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Portal Restaurant & Barone star

Address:88 St John Street, London EC1M 4EH
Tel:020 7253 6950
Email:
Website:Visit Portal Restaurant & Bar website
Price: £50.00Wine: £22.00Champagne: £50.00
Opening Hours:Mon-Fri 12N-3pm Mon-Sat 6-10.15pm

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Portugal isn’t generally noted for the finesse of its cuisine, but a visit to Portal should confound any preconceptions about the country’s food. There’s a slick bar at the front, where you can sample a glass of wine with a plate of tapas, but the main event takes place in the stylish conservatory dining room beyond. The head chef trained in Michelin-starred establishments & it shows in an artfully arranged starter of rabbit terrine with a smear of pumpkin compote. An equally elaborate dish of braised bisaro (a pig/wild boar cross-breed) comes with pea & ham mash, sweet-potato chips & a port-based sauce. Most of Portal’s diners are as sleek & sophisticated as the restaurant itself, & service is deft & professional. The wine list provides perhaps London’s best choice from Portugal’s much-underrated vineyards, including a large selection by the glass.

Portal Restaurant & Bar Location:

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Reader reviews of Portal Restaurant & Bar:

Dan M.
Reviews: 1

Dan M. ( 40s, Male )

The prices would be OK if the food matched up. One of our party ordered the turbot and at £25 received a tiny portion, a joke really. Other items unavailable ( at only 7.30pm), or just not that exceptional. slow service.

8 July 2010
Overall:3
Food and Drink:3
Service:4
Atmosphere:6
Value for Money:3
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Paul V.
Reviews: 1

Paul V. ( 30s, Male, United Kingdom )

Nice setting, food ok for the price but rude staff. The service was only average so we gave a tip of 10% rather than the full “optional” 12.5% service charge on a £400 bill – and were ordered out by the manager.

The staff there could really do with a reality check, it's the customer that shall decide whether their staff merit a reward, not them.

28 February 2010
Overall:2
Food and Drink:5
Service:1
Atmosphere:3
Value for Money:3
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Dimitri H.
Reviews: 1

Dimitri H. ( 20s, Male, United Kingdom )

The worst restaurant I did in London…
It is not worth at all, we went there for valentine's day. Atmosphere and venue are quite nice but the food is very poor and the quantity is less than tiny. I really do not recommend this venue it is not worth spending your money there.

13 February 2010
Overall:1
Food and Drink:3
Service:7
Atmosphere:7
Value for Money:1
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Charlotte F.
Reviews: 1

Charlotte F. ( 30s, Female )

Four of us dined at Portal on a Wednesday evening recently. I had high hopes for a great evening, having longingly looked into the beautifully lit restaurant on many occasions as I made the trek home after a long day. All started well with a table in the lovely conservatory, but sadly the service fell down after the delivery of our starters. We had an unexplained 45 minute wait for our mains to appear despite a half full restaurant and no one helping with refilling our glasses. Eventually our mains arrived, but the sides took a further 10 minutes, which by then, they were not really wanted. Apparently there was a mad dash to get some missing ingredients, however, simply advising us of the delay would have helped the situation. We left without dessert (headed to Eastside Inn with service on another level altogether). But enough moaning – the food – it was really stunning when it arrived and the dining space is terrific. I'm hoping we simply got an ‘off night’. I think I'll give Portal another go, in the summer and sit out in the amazing courtyard.

13 November 2009
Overall:7
Food and Drink:9
Service:2
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:7
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R.R.Gill
Gold Reviewer

R.R.Gill ( 30s, Male, United Kingdom )

Editor's pick

Portal is one of those venues I've heard about but never had the chance to visit – being quite territorial it's not too often I get a chance to eat in the city however I'm glad I did with Portal. The main dining room is set in a beautiful conservatory giving plenty of natural light and is very relaxing. The menu is excellent and covers a great range of dishes – Including vegetarian and vegan and gluten free so something for everyone really. Starter of veal carpaccio with truffle oil, goat cheese ice cream sprinkled with purple shiso leaves was awesome and the following main of Confit suckling pig with sauté curly kale and ham, green apple mash and pepper sauce tender and very very tasty, always one to try a cheese board instead of the sweet option I was not disappointed with the selection and tastes. Service was smooth and slick and the vibe very relaxed – without table turns it's very easy to go here early evening and spend all night relaxing and enjoying fine food – how a dinner should be. Definitely one of my recent highlights.

July 2009
Overall:9
Food and Drink:10
Service:9
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:9
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Stewart J.

Stewart J. ( 50s, Male, London )

Have eaten here twice, in the front section: tapas and wine. Great snacks which can make up a full meal. Very friendly; you get the feeling they'd do anything for you. A little gem.

June 2009
Overall:9
Food and Drink:9
Service:10
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:10
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Steve W.
Reviews: 1

Steve W. ( Male )

Antonio and his team hosted my 40th birthday this year, when I took over the whole restaurants. They were excellent in the planning process, and all really worked hard to make the whole thing memorable. The evening was all canapes, and I received nothing but compliments from my guests as to the cooking and the service (especially the salt cod). The restaurant came up with two special vodka-based cocktails for the guests, and were very good with the choice of other drinks. I never once felt that I was being pushed into an unnecessarily high option that mighht not have been needed. All in all, I would not hesitate to recommend it for events. I also take guests there for a proper dinner regularly, and have never been disappointed.

January 2009
Overall:9
Food and Drink:9
Service:9
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:9
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Flying Foodie
Gold Reviewer

Flying Foodie ( 40s, Male, United Kingdom )

This is a great looking restaurant and a good place to impress your friends with your intimate knowledge of London’s stylish dining scene. It has a small frontage, but expands tardis-like as you walk further through it, opening into a cool glass box at the back. All the design items such as lamps, chairs etc are very chic, but the place has a relaxed atmosphere all the same.

Service is pretty good and the strictly Portuguese menu interesting. I come here regularly and have never been disappointed, although I have heard a complaint about elderly fish like the other reviewer.

Fish and hearty meats dominate, but done in a much more refined and elegant manner than you find if you actually went to Portugal, resulting in a style that I would think is called modern continental.

Don’t even bother opening the wine list and just ask them to suggest some of their excellent Portuguese wines. Unless you are a real buff you won’t recognise any of them anyway.

It’s a great place for either a buzzy meal with friends or just the two of you, and is a big notch above most of the other choices in the area. I wholeheartedly recommend Portal… More

January 2009
Overall:8
Food and Drink:7
Service:7
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:7
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James W.
Reviews: 1

James W. ( Over 60, Male, United Kingdom )

There are some restaurants where the menu reads well but its promise is not fulfilled by what is delivered. Portal is one of these. You get the feeling that they probably once had a chef who knew how to cook the food to a good standard but it's his night off or he's left and a journeyman is trying to recreate something without actually having the ability.

I had a pigeon starter where the taste of the pigeon was drowned by the violence of the fruit chutney served with it. Maybe I should have known better. We then both had fish main courses: skate (boned as it turned out) with a bean stew and stone bass with some sort of sauce. Neither was very distinguished and the fish seemed tired rather than fresh off the boat.

(We did have a nice bottle of Portuguese wine which complied with the description we'd expressed to the waiter.)
For all this – 1 starter, 2 fish dishes and a bottle of wine (no dessert, no coffee etc) we paid £93 service included. That's a lot of money for an indifferent meal.

October 2008
Overall:4
Food and Drink:5
Service:7
Atmosphere:5
Value for Money:3
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