Baltic

A recent evening out with friends found us a little away from our usual haunts, in Southwark. Right opposite the tube station is this Eastern European themed restaurant. The décor is really stylish, with a darkly atmospheric bar area giving way to a light and airy dining space beyond – both very modern, but welcoming rather than scarily so.

We started our evening with cocktails in the bar. In addition to the usual suspects there are a number of special cocktails reflecting the strong Polish influence, including Chris’s apple vodka based martini and my champagne cocktail with muddled ginger. Both of these were excellent.

We then moved into the restaurant where we chose (with some difficulty!) from the extensive menu. I had the selection of blinis to start with, followed by pan-fried Pollock, while Chris started with a vegetable soup with liver dumplings (“Vereniki”) and followed this with goulash. Our friends chose a black sausage (“Kaszanka”) and a pierogi starter, and both had hake for their main course. For dessert, three of us chose the sour cherry crème brulée, while Chris had a Hungarian chocolate torte.

All of the above sounds delicious, and some of it was – notably the excellent bread that accompanied the starters, the aubergine paté and red caviar that were part of my blini selection, and the crème brulée. Other dishes though were disappointing – Chris’s goulash lacked any heat (the spicy sort) and my fish was nothing special although the accompanying lentil/walnut/pomegranate mixture was interesting, if rather surprisingly served cold. It was also served with chicory rather than the promised leek – not a major problem for me but these bitter leaves aren’t to everyone’s taste.

On the plus side, the service was friendly and efficient, and the bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, chosen from the lower end of the wine list, was very drinkable. The total bill for the four of us was around £150 – not cheap for a meal of such variable quality, but OK for a trendy London restaurant.

So would we go back? Probably, if we found ourselves in the area, but I’d be tempted to stick with the excellent cocktails and try some bar snacks perhaps, rather than a full meal.