Here's a post originally written for www.londonist.com, as part of their Dining Beyond Zone 1 series of restaurant reviews. Follow Londonist on Twitter to keep up with their daily posts on all things London.
Think of Canary Wharf and the words that come to mind. We’ll take a conservative guess that “vast” and “bankers” are amongst them. Incorporate this into a restaurant, add a little Scottishness and you have yourself the newly refurbished Boisdale Canary Wharf. And what better time than Burns' Night to tell you all about it…
A few superlatives to get you going. Not only is the impressive art deco Boisdale building which overlooks Cabot Square Canary Wharf’s largest restaurant, it also boasts London’s widest selection of whisky, the city’s biggest cigar club and is one of the leading jazz, soul and blues venues in the UK.
Add to this a fully stocked crustacean bar, a spot of haggis and a trademark tartan carpet, and what you have is a deliriously different kind of restaurant that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere. Even the smaller, more subdued Boisdale restaurants in Belgravia and Bishopsgate can’t compare.
A vague visual similarity between the coastline of West Dorset and the Isle of Sky where Talisker is distilled was originally mooted as the reason this destination was chosen for a trip in the great whisky’s honour. That and its relative closeness to London, of course. And who could blame our assembled team of hosts and guides for not wishing to escort a group of rowdy food and drink journalists any further than they had to?
Another, better reason for our route is soon unveiled – we’re off to Mark Hix’s eponymous Lime Regis joint to take part in a bit of seaside foraging and a nicely matched whisky dinner. Though Mark may have little more to do with the whisky than being partial to a wee dram of it, somehow his coastal restaurant, some light frugality in the form of picking our own dinner and a spot of indulgence courtesy of the spirit in question suddenly seems wholly appropriate.
