Vivat Bacchus

Restaurant & Bar in The City
Vivat Bacchus image
Ad

6 / 10 from 3 reviews
Address
47 Farringdon Street
The City
London
EC4A 4LL
Map
Telephone
020 7353 2468
Region
The City
Nearest Station
Farringdon
0.17 miles
Opening Summary
Mon - Sat: 12 noon - late
Food until: 10:30pm
Drinks until: 11:30pm

All In London Review

Lunch with pin stripped suits accompanied by very loud voices

One of my exes was a chef and a serious food critic in a former life and he decided to drag me here for a relaxed weekday lunch to check it out…

Luckily, I was working in Holborn that day so it wasn’t too hard to find the place although it is not the sort of place you might pass by accidentally, and not the best location if you were to leave late at night. The entrance isn’t exciting either – but then they aren’t trying to attract passing trade, but serious (or aspirational) foodies who will travel to the ends of the earth for special food.

There is a set lunch for £15.50 but the choice is limited (for example, only two starter choices - asparagus soup or proscuitto, rocket and artichoke salad – and mains of seared tuna or grilled leg of lamb) so nothing took my fancy there. Although positioned as Modern European there are influences from all over the world (technical term is “fusion”, my term is “all mixed up”) – with fennel soup, foie gras terrine, crocodile spring rolls (yes, crocodile!), Shetland scallops etc as starters (between £5.50 to £12) and main courses (generally £14.50 to £18.50) mostly steak oriented although there is thai curry, breaded chicken supreme (!) and springbok (not for the rugby players that one!).

Call me a philistine but the food didn’t knock me out. My ex seemed to like it ok (and I guess he should know!) but was in rapture over the cheese cellar and wine cellars with literally thousands of choices (you have to go and pick what you want – which is great if you like that sort of thing but rather intimidating if you are not sure what you are supposed to get excited about) although all that getting up and down added a rather different dimension to proceedings.

I like the sort of dark, cellar décor there. What was less pleasant was the closely packed rather functional tables and chairs which, when I was there, were full of pin stripped suits with very loud voices.

Like I say, I was there at a lunch time so I can’t comment on what it’s like in the evening. But if you have someone you want to impress with fine wines and food then it would be a good bet and marginally cheaper (and certainly easier to book) than some of the “special” restaurants in the City.

There is a “new” wine bar and deli which I haven’t tried – I guess following the Club/Cellar Gascon model – and I would be interested to hear anyone’s views on that…

Reviewed by KimT
Published on Jul 25, 2008


Best For

The best places for sampling cheese & wine picture

The best places for sampling cheese & wine

Grab your pipe and cravat and enjoy...

Most of the wines at <a href="http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/restaurants.php?type=name&rest=Vivat+Bacchus">Vivat Bacchus</a> are South African, but the cheese platters are British, French, Italian or Swiss. They also host regular cheese and wine tastings.

User Reviews

Sooz

Jul 25, 2008

Blink and you'd miss it on the street, but once inside, I liked the cosy, cellar decor and ambience. As a veggie it probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but the food was tasty nevertherless - my friend had bone marrow though which I thought was a bit much!!

What really set this place apart was the fabulous collection of cheeses - i don't know anything about the subject, but it made for a very impressive display and they certainly seemed to know what they were doing and what to recommend.
Anonymous

Jul 9, 2008

Great Wine and awesome cheeseboard last night.

Fantastically knowledgable sommelier (?) who also knew her cheeses and sounded like Kylie Minogue (didn't actually sing mind you)

Dumb waitress managed to top up the wrong glass thus mixing a couple of very decent reds, which was a shame as otherwise this was a class act.

Not cheap (£40 for a decent bottle) but well worth it if you like your plomk.



Have your say

Add a review or useful tip for this restaurant