Magdalen

I have a spectacular, cat in a bath shaped aversion to being that guy eating at the only table in a large unwelcoming restaurant. There's the sense of paranoia that comes with the assumption that everyone knows better than you, the sneaking doubt that the food can't, just can't, be any good and a wild flight of fantasy connected with the possible contamination from the tears of the chef / owner / investor peering out from the little door in the kitchen hoping against all hope that you're actually going to morph into a party of thirteen.

I mention it as heading towards an early dinner table at Magdalen, I had exactly those thoughts. After all, it's stuck in the trafficblown hinterland between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, handy for absolutely nothing, and just that bit too far away from Bermondsey Street to get much passing trade.

I really shouldn't have worried. On a misty, misserly autumn evening full of threatened drizzle and pavement leaf crunch the Magdalen engulfs you like that warm cozy welcoming local pub you know you can't have because you live in London.

Warm walls in deepest goulash line the handsome old boozer, now a fully functioning restaurant. The front bar hosts sofas for hopeful walk up and could possibly function as a working local pub, if mine smelt as nice as this though I'd never leave. The back room and the upstairs are table filled. White paper cloth and excellent lighting brighten the space.

My guest started with a superb cauliflower soup. Admittedly it had more butter and cream pumped through it than strictly necessary but that worked wonders for both richness and texture… Nutty ribsticking goodness, the surface studded with roast garlic and tiny florets of cauli rested on a thick slick of autumnal comfort.

I went for a dish of fried calves brain with a mustardy, egg mayonaisey gribeche as much because I've never seen it on a menu before. It was challenging, more for the concept than the texture or flavour. Barely discernable lobes came as three breadcrumb fried patties, had it not been for the menu I might have been eating a subtly flavoured soft cheese, foie gras-like in texture. A little bland and pappy, the herby mayonnaise gave it a necessary bite, but I could have done with smaller patties, and a higher concentration of breadcrumb. The voice in my head proved a slight distraction, like having someone remind you about stillborn chicken embryos mid boiled egg.

Mains were mostly meaty, other than a student standby potato and cheese pie in a puff pastry, saved from sanctimoniousness by deleriously good Ardrahan cheese oozing healthily through and a side salad of refreshingly different dandilion.

I flatly refused to share any of my beef cheek. Braised for what tasted like days in a girolle and onion reduction, sweet and tender meaty puck nestled in a smooth Jerusalem artichoke puree. The only complaint was on the texture, the meat fell apart when you showed it a fork and the whole thing, delicious as it tasted, was smoother than Justin Beiber's PR machine.

By now flushed with an excellent house red and coming close to satiation. Quince crumble, a pear and almond tart and other desserts were sadly a little too wintry to tempt. They do however have some excellent salted caramel chocolates that slid down perfectly with coffee.

Overall, Magdalen is a great example of the perfect local restaurant. Friendly service, faultless cooking of good ingredients and the feel good equivalent of a laugh with a great mate, it's certainly somewhere I'll be back to again and again.

As locals and regulars (circa monthly) for the last few years – and with many meals under our expanding belts, we regard Magdalen as the best restaurant in the southbank Waterloo to Tower Bridge type area.

It attracts a very mixed crowd of diners – friends, lovers, anniversaries, birthdays, business. Despite many clients coming from local offices mid-week, the atmosphere remains very pleasantly relaxed and informal – helped by the staff. It’s also invariably very busy, giving it a good buzzy atmosphere.

The décor and furnishing adds to the warmth, although perhaps more suited to autumn / winter than summer: Dark woods, terracota colouring, thick curtains, a bit reminiscent of a traditional French bistro.

I think I would classify the food style as Anglo-French earthy, with a bias to high quality meat, game and offal dishes, plus increasingly fish. The style is relatively simple and traditional, but the food is always high quality, very tasty and full of great flavour, and sometimes very gutsy. Our favourite starters include superbly flavoursome quail, grouse or pigeon, and English Hertfordshire snails. Over our many many meals, the food has been reliably very good – very very rarely having an unenjoyable meal. We’ve had some excellent French style fish stews, with lots of big chunks of quality fresh fish, some of the best rib-eye we’ve ever eaten, plus a superb tasty suckling pig, with moist meat and a great crispy skin. However, such meals are probably not suited to a quick light snack !

Front of house and service is almost always very charming, friendly and professional, even when very busy. Not at all formal or pretentious.

The wine list is good, although it could do with more choice at the £25 /£30 end. We normally spend £35-£50, although sometimes more if we feel like a splurge.

Pricing seems very fair, and represents very good value for money given the high quality – and considerably better value than any other nearby restaurants, which we also know very well.

We seem to pay an average £65/£70 for 2 for 2 courses, ex drinks, inc service; although we tend to choose the more expensive dishes. Total bills tend to fluctuate around £150, very much determined by our wine choice.

Overall, an excellent restaurant, only a short hop from London Bridge station or Tower Bridge. Very hard to fault if you enjoy quality earthy food. They certainly deserve their continuing success. If they were located in France they would probably have a Michelin star.

What an excellent operation in the middle of the desolation that exists between London and Tower Bridges. OK, the mayor's headlamp building is here, as is EY's London offices at More London, but it is hardly an up market address for such an up market operation.

Let me get the niggles out the way first, as they are few and I don't want them to detract from the rest: they had run out of roast goose. How can you do this? It is in season (and the season is short) and you'd have thought that, goose being so popular, they'd have enough. This was lunchtime too, so woe betide anyone coming that evening who wanted any. I can just about forgive this, but running out of choclates (more of which, below) is unforgiveable: they are always in season, you must know how popular they are and should have enough for a convention of chocoholics. Not even to have enough for a table of six is so, so wrong.

OK, I have got that off my chest, and now to the good part: this is a sensational restaurant. Not grand, not trendy, not some big named chef with a fancily designed dining room, just a couple of rooms, with some plain tables and a menu that had me wishing I could stay here for a week. The style is British provenance, with French inspired dishes: so the duck may have come from Aylsebury, but the idea of “confit” is totally French.

I could happily have had all of the starters, and all of the mains (if they hadn't run out of the goose). Instead, I opted for snails and bone marrow to start: big, plump, garlicy snails, their chewiness offset by the melting bone marow, all atop some crunchy sour dough toast. Perfect for a winter's lucnh. Others round the table cooed over the smoled eel with remoulade, the smoked anchovy and the generous helping of proscuittio. All stunning, all washed down with a lovely Chablis.

Next up mains, and no respite from the exquisite assault on the tastebuds: confit duck was beautifully rich, coming with a crunchy potato tart that accompanied the Chateau Musar perfectly. In fact, the lamb, the black pig and all of the mains went down exceptionally well.

Service is fine, if a little stingy on the bread, and I cannot comment on the wine list, as I was being taken, so didn't get a chance to look: the aforementioned Chablis and Musar were, however, perfectly excellent.

We finished with coffee and the utterly sensational caramel chocolates: crunchy chocolate encasing a liquid salt caramel. Salty chocolate balls at their very best: according to one of our number, these were simply the dog's danglers.

Magdalen features hearty British cuisine in a relaxed and unassuming setting near London Bridge. With a daily changing menu from chefs with real pedigree, the food is a class act, with friendly and professional service to match.

Lucky me to have this gem on my doorstep. Everything about Magdalen works – from the fabulous wine list, many of which can be ordered by the carafe (why don't more places do this in the UK?), to addictive bread and heavenly butter (I could practically eat it by itself!). The food is uber-British – potted crab was a thing of beauty and the veal even better. Magdalen's a bit of a blank canvas looks-wise, but this doesnt really affect the atmosphere, as everyone's enjoying the food so much. My only negative would be that they need to wash their net curtains which have become extremely sooty from the bus fumes from nearby Tooley St!

“No-man's land” really doesn't do it justice — the restaurant is between London Bridge and Tower Bridge (why Bermondsey??) — after dinner take a quick walk through Potter's Fields down to the Thames and the views of Tower Bridge, a great romantic end to the evening. Magdalen is a real gem.

I love this place – but it's pricy for what you get.
Cost aside though the atmosphere is really French Bistro and there is absolutly no rushing you through your meal which I loathe. Rather the reverse. You can linger over everything.
I had snails to start last time i went – drowning in garlic, with ‘crostini’ which was upmarket fried bread – fried in garlic butter, which was superb. A very good icy white to go with it and I was in heaven.
Followed by a lovely bit of pigeon cooked to order – although I very much got the impression they would have been very unhappy if I had said the words well done!
The atmosphere is great. It's not a hushed enviroment, but not too noisy. Just right. And someone is always laughing; usually staff and customers together. Take a flexible friend though – it's not cheap!!

Having just come back from a weekend to Bruges which involved a restaurant that married the highest standards of pretentiousness with food poisoning it was great to return to Magdalens.This is a perfect local restaurant marrying comforting high quality food at good value prices. We’ve been on a few occasions but had not eaten there for nearly a year. It’s great to report the kitchen was on top form which made for one of our favourite dining experiences for some considerable time.

Although the starter of potted crab was good, it was the soft boiled egg with the salty anchovy toast and well seasoned lentils that was the star first course.

Then came a T-bone of beef for two. They used to use a rib for this dish which was great but if anything the T-bone is even better. A hunk of charred, red meat that deserved to be held up on high at the temple of carnivores.

To finish we had a lemon pot and the French toast. Both excellent although the toast was probably the richness dessert we have ever had. As each glorious mouthful slipped down the throat you could feel your arteries furring up with a joyous overdose of butter and cream only in part cut through with some nicely poached strawberries.

All this was ably accompanied by a big juicy bottle of Zinfandel which at £44 was only about £25 more than at your local off license making it a real bargain.

On the strength of this meal I would suggest everybody heads down to Magdalens for a piece of indulgent culinary TLC.