Roux at Parliament Square

I went for lunch here with a friend as we both work about 5 minutes walk away and was really pleased to have made a good choice in an area that’s a bit short of anything decent.

The 3 course set lunch is absurdly good value at just under £30; even adding water, a glass of wine each and service you’ll only pay around £40 per head which is a total bargain for what is perfectly good food and excellent service in nice surroundings.

After bread and an amuse bouche we both started with cured sea trout, cucumber, horseradish and warm rye bread – portions are small but that’s not really a problem at lunchtime and the trout was wonderfully firm and tasted great. Followed by pan fried bream with ceps and parsnips – excellent flavours and really well presented. I then had stem ginger panacotta with rhubarb – felt slightly like nursery food, but a great set of flavours that worked well together and wine by the glass is very reasonably priced at £7 for a glass of sancerre.

As for booking absolutely no problem, though I do wish they’d offer an online option, but the staff were polite and helpful and phoned back a couple of days before to confirm.

Service is very efficient and polite with none of the usual mess ups you seem to get in so many London restaurants – you can do 3 courses, pay and be back outside in 90 minutes, which is ideal for lunchtime when you’ve got work afterwards.

Atmosphere was a bit muted, but Monday lunchtime at 12noon is never going to be buzzing so not sure that was a surprise. I can’t personally say it reminded me of a 2 star northern seaside hotel in the off season, but that might be as I’ve never been to one; rather it was a touch impersonal, like a hotel restaurant in somewhere perfectly decent but not exceptional, they could probably make a bit more of it.

Would I return – definitely, its such good value and with a regularly changing menu it’s a fine option for lunch, though I suspect it might not be the best venue for a fun evening out.

After booking, I found out that the Roux Parliament's well reviewed Chef Daniel Cox had jumped ship after 10 short weeks after the opening and was therefore a bit worried about the food.

Despite this we thought the Set Lunch menu was excellent quality food and pretty good value @ £29.50, albeit it is portion controlled to within a millimetre… Ideal for Ladies Who Lunch (which we weren't.). The Brixham Crab Tortellini (3 miniatures), Mixed Sea Vegetables, Light Crab Broth starter was extremely tasty and well seasoned but more like an amuse-bouche in size than a proper course.

The areas that did let the the experience down a bit were:

# The difficulty in booking, with the phone reverting to voicemail and then nobody returning the call
# The serious lack of ambience in what are potentially very handsome rooms .. The Bar in particular seems to be aping a crematorium waiting room in a 1950s Eastern European suburb with what looks like (but probably isn't, ex MFI plastic imitation leather retro 60s chairs. The Dining Room has the air of a northern seaside 2 star hotel in the off season
# The staff are slightly over anxious to please, forever trying to clear glasses and plates while we were still happily drinking and eating .. Really odd

On balance I still think that it's got a lot of potential .. A bit of effective onsite management, some redecoration/refurnishing and a sharpened up customer focussed operation and they'd have a success on their hands