SEARCY'S @ THE BARBICAN

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The Barbican is my favourite place in London to see films. The prices are cheap, the programming isn’t bad with a decent mix of art house and commercial stuff and best of all it doesn’t attract the popcorn munching crowds that plague the theatres of the West End and the Multiplexes. And in which other cinema would there be a sign encouraging you to take your drink with you into the auditorium ? Class. Or it would be if the bar wasn’t run by Searcy’s whose sole aim appears to be extract the maximum moolah from mug punters for the least outlay (although to be fair this criticism could probably be levelled at every other cinema chain).

But Searcy’s tentacles reach beyond mere serving out overpriced drinks to the Barbican-goers – they run all the restaurants there as well. Dos Hermanos had visited the main restaurant here a while ago and we found it suffered from ok-ish pre-prepped dishes and indifferent cooking. Now it’s had a relaunch and from the usual PR bollocks we are promised, well, the usual PR bollocks.

The room hasn’t changed – it still feels like eating in the Aeroflot lounge in pre-glasnost Moscow (or at least how I’d imagine it would feel). The staff still seem slightly surprised that someone’s actually come to eat there. The food, unfortunately, has slipped backwards.

The menu has obviously been constructed to push the right buttons: Air dried Beef Rump, Hare Pie (how could anyone not love the sound of Hare Pie), Market Fish Stew, Roast Leg of Lamb and so on. However, between the good (?) intentions of the dishes and their execution there’s a yawing gap.

That Air dried Beef Rump might have been really good but because it was served so cold I couldn’t taste anything. It wasn’t only the beef that was cold – the plate was too. I’m pretty disappointed that the kitchen was so overburdened that they couldn’t take the beef from the fridge and plonk it onto a room-temperature plate.

Hare Pie was listed as a dish for two but they were happy to cook an individual one for me. Good thing too as if I had to eat the bigger size I would have died of boredom long before finishing it. At first I thought it was ok – I could taste the hare – but then discovered there was very little else going on and it was, in fact, very dull. Add to the mix unpleasant shards of bones and a pie crust that wasn’t particularly crisp or flaky and you had a disappointing pie. Not massively important in the grand scheme of things but bloody annoying at £29 for three courses. Fat chips.

It was the Scrumpy bit in the description that drew me to the Cheesecake, but I overlooked the Savoury bit. The French waiter did warn me it had Kirsch. Odd but not necessarily a bad thing. What actually turned up though was a quiche. How I laughed. Neither cake nor chutney were very nice.

I could go on about the cynicism of operations of like Searcy’s but to be honest I can’t be bothered. Just don’t give them any of your hard-earned. Take a flask to the flicks and afterwards go five minutes down the road to Vinoteca and find out that there are operations with soul out there.

ST PANCRAS GRAND: KNOW YOUR STATION

HP’s response to the current depressing dining scene in London is pretty straightforward. Whenever I ask him if he fancies trying a new place, his reply is often a succinct

“Why go and spend £X just to confirm what you already know?”

After meals like last week’s at the mediocre Broome & Delancey, it is becoming increasingly hard to argue with logic, but a man has to eat and being of the chirpy, bluebird on shoulder optimistic type, I like to think there is still an opportunity to be surprised even in this moribund city of ours.

I have to admit, however, that I didn’t expect that surprise to come at me from the direction of St Pancras Grand, the new, Searcy’s run gastrodome in London’s recently refurbished Eurostar Station. These are, after all the same people who run that dreadful little champagne bar and the restaurant is located in a building which, while still impressive thanks to its Victorian originators, represents one of the great missed opportunities of modern day London.

It had all the hallmarks of another ho hum experience, the smart but cavernous room was empty bar for one other table, the staff seemed to be distracted by a heated discussion regarding the distribution of their tips and the bread brought to the table as I took a seat was tough and not helped by stale butter.

It rang through my head again

“Why go and spend £X just to confirm what you already know?”

However, the immediate appearance of a charming member of staff with a carafe of tap water (an increasingly welcome trend in the capital) improved matters as did the menu, which is lengthy and unapologetically British. Oysters & Shellfish are on offer along with smoked fish, cold meats and over twenty main courses including everything from Fish Pie, fish & Chips to Braised Beef Ribs with 17th Century Spices and a Lancashire Hot Pot. Prices range from the perfectly acceptable to “F**k me” with soups at £4-6 looking up at 30gms of Sevruga at £75.

Large menus normally alarm me, but given the money Searcy’s have spent on the room and the number of staff front of house, I suspect there is a big enough brigade in the kitchen to cope.

A tempting menu matters nought if the cooking is lousy, and I still had my doubts as my starter of Pickled Herring was presented. But, stone me if it wasn’t actually very good indeed. A thick, meaty fillet of fish, still retaining a bite and served, as it should be with a slice of terrific, dense soda bread. At £4.75 a plate, representing reasonable restaurant value.

The main course too showed that someone knows what they are about. The “Billy” referred to in “Billy’s Lancashire Hot Pot” is Billy Reid the head chef, but, while this was a cheffy twist on the Northern favourite, the taste and texture of the lamb, the correct absence of herbage and the layer of potato, suitably browned to a crisp on top, would have had Billy Clitheroe nodding in approval even if the portion size and price (a whopping £14.75) would have made him throw his balm cake out of the pram. At twice the size and with more lamb this could almost be a “must try” dish in London as it was it was still a sign of a decent kitchen.

I am eating out again tonight, so pudding offerings of Rice Pudding, Lemon Syllabub and Sherry Trifle (at £6.50 each) were turned down and I collected a bill of £22 including an added service charge of 12.5%.

While this represents the very budget end of St Pancras Grand’s menu and the bill would certainly build up if you added sides at £3.25 a pop, the quality of what was put in front of me reassures me that it might be worth spending more money here. Who knows, it might even end up becoming a destination place rather than a place for people going to other destinations.

But, then again, what do I know?