s buzzy ambience and the sultry tones of the live band. We started our meal with some fabulous tidbits from the small bites section of the menu including fried padron peppers (£5.50) and devilled eggs (£3.50 each), both of which were wonderful. The padron peppers had been sprinkled with crispy panko crumbs that gave them a lovely crunchy texture. Accompanying the peppers was a salt and balsamic powder that provided a nice touch of seasoning and an acidic contrast.

The devilled eggs were also gorgeous. Smooth and creamy, they had been topped with slices of aromatic truffle that heightened the flavour of the eggs.

Crispy fried squid with salt and vinegar (£8) was delicious and well seasoned. The squid was tender and the batter was really well made as it was as light as a feather and very crispy.

Also tasty was the crispy soft shell crab (£14.50). The crab was meaty, the batter was crispy, and it came with an interesting combination of kimchi and marinated daikon that gave the dish acidity and a charismatic contrast.

From the raw section, a scallop and seabream ceviche (£18.50) was heavenly. The both scallops and sea bream were very fresh, particularly the scallops which had an intensely sweet flavour. Within the ceviche were crunchy samphire, cucumber and some aromatic dill that added a resounding freshness to the ceviche. There was also a pleasant hit of chilli and crunchy croutons to round out this dish.

Venison tartare with parmesan and truffle (£13) was delicious. The venison was meaty and it combined well with the earthy nuttiness of the parmesan and the aromatic truffle. The use of some lightly toasted pine nuts helped to make this dish special.

We tried two different seafood dishes, the first of which was the lobster with bone marrow, caviar and smoky mash potato (£29).  The mash was a little salty, but even so, the smokiness of the mash, the fattiness of the marrow, and the decadence of the caviar created an electrifying and interesting combination.

A dish of grilled jumbo tiger prawns with grits and bacon (£24) was reasonably tasty. The prawns were sweet and meaty and were served in a gingery sauce. It had been paired with some creamy grits and bacon that proved to be an unusual combination.

White truffle risotto with parmesan and mascarpone (8g of truffle - £40) proved to be a little underwhelming. The risotto was creamy and the rice had an al dente quality to it. But the risotto was also a little runny and could have done with a greater intensity of flavour.

Grilled beef sirloin (250gm - £28) was tender and flavoursome and cooked to the requested medium rare. It was a delicious cut of meat, although the accompanying pickled onions were too acidic and did not work well with the beef.

The highlight dish of the evening was the grilled wagyu tenderloin with truffle jus and shavings of truffle (£80). It was a glorious plate of food with the wagyu being lusciously fatty, tender and perfectly cooked. The combination of this succulent piece of meat with the wonderful jus and slivers of truffles was amazing.

Moving onto desserts, we really enjoyed the sweet potato pie (£8.50). The filling was creamy with an earthy quality to it and there was a topping of pecan nuts, pine nuts and sweet bacon that added a crunchy contrast to the pie. The accompanying bourbon ice cream also worked well in the dessert.

Less enjoyable was the doughnuts with bacon and a maple and caramel sauce (£6). The doughnuts were a little dense, and a fluffier and lighter texture would have worked better.

The pineapple colada sundae (£9) was a winning pudding and tasted similar to a frozen pina colada. Consisting of rum jelly, fresh pineapple, coconut sorbet, coconut crumble and lime zest, the combination of flavours matched perfectly together. There were also some flaked almonds running through the sundae that provided a lovely touch of crunchiness.  This was a really enjoyable finish to our meal.

What We Drank: AGirlHasToEat and I started our evening with a couple of well made cocktails (all priced at £12.50 or £14.50 for sparkling ones) – mine was an interesting take on the favourite Negroni – made with Habanero mezcal tequila (as opposed to gin), Campari and sweet vermouth, it had a refreshing bitterness from the Campari and was strong as I hoped. AGirlHasToEat opted for an aromatic concoction of lavender vodka, lychee bitters and bitten egg whites which was also expertly made and not too sweet.

These were followed by another round of cocktails, this time the house one – “The Betsy Theory” (£16.50) – made from rye whisky, tobacco, cacao liqueur with mint and peach bitters. Beautifully presented, this cocktail was inspired by the story of Betsy Flanagan, a publican who was thought to have invented the “cocktail” in the 1700s in Virginia.  She used to decorate her alcoholic drinks with tail feathers of roosters, hence the name given today to our loved “cocktails”.

We our meal, we had a couple of glasses of Kistler Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2006 from Sonoma (175ml/£39 a glass). A superb wine, this was intense, full bodied and with notes of citrus fruits and melon, and was a perfect match to most seafood dishes we tried.

With our steaks we had two glasses of Barboursville Cabernet Franc 2010 (£16) also from American but this time from Virginia, it had soft tannins, dark red fruit and excellent length.

Spetacular Views from Oblix, The Shard's 32nd Floor

Likes: the crispy squid was a great dish as were the venison tartare, the scallop ceviche and the wagyu steak among others. Service was impeccable, and together with the dimmed lighting, the live jazz music and incredible views they made for a fantastic ambience.

Dislikes: we wish there were a few more affordable options on the food and drinks menu.

Verdict: Oblix is the sort of place that makes you feel like a million dollars and we loved it! The food is great, the cocktails are strong and the London views are second to none. We cannot wait to return. Highly recommended.