Name: Plum + Spilt Milk
Address: Great Northern Hotel, King’s Cross, London, King's Cross, N1C 4TB, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3388 0800
Rating: 8

Instances of quality dining in a London railway station do not crowd the mind and when the station is King’s Cross only a wild thought experiment would have brought this terminus into the equation before the refurbished Great Northern Hotel reopened its doors. Back in 1854 when the hotel first set up shop there was probably a fine restaurant on the premises but most living people’s memories came to associate the eateries in and around King’s Cross with a certain deficiency when it came to style and cuisine. All this, of course, is on the road to becoming ancient history and now that ex-Gordon Ramsay subaltern Mark Sargeant is the chef behind Plum + Spilt Milk’s menu the restaurant (which despite the name is agreeably non-whacky) is playing its part by helping to redraw the culinary landscape in what used to be dreary and sometimes dodgy territory.

I was reminded of the transporter experience in Star Trek when making the short and abrupt change from the frenetic hustle and bustle of the station concourse to the calm interior of the restaurant. Not that Plum + Spilt Milk is an oasis of pure tranquillity – what London restaurant can claim to deliver on that score? – but it is warmly comfortable and stylistically easy on the eye: walls in blue matt, parquet floor, no brash colours or gimmicky gewgaws; clean lines and simple white tableware; elegant designer pendant lighting suspended from a high ceiling; attentive, unpretentious service (a micro torch appeared from nowhere when a waiter surmised there might be difficulty reading the menu’s small print).

There is a bar downstairs but it is tiny in size and was so packed it created a déjà vu- moment of a recent train journey and I had to squeeze my way out with thirst unquenched; far better to enjoy a pre-dinner drink ensconced in the restaurant. There are some innovative house cocktails (£9.50 to £12.50), like the 1854 which mixes a vermouth (Noilly Prat) with smoked pineapple syrup and crushed cardamom, supposedly to evoke the smoky atmosphere of the old station, and the Lady Violet – a concoction of elderberry vodka, champagne and raspberry liquor – christened after the name of the old hotel’s smoking room for ladies (the first in the world, apparently).

The all-day menu is solidly British, sensibly resisting the temptation to shock, with fishy first courses like shrimps (£9.75) and Maldon oysters (£3.75 each) but also, lamb’s kidneys (£8). There are also international classics like Caesar salad (£7.25), though mine came with outsized croutons that were decidedly hard to bite through. Main dishes are divided into meat, fish and vegetarian and my choice of Dover sole with seaweed butter (£26.50) arrived with just the right temperature and it tasted quite exquisite. For dessert it seemed only right to try the plum and spilt milk (named after the livery of the staff on the The Flying Scotsman train that operated out of King’s Cross in the good old days of railway travel). Like most of the desserts it was priced at £7, though the Baked Alaska is £13.50 and more appropriate for diners who always purchase first- class train tickets.

Top tip: to max-out on the railway station experience, there is one corner table that has the Victorian clock tower of St Pancras looking down on you - but with no CCTV camera (I don't think) – so book this if you can.

Plum + Spilt Milk

Plum + Spilt Milk Picture Gallery

All In London Review

In The News

Best For

Our favourite Kings Cross restaurants

Get your nibble on in King's X...

User Reviews