A City evening in Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market – with a history stretching back to the 1400s and links to Dick Whittington - sits in the shadow of the mighty Lloyd’s of London building not far from Bank and Liverpool Street tube stations. It is a fabulous structure – and used in the Harry Potter movies as Diagon Alley.

Anyway, after a day of working in the City there are a variety of shops to browse in – my friend and I spent some happy moments looking around Reiss, Jigsaw, Jaegar and Hobbs. We resisted the urge to visit the new Hotel Chocolat though. Then we slipped into Chamberlain’s of London to join a select group who had been invited to an evening of canapé making demonstrations.

The restaurant is independent – operated by two brothers who’s original business was in fish buying to supply some of London’s leading establishments. They also do catering and are rare in their track record of working in the nearby livery halls, the Royal Palaces and even St Paul’s Cathedral. Whilst sipping champagne and Bellinis we wandered around the four levels of restaurants – the top level (past some attractive water walls) for formal dining, the small ground floor for less formal eating and a light filled mezzanine which looked ideal for private events for around 12 or so people. The décor is traditional dark red and the walls are decorated either with Italian glass panels or fish in glass cases.

Matthew Marshall, the executive chef, demonstrated down in the basement – a fabulous brick wall structure with those great cellar arches and a modern, attractively lit bar area. Lightly toasted bread was used as a base for an avocado and chilli concoction and little smoked salmon twists with a dill garnish. He encouraged us to have a go but we were too busy feasting on the circulating canapés – prawns in a sweet chilli sauce presented in thin glasses and tiny portions of fish and chips in cones. While my friend chatting to some of the staff in Spanish and some colleagues from the insurance industry, I took a peak at the menus and made a mental note to come and eat here properly sometime soon.

Needing some time to sit down and chat, we popped around the corner and up the stairs to Ortega – an informal tapas bar practically opposite. She had a glass of wine while I played safe after all the champagne with a Virgin Pina Colada and we topped up with some bread, jamon and manchego croquettes, tortilla and white bait. The service was fast and friendly and we were on our way after an hour or so. As we left, there were still numerous City folk outside The Lamb Tavern enjoying a rare warm evening, shielded from the light rain by those incredible high ceilings of the arcade.