Boundary

I went to The Boundary as a guest so I do not know how much the bill was but from the prices on the menu, I would safely say this is a ‘treat’ place or somewhere suitable for client entertaining – especially if your client likes good food and they are contemporary. I suspect this place is a favourite for law firms and banks in the area.

Decor: Shoreditch trendy, artsy design and eye candy meets slick west end efficiency and tradition. Open kitchen with large windows allows for easy viewing and gives a greater impression of space. It is a very long restaurant.

Food: I ate the steak tartare starter, hare main and poached pear dessert. All courses were excellent. The hair is off the bone wrapped in bacon. It comes with roast beetroot and what was either pan seared fois gras or confit of liver which was then pan seared. The hare also comes with a ‘cottage pie’ of hare in a separate copper pot. Poached pears comes with vanilla ice cream, almond/eggy pastry and dark chocolate (in a copper, separate pot). My only ‘niggle’ is the hare cottage pie was a little over seasoned but really it was not an issue.

Wine: we drank red wine, still and fizzy water. I did not see the wine list but it was extensive and the bourgone that I drank was very nice.

Service: attentive but not smothering. Knowledgeable staff who know how the food is prepared, served etc. Once or twice they tried to bring items to our table which was meant for the table adjacent to us. Again this was not a real issue but I mention it (hence the 8 instead of 9 rating).

Overall: I would definitely return to this place and as someone who lives in East London, it is good to know it is very close by. Booking in advance is highly recommended. I would also recommend the roast chicken, wild sea bass and potato dauphenoise. We were in a group of 6 so there was a lot of food available to try. Lastly, we were given mandarins at the end of the meal and candied/glace orange peel, some dipped in chocolate as a petit four. Very tasty, cleansing, refreshing touch after 3 courses plus wine, coffee etc.

After a great pre-Christmas lunch at Boundary, I took a friend back there on Saturday night for dinner.

We arrived at 9pm for a 9.30pm reservation and the whole place was packed, so we grabbed the last couple of seats in the bar while we waited for our table. Within about 10 minutes the bar area was completely rammed with more arrivals, as well as diners who were being relocated to the bar so that they could turn the tables round.
Unfortunately the bar area just isn't big enough in that situation, so one guy ended up sitting on the floor to drink his coffee, while we became completely hemmed in by the people standing all around us. After having a word with reception just after 10pm, we were finally taken to a table which we think was probably there for whoever moaned first! (the main problem seemed to stem back to late arrivals for all the early bookings).

It was about another half an hour before we finally got to place our order, and I lost track of what time we actually got to eat, but the Perigourdine salad that we both had to start was almost worth it all – perfectly balanced and completely delicious; would definitely have it again.

The huge piece of turbot was also superb, but the lamb which should have been cooked two ways, had missed out on one way and the braised shoulder was still chilled right through. The replacement that subsequently arrived was then missing the accompaniments that had just been put on the plate before realising there was a problem, so another wait followed for a part replacement of those. Should have had the beef!

Desserts were both good though, and at that point we were offered a complimentary drink due to the earlier wait for the table – unfortunately we we were both driving, so we said we'd take them up on it next time!

In summary, go on a less busy day/time, or take the early sitting on a saturday night – the unisex loos are probably in a much better state then too . . .

I'm not sure which restaurant the other reviewers visited because the service was impeccable. I went in a party of 6 and could not fault them. The staff were very pleasant and added to the enjoyable experience. The food was amazing. For a starter, I ordered the smoked salmon that was cut from the fish in front of us, which was a nice touch. The sea-bass, which was ordered as my main, was fantastic. Just be warned that the warm chocolate mousse is very rich. I barely made a dent in mine!

The service seemed really clumsy. The two girls greeting guests at the entrance seemed to be completely lost or stoned and were unsure of what they needed to say or do. They were nicely dressed though, which did not help much…

“Last half a bottle of wine” is not so great for a restaurant that has recently opened…

A comfortable smart interesting restaurant which four of us tried for the first time on Saturday. The use of food trolleys for salmon, steaks and cheese was bizarre. Our table in a side alcove was very nice. I had the best tasting steak, delicious vegetables followed by a masterpeice rubarb soufle and my friends all enjoyed their choices too. The only disappointment was the service. Confusion and delay over our cocktails and we had to ask repeatedly for more mineral water.

I like a good entrance! and The Boundary does a very good entrance: tastefully decorated lobby with very attractive staff and chairs, then a lift down to the restaurant, if you are a group of more than four it will be two lifts. Even though there is no natural light the room feels light and airy, fabulous high celings, spacious, more lovely chairs and a mixture of banquettes and tables. The menu, we had lunch, is not one that will get your heart racing with excitement, very solid, English and typical Conran, if your vegetarian your stuffed. Charcuterie was excellent, roast pork was staggeringly good and the cheese plate was extremely good value for money with great selection. The sommelier is the kind every good restaurant should have, helpful and knowledgeable but without pretence, plus he sorted me out with a second helping of pork! Other wise the service was a bit slow which is unforgiveable when the restaurnant is half full. Good for fish and meat lovers bad for large groups of vegetarians.

Great venue, is going to be one of the places to go this summer, especially when the roof garden opens.
The food was excellent however the place was totally let down by the staff, there may have been some headless chickens in the open plan kitchen, but there were many more working on the resaurant floor. The place was so obviously missing a captain, the staff were pleasant enough they just didn't have a clue. Final display of their performance was when they tried to charge four of us for five main courses, even the newest recruit should be trained to pick up basic errors like this.

i went to the boundary on 5th feb with 5 freinds for dinner. i know the restaurant is quite new but the service was dreadful. nobody seemed to know what they were meant to be doing. we had to wait 30 minutes for somebody to take our first drinks order and when the main meals came out we only had sides for 3 of the 6 dishes. nobody appologised for the service and we left without ordering dessert as we could still be sitting there now waiting for somebody to take the order!

Having read a really good review of this place in one of the Sunday papers, I decided to book it for lunch with a client who I know quite well. The location is not too far away from the City for a business lunch and yet it has the modest edge of being in Shoreditch, which gave me a slight coolness factor for having chosen it (its all relative – I'm a lawyer and my client is an accountant).

I was a little late and met my lunch companion in the basement bar that you get to via a lift and was relieved to see that he had obviously enjoyed himself in the surroundings – the bar is compact, but thoughfully set out and furnished in a sharp, deco inspired style. Full marks for that. The large dining room is well lit, with exposed brick walls and comfortable benches and deco-ish chairs. All tables have an expansive view of the sleek kitchen. It wasn't that full. Perhaps something to do with it being newly opened, or the heavy snow the day before or the recession – maybe all three, but the atmosphere was nicely warm and convivial. This was largely down to the staff, who at every turn, were attentive, knowledgable and totally engaged.

I ordered my standard business lunch of a seafood starter, meat main and a glass of wine, which in this case was scallops followed by saddle of lamb (from Cornwall, we were told) with a glass of Chablis. My lunch partner ordered snails and followed my lead with the lamb and Chablis.

The scallops were first class – plump, lightly seared in a butter sauce and with wonderful flavour. I apologised for scoffing them so quickly. My lunch partner replied: “That's OK, there were only three.” He had a point. I come from a country where great seafood is plentiful and inexpensive so paying £13.50 for three scallops seems quite a lot. But I was expensing this one, so I didn't dwell on that. I can't bring myself to eat snails yet, so I took my lunch partner's word that they were excellent. The lamb was carved from an old silver trolley (a nice touch – maybe bought at the Savoy auction?) and arrived beautifully pink with a thin rim of fat – for me, perfection. It also came with a generous serving of new potatoes and beans that we didn't have to pay extra for, a rare treat these days.

I don't do pudding at business lunches, so I can't comment. We skipped on to espressos and the bill, which came to (inlcuding service) a quite reasonable £81-.

I think this place is off to a great start. It seems to have that rare fusion of style, very good food and value. Just what we are all looking for these days.

It has only been open a short time but I have been to Albion and Boundary a couple of times already.

I liked Albion – good concept and I agree with the no booking policy although this might get a bit annoying if it becomes popular. The food range and quality was good and all well priced (not sure about a glass of bucks fizz for £10 though). The service however was clearly suffering from the need of the staff to settle down and work as a team. Hopefully this will get better but we had to follow up various parts of the order (my sausage sandwich arrived when everyone else had finished) and the bill. No single person seemed to be taking responsibility for any particular area.

The decor of Boundary is great – the silver trays a good trick for reflecting the light down into a basement restaurant. The bar area is small but the furniture well thought out.

I was expecting (and indeed received) a better level of service than from Albion. On arrival the barman was very friendly and attentive. The restaurant was not particularly busy so the service was not rushed but towards the end it did become painfully slow and we couldn't understand why. There was lots I would like to eat on the menu. Snails were a popular starter as was the charcuterie with everyone choosing a roast for main course (Sunday lunch is good value at £23 for 3 courses). My roast beef was well done although if meat is going to be carved at the table a sharper knife is recommended to avoid somewhat inelegant hacking.

I had tarte tatin afterwards which was huge and could easily be shared by two, although quantity and quality are not the same thing.

Coffees arrived ages after pudding (despite being requested togehter). My espresso cup had a small silver cover on it which was a cute touch although it did not stop the coffee being warm at best so I'm not sure how long it had been sitting around.

Overall – a good atmospher and full of potential – I wanted to like it but came away thinking they need to polish their act a bit.