Skylon Restaurant

Address:	Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX
Tel	020 7654 7800
Website:	Visit Skylon Restaurant website
Price: £53.00	Wine: £18.00	Champagne: £44.00
Opening Hours:	Mon-Sun 12N-2.30pm 5.30-10.45pm B:11am-1am

Square Meal review of Skylon Restaurant:

Skylon is the stunningly decorated food & drink centrepiece of the revamped Royal Festival Hall. There’s a fine-dining Restaurant on one side, a brasserie-style Grill on the other (see separate review), & a Bar on a raised platform between the two, all boasting floor-to-ceiling views of the Thames. The menus of executive chef Helena Puolakka (ex-Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor) feature both classic & more innovative options. In the Restaurant, this might mean a light but vividly flavoured starter of roast apricots with young girolles & hazelnuts, pea shoot salad & chestnut honey dressing followed by equally accomplished mains. Sea bass cooked in a paper parcel with Iberico ham, baby fennel, olives & Puy lentils, for instance, is perfectly timed & brilliantly presented so that a wave of delicious herby steam wafts over the table as the waiting staff open the parcel. Desserts, such as strawberries & cream, are simpler & less memorable. Service so far has been shaky, but will hopefully shape up in time.

Wine List: The list kicks off with an impressive string of wines by the glass including the iconic English fizz Nyetimber. For those with deep pockets there is then a fascinating, eclectic selection solely from the 1950s in recognition of the venue’s role in the Festival of Britain. The rest of the list trawls the world with the same amount of passion. Best Buy White 2004 Chapel Down Bacchus Reserve, England, £27. Best Buy Red 2005 Conterno Fantino Dolcetto d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy, £28.

Chef: Helena Puolakka

Helena Puolakka took on the role of executive chef at Skylon, D&D London’s restaurant at the Royal Festival Hall, in spring 2007, moving from Harvey Nichols’ Fifth Floor restaurant in Knightsbridge. Having moved to London from her native Finland she took on her first role as a commis chef at Aubergine under Gordon Ramsay before joining sister restaurant L’Oranger. In 1996, she moved to La Tante Claire, working as sous chef to its chef-patron Pierre Koffmann. A stint with Pierre Gagnaire at his three Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris followed, before she returned to La Tante Claire as head chef. In 2002 she moved to neighbourhood restaurant Sonny’s in Barnes, before joining the Harvey Nichols group in 2005. At the Royal Festival Hall, she heads up a team of 30, split into two teams to serve the fine-dining restaurant & the grill & bar.

Skylon Restaurant Location: