The Ebury

Took our friends to dinner at The Ebury last Friday and it was a lovely evening overall.

We were met at the door with friendly faces and felt really looked after all evening, starting with some gorgeous cocktails and then 3 of us chose the steak, whilst the 4th chose the stone bass – the steak came with bone marrow and fries – very different but a great idea and we loved it!

You have to try the chocolate mousse with banana and honeycomb dessert… wasn’t too filling and perfectly ended the meal!

Definately recoommend The Ebury to friends, a really comfortable pub/restaurant thats in a beautiful building.

This is one of several visits I’ve made to The Ebury in the last few years, so obviously the place is doing something right. Or is it because there’s one service waiter there whose convinced I’m someone I’m not, going out of his way to make me feel comfortable and special. “Hey, how are you? How’s the filming?” And what am I supposed to say to that? Well, except the obvious, “Yeah, great thanks, real Academy Award material.” A wonderful little deception I now like to play on.

The Ebury is an attractive gastropub with an extensive French influenced menu. I’ve only ever had lunch there before and have always enjoyed the experience. Having dinner was always going to be different. The clientele were different, more romantic couples smooching over candlelight and expensive bottles of plonk. Gone are the lunch dinners, the business meetings and saver-deal lunch enthusiasts. All this at a time when bargain lunch offers scatter across London restaurants, reaching even the golden lines of the Michelin star carriers (two star L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, and one star, Arbutus offer one of the cheapest Michelin-starred menus in London, with a three-course pre-theatre dinner costing £17.50 and a three-course lunch at £15.50).

The streets outside were quiet, those with early appetites leaving work and heading home to supermarket diners and counting spare change. Everyone else seemed to be streaming their way in and the later it gets, the busier. Folks want to eat out and this is a place always brimming with hungry stomachs and salivating mouths.

The room is heavy in oak, with the floor, tables and staircase beams all polished, varnished and shining lunar. There are high-rise windows that cover one side and look out into the Pimlico street. All walls are painted light and the bar is the centre point, stacked high with wines and spirits. There’s a luxury minimalist style as if you’re on the verge of a Chelsea brassiere (oh, we are!), and the whole scene has a rather cool and snazzy feel to it.

On the next table a couple were on a blind date. I heard the lady say, “I’ve never done this before. Is this your first blind date?” The man sighed and turned his head towards me, knowing that I’d heard her blunt question and that his sigh gave away an answer.

The menu is comfortable, nothing too bold. I’m not sure if this is merely a restaurant playing safe or somewhere which removes the frills from their dishes and opts for a strictly straightforward selection? Warm potato and bacon with poached egg and walnut dressing (£6.50) was over-powered with mustard granules that stole from the taste from other ingredient. Stranger still was that there was no mention of this on the menu and my suspicion is the walnut dressing was replaced with French mustard, and to disastrous effect.

The A La Carte meat selection ranges from calves liver and lamb tangine to bangers & mash. I had the French duck breast with parsnip cake and spring greens (£15.50), which was rather bland and unmemorable.

The girlfriend chose in moderation. By this I mean she made me look greedy in ordering three-courses. Her report on the herb and mushroom risotto (£12.00) was good. “No meat? No fish?” Stodgy for me but she seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.

A Spanish favourite, Rioja Crianza 2005 (£22.50 a bottle), was well priced and rounded off the mains to my thanks. A 750ml bottle of water was priced at £2.95.

Our waiter was pleasant enough, although seemed to bumble from table to table. When asked for a description of the parsnip cake he froze and seemed to play over a description in his head for several minutes before turning to me and explaining in broken English (he, like the signature of this restaurant, was French), “I do not know? A cake shape-snip.” “Oh, I see,” I replied, “One of them.”

The dessert was small and sweet and tasty – sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce (£5.50).

The food, like the prices, is reasonable. I remember things being more polished here but perhaps I’m being harsh? With the current climate to consider and the words “c**** c****” on everyone’s lips, dining out may not be as lucrative as it once was, and eating here tonight with the girlfriend, I could have done with more for my money. Still, brownie points and that.

Square Meal review of The Ebury: ? Write your review

I have recently moved nearby SW1and was keen to seek out the best local restaurants especially brasserie type places. Upon arrival I found the place to be buzzing with chitter chatter and diners who seemed to be enjoying themselves, so the initial impression was good.
The staff were pleasant. The service was also pretty good, apart from my second glass of wine ordered didn't turn up and it had been left on the bar and was retrieved by a second waiter.
However the ''famed food'' in my opinion was not up to scratch in comparison to many other restaurants we have visited. I was very dissapointed I ordered fish and chips with mushy peas. When it arrived the actual fish was really thin and covered in a tempura type batter which was soft and soggy inside. I removed all the batter and there was not much left of the measly slice of fish, the chips were nothing special and the mushy peas seeemed to be the same as stuff out of a tin. (this was £14.50) Nobody asked me if there was anything wrong with the batter. On the way we passed (nearby) a fish and chip shop where probably a better example would have cost something nearer to a fiver.
Overall a dissapointing visit and we won't be repeating it. (we did not get any discounts and did not ask for any)

I was having lunch on The Ebury when my wife saw a mouse running on the floor. We advised the tall gentlemen (probably an untrained hostess) about it and, amazingly, he just couldn’t care less, went to talk on the phone and acted like nothing has happened. We order the bill and a 12.5% “optional” service was included. We left without even an apology. Nothing. Appalling. Disgraceful. Avoid at any cost.

I write for a food and health blog and discovered The Ebury whilst visiting for a review of their new “Healthy Menu”.

It's really a great idea and I highly commend Head Chef Dominic Goltinger for creating this alternative to the a la carte. Calorie counts sit next to each well described menu item. The best surprise was that portion size did not disappoint as might be the preconception.

If you are on a diet and would like a varied and educative menu to help you stay on track this is a great place to come.

Our favourite dish of the day was Pumpkin curry served with fragrant coconut rice- just 210 kcals and very filling. A starter, main and dessert can be enjoyed for an incredibly guilt-free 400 calories or less.

If you'd like to see what else we ate and the calorie count of our meal you can see my article on foodhealthblog.com