Scarfes Bar evokes a convivial atmosphere with a roaring fire, cosy velvet armchairs and sofa seating, bookcases filled with over 1,000 antique books hand-picked by a Portobello antique dealer and low-key lighting. The space is being lovingly evolved into a living canvas by artist Gerald Scarfe whose characterful illustrations will adorn the marble walls and discreet, intimate corners, meticulously designed by the renowned Martin Brudnizki.
Scarfes Bar
Restaurant & Bar in Holborn
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Scarfes Bar Picture Gallery
All In London Review
All happiness and with interesting moments...
Inside, the hotel is all a bit too shiny for my taste – I kept trying to say hello to myself before realizing it was just my reflection in the polished copper, glass and chrome.
Scarfes Bar, my destination in the recently renovated Rosewood Hotel, comes as a blessed relief from the gleaming corridors. Done up like a gentleman’s club, its many shelves filled with hundreds of antique books (none of your cardboard cut-outs here), curiosities under glass domes, individual standard lamps, low upholstered seating and marble columns, this place has been thoughtfully furnished and gives off an air of studied yet comfortable elegance. I was visiting for lunch but its chief attraction is in the evenings (no reservations and often standing room only) when cocktails and bar snacks are enlivened by live jazz, and the lucky people who nab the sofas in front of the open fire can, for the course of an evening, imagine themselves in some fantasy world when traffic wardens and packed tube trains have been banished.
One advantage of the bar’s popularity as a night time venue is its relative obscurity as a place for lunch so it was with a sigh of relief I dropped into an upholstered chair in a quiet, spacious room, daylight leaking in from high windows. Other occupants were snuggled into their own cosy areas as undemanding music played in the background and pleasant, unstuffy staff were happy to leave me in peace till I was ready to order.
The lunchtime fare returns to gentleman’s club theme – desserts include rice pudding and rhubarb crumble – just the thing to remind the legal eagles popping in from the Inns of Court of their schooldays. Main courses come in themes – several pizzas, some stews and curries, again, very gentleman’s clubbish, even down to a distinct flavour of commercial curry powder in the bream curry that I ate. Lobster adds a touch of posh, prepared in several different styles, but like so many menus the starters are the most imaginative and the dish involving Jerusalem artichokes and goat’s cheese far surpassed my main course in taste and delicacy.
Sometimes eating alone can be awkward, especially in crowded or snobby kinds of places where you are forced to listen to someone else’s too loud conversation but the hour and a half I spent in Scarfes was all happiness and with interesting moments, from drinking water out of a metal cup to the tiny taster of curried yoghurt and crispy things produced before my main course. I didn’t feel the need to bury my head before a mobile phone. A downside to all this is the cost as prices are more in keeping with an evening meal in a more formal restaurant. Wine by the glass comes at a minimum of £8 and three courses excluding drinks would set you back £40 or more. You’re buying a sophisticated but laid-back atmosphere with privacy but I’d happily return with someone I was keen to chat to (and maybe impress a little).
Scarfes is less than a year old so still in its infancy and I suspect doesn’t it quite have its lunch time setup quite sorted yet but it’s well worth giving a try. Besides, you can safely leave your coach-and-four in the hands of the extras from Pride and Prejudice and you don’t need to go off to the washrooms to check your appearance -- just take a quick glance at the walls on the way in.
Reviewed by Sean Sheehan
on Apr 1, 2014
Published on Apr 1, 2014
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