The Botanist

A hot friday night in Sloane Square, a group of us went out for dinner and drinks at the Botanist. Usually for us its a place for a quick drink on the way home. Tonight we decided to step out for the evening and make it dinner as well. What a pleasant surprise we had.

The bar was packed the people all out in force drinking on the street frontage herded in by a lovely chap on the door. We went through to the restaurant and sat and were greeted by a lovely chap who was to be our waiter. He was showing a new waiter what to do, but still payed great attention to us.

A lovely gazpacho soup to start, one of my girlfriends had the duck egg which was interesting. Nice but not to my liking. To follow we had primavera rissotto, duck and bream. All dishes took a while to get to us but we were enjoying ourselves so it didnt matter much. For dessert we had the pimms jelly which we shared and it was divine! What a great idea for a dessert!

The cocktails from the bar were great, Victoria Pink and the raspberry collins were some of the best ive ever had. I dont know how… More

I’ve been meaning to eat at The Botanist for quite some time but never seemed to find an opportunity to make it there. Every time I drive past it’s teeming with slick-looking Chelsea chaps and attractive blondes sipping on cocktails and chain-smoking Marlboro Lights. Today is no exception; we fight our way through the packed main bar to get to the restaurant which, happily, is a much more calm and less hectic affair.

The menu is not over-complicated with just a handful of dishes for each course, I kick-start the meal with mmarinated scallops and potatoes with hazelnuts and truffled mayonnaise and my companion opts for the Foie gras and chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche. My scallops dish is essentially raw but cooked by the acidity of the marinade, which is lovely and subtle and doesn’t overpower the delicate slivers of scallops.

Crunchy sugar coated hazelnuts and sliced new potatoes are pleasant, although I would have preferred a simple marinated scallop starter with just a little of the mayonnaise. The Foie gras and chicken liver parfait is… More

It was a complete fluke finding The Botanist, but what a good one! I'd booked tickets to see a show at my favourite theatre – The Royal Court, and my friend and I normally just grab a drink and something small to eat at the theatre bar/cafe, but we ended up there very early, so decided to try somewhere else nearby.

We didn't have dinner, but had a couple of small things from the bar menu, and some delicious white wine recommended by the utterly helpful man behind the bar. Next time we will make sure to have enough time to have dinner here. It looked amazing. Can't wait!

The restaurant part I fear is now getting completely over run by the success of the bar. Maybe the management are happy with the money they are making in the bar and taking their eye off the food offering. The food has gone downhill and the service is starting to be a joke. Very noisy so don't eat here if you are wanting a good gossip or of an age were hearing is dropping!

But you can not argue that the bar is a great place to have a drink and to imbibe a bit of the Chelsea set.

The Botanist is a very buzzy place – the times I've been both the bar and restaurant have been heaving with plenty of people enjoying themselves. I can only really describe the place as adequate unfortunately – the dishes are relatively good but I would expect a little more bang for my buck and can't help feeling that it's not too much more than an overpriced Gastropub living off the relative wealth of the locals. Given the fact that there are so many other good venues in the area it's doubtful I'll return. On the brighter side service is good given the hectic atmosphere and the menu quite extensive – the cheese selection was probably the highlight for me. West End Prices without West End Quality.