The Bingham

The Bingham restaurant has been completely refurbished (though I must confess to preferring the previous décor) and re-launched in March with a shiny new chef and more upmarket menu. We recently took my foodie sister there for dinner and she was very impressed.

Since the refurb, some prices on the menu have been hiked up making the Bingham perhaps a more special occasion type of place, however there are deals to be had, and we were lucky to dine on a 50% off food offer which certainly softened the blow.

Make sure you start with a drink in the stunning looking bar, or perhaps on the terrace, weather permitting, with views over the river.

In the restaurant, we settled into our comfortable corner table for what turned out to be a very good meal indeed. Service was a little haphazard at times, and the noisy kitchen door did grate a little, but overall it was an excellent evening.

An amuse bouche of Asparagus & split pea soup paved the way for the delights to come. We started with the Roast Quail with pickled mushrooms, caramelised foie gras and shallot sauce; and the Smoked Eel Terrine with celeriac choucroute, pink fir potato and chervil salad. Loved the presentation and tastes of both. Next up was the Saddleback Pork - cheek, loin, black pudding, barbeque beans and smoked potato; and the Squab Pigeon with Jerusalem artichoke puree, fig & beetroot tart, and coffee sauce. I tried a mouthful of the pigeon and it was very rare and rich. The pork dish was delicious, particularly the sticky pork cheek and the black pudding.

Wanting to prolong the experience, dessert was ordered - the Yoghurt and Marscapone Cheesecake with gingerbread, fig ripple ice cream and earl grey jelly; and the Varlhona Chocolate Mousse with vanilla rice pudding and pink grapefruit sorbet - the mousse and rice pudding were an excellent combination, though the sorbet seemed out of place and melted too quickly.

Noisy doors and soggy sorbet aside, we will definitely return to The Bingham.