Monday 3 February 2014

Harry's Bar in London, featuring: wood pigeon, toulouse sausages, venison casserole, armagnac brioche and sorbet

Harry's Bar is a British/European restaurant in the City of London, situated in Abchurch Yard near Cannon Street.

I had decided to meet the girlfriend and an old friend for dinner and, while searching restaurants online, I found Harry's Bar, which had a toptable deal offering 50 per cent off its a la carte menu. After making sure it had solid diner reviews, I decided to give the restaurant a go.

I started off with the wood pigeon breast with redcurrant jus and fresh pomegranate. The meat was wonderfully cooked - soft and juicy - but I found the sauce a touch too sweet and slightly over powering. Slightly disappointing.


My friend's bangers and mash (or, as Harry's Bar calls it, grilled Toulouse sausages with caramelised shallots and thyme jus on creamy mash potatoes) was apparently 'pretty standard'. I'm reliably informed it was nothing special, but it 'did the trick'. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though; in my opinion, it's difficult for bangers and mash to break out of the 'standard' label.


Next up is the Scottish venison casserole with baby onions, carrots and chianti wine sauce served with creamy mash. This is the sort of dish I love and the meat was nice and soft, falling apart easily.


Onto dessert, I ordered the warm prune and armagnac brioche pudding served with vanilla ice cream. It's basically like a posh bread and butter pudding - and that's exactly why I really liked it. My friend also ordered this but found the brioche too dry. I however didn't mind this, as I felt the ice cream (which was incredibly creamy) countered the dryness well.


Finally, here is the sorbet selection consisting of pear, mango and lemon. Decent-sized scoops all round, but the real star was the pear sorbet, which had an incredibly refreshing taste. It shouldn't really be a surprise - and it's almost ridiculous to say - but it tasted incredibly like a pear.


So what did I think? On the food alone, it was a pretty decent experience overall; most of the food was good and portion sizes were acceptable. The location is good for City types and the restaurant interior is well presented.  It's worth a visit with the 50 per cent discount, but I think it would be too expensive for what it is without it.


Closest station: Cannon Street
Closest Tube: Bank and Monument
Address: 5 Abchurch Yard, London EC4N 7BA, UK

Square Meal Harry's Bar on Urbanspoon

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