Address: 11 – 15 Swallow Street, London, W1B 4DG
Visit: 26 July 2024
Price: **
Website: https://www.bentleys.org/
The Review:
The restaurant was originally founded by Bill Bentley, whose family ran an oyster bed and sold oysters from a barrow by the pier in Clacton-on-Sea, in 1916. Legendary clients included Charlie Chaplin and Oscar Wilde. In 2005, famous Irish chef and restaurateur Richard Corrigan bought and refurbished the restaurant.
Bentley’s still offers a range of oysters as well as an extensive array of fresh fish and shellfish dishes, including fish and chips, a sushi salad bowl, carpaccio, langoustines, a magnificent prawn cocktail, ‘royal’ fish pie, or grilled sirloin of Irish Hereford beef with salted bone marrow and black pepper onions. The food is very, very good. You can choose from the extensive main menu that changes monthly, from an oyster card, and from a chalk board with dishes of the day.
When we entered the restaurant from Swallow Street via the restaurant terrace we were escorted to the bar. We went early so we could try the cocktails. The restaurant was not very busy, and we could choose from the downstairs bar with stools and booth tables, the Oyster Bar with tables or stools where we could watch the oyster shuckers, the Rib and Grill dining room upstairs that offers a more formal ambience with linen table cloths and silver service, or the Swallow Street terrace with tables outside undercover.
There is an extensive wine list and a range of interesting cocktails, including a superb Negroni Chinato using a Barolo Chinato, Cynar, Campari, Tanqueray gin, and a House Bitters Mix. The addition of the Cynar, an Italian bitter with predominant artichoke flavours, was a revelation, which balanced the sweetness of the aromatized Barolo chinato wine.
We sat at a table in the Oyster Bar for lunch. We started with a Bentley’s shellfish cocktail with crab, Atlantic prawns and lobster, which was sensational. You can indulge yourself and add 10g of Petrossian Ossetra Royal caviar for £60 to any dish, so I added this to the shellfish cocktail. We also tried the octopus tempura with a seaweed, ginger and yuzu ponzu dip. The octopus was melt in your mouth tender, perfectly cooked.
The bread selection included Pain de mie, and Corrigan’s excellent Irish soda bread made with treacle, served with Lincolnshire Poacher butter, and a seaweed and anchovy butter.
For our main course we chose the fish of the day for two people, a 2.5 kg turbot with samphire, and a brown shrimp and caper butter. The fish was expertly filleted at the table and the succulent cheeks were served separately on a small side plate. It was outstanding, precisely cooked, with great flavour. Usually larger sized turbot have superior flavour, but this was extremely enjoyable. We also ordered the side dishes of creamed spinach, and the mashed potato that had obviously been made properly, with an equal amount of potato and butter.
Service was very friendly and attentive. We enjoyed Bentley’s relaxed atmosphere. The food was excellent and the cocktails surprisingly good. This will be a regular booking whenever we visit London.
The Menus:
The Food:
The Venue:
Outside the restaurant:
The bar:
The oyster bar – notice the individual napkins for diners at the bar:
Bar and downstairs restaurant:
The oyster bar – notice the individual napkins for diners at the bar:
The oyster bar:
Upstairs Rib and Grill dining room:
Outside dining on the terrace:
The Wine
Negroni Chinato using a Barolo Chinato, Cynar, Campari, Tanqueray gin, and a House Bitters Mix:
Wine menu:
