Buddha Bar

Bar in Knightsbridge

4 / 10 from 2 reviews

Address
145 Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
London
SW1X 7PA

Map

History

Region
Knightsbridge

Nearest Station
Knightsbridge
0.07 miles

Category
Bars

Website
http://www.buddhabarlondon.com/

Opening Summary
Lunch: 12pm to 3pm
Dinner: 6pm to midnight
Bar: 12noon - midnight
Friday & Saturday: Bar open until 2am with DJ

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Welcome to Buddha-Bar London, a new restaurant in the heart of London's Knightsbridge. Fusing pan-Asian cuisine, avant-garde chillout music with 'eatertainment', fine wines, designer mixology and a sensuous, serene atmosphere.

Buddha Bar Picture Gallery

All In London Review

Buddha Bar finds a new home in Knightsbridge

London’s first Buddha Bar opened on the Victoria Embankment in 2008. It lasted two years before going into administration, a victim of the recession and decreasing City expense accounts. Now it’s back, with a new home in Knightsbridge, a more fitting location given its hefty prices. But I’m not going to waffle on about the cost (much), as anyone who knows anything about this global chain – there are branches in Paris, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Jakarta, and Caracas for instance - will be aware that a night out here doesn’t come cheap.

Buddha Bar is one of those restaurants where you go to see and be seen, regardless of how low they dim the lights under the pretext of being discreet. We’re seated beneath a large hovering mesh Buddha, the irony of which is not lost on us.

Anyway, on to the food, which is the preferred cuisine of restaurants of this ilk: Pan-Asian. The gyoza have a nice filling of foie gras and smoked duck, however the pastry is al dente instead of pillowy soft. A platter of thinly sliced sashimi has salmon, shrimp, tuna and yellow tail, sprinkled with peppercorns and drizzled in a generous amount of olive oil and lemon juice which means the fish has started to cook, but the flavours are good nonetheless.

The roasted black cod is a great piece of fish, flaking apart with ease and coated in a sweet miso glaze. The juicy English beef fillet is perked up with plenty of pepper, served rare in the middle and topped with black garlic. Note that the main dishes don’t include sides, which have to be ordered separately.

For dessert we try the chocolate and yuzu pudding, essentially a fondant with rich hot chocolate sauce oozing out of the centre; there is a dollop of coconut sorbet, but the citrusy yuzu is imperceptible.

A meal for two can set you back upwards of £150. Buddha Bar satisfies all the necessary criteria of a swanky Knightsbridge establishment, so if this is the kind of experience you’re after then you'll think nothing of splashing the cash.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Nov 14, 2012

In The News

Buddha Bar launches Buddha Bento

Guests can order savoury delights from the Buddha Bento menu

Buddha Bar London launches Buddha Bites

New set lunch menu

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The young, well-heeled people of Knightsbridge hang out at Buddha Bar, where chill-out music plays in the background and giant mesh buddhasserve as decoration. During the week smartly dressed couples and gaggles of friends come for the Pan-Asian food, but at weekends the place is truly buzzing.

User Reviews

The Phantom Gourmet

Jul 28, 2017

The price for sushi in this city is way way out of control. It really doesn’t have to be nor need to be this expensive. Buddha Bar’s prices are stratospheric for nothing special. A California Roll for £20 quid, come on here. It’s one of the simplest and least eclectic rolls invented.

The décor is nice and the bartenders are super cool, one of them even does magic for his customers, and they don’t mind a complimentary drink here or there, which is quite refreshing in a city full of tight wods. Their own Buddha Bar beer bottles are a cool Buddha man shape yet the beer tastes like a Grolsch. But the extremely high food prices far out-weighs a worth-the-money dinner experience.

No matter how rich someone is, does it make sense for him to pay £50 quid for a pack of cigarettes? Sushi prices are now beyond the point of normal, it’s at the point of ridiculousness.

I recommend to go there on a full stomach and just drink at the bar sitting on a bar stool ONLY

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