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43 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0PP Full details & map

Bar

Time Out says 1 Users say 1/5 Rate it

By Time Out Editors Posted: Jul 7 2010

Beside but not attached to the Rubens Hotel, the Bbar exudes cultured Africana: black-and-white photographs of elephants and big cats, leopard-spotted lampshades, South African wines on the hundred-strong, categorised-by-taste wine list.

Some of the cocktails also have a springbok in their step, if in name alone: take, for instance, the Cape Town (Sazerac rye, Lillet Blanc, blue curação and bitters), named in honour of South Africa but otherwise bearing no trace of it. The 40-plus cocktails are mostly fuelled by quality spirits, with Hendrick's gin combined with rosewater and lychees in an appealing rose petal martini.

Although the bottled beers also bear African labels (Namibian Windhoek), the food is international: burgers on naan bread, chicken liver pâté with melba toast and the like. The clientele are typical of the neighbourhood.

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Tags: Cocktails, Something different, Central, Victoria, Bar

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bbar details

Address

bbar

43 Buckingham Palace Road SW1W 0PP

Transport Victoria tube/rail

Telephone

020 7958 7000

bbar website

Open 11am-11pm Mon-Fri; 5-11pm Sat. Food served noon-10.30pm Mon-Fri; 5-10pm Sat

Credit cards AmEx, DC, MC, V

Facilities

Tables outdoors ( 4, pavement ), Babies and children admitted ( until 5pm ), Booking advisable, Function rooms ( 60 capacity ), Disabled ( toilet ), Wireless internet

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Comments & ratings 1/5 (Average of 1 rating)

By Yvette - Mar 21 2011

1/5

What a terrible experience. Being from Cape Town, I didn't expect this restaurant's South African cuisine to be spot on. My husband and I just wanted to reminisce a little that evening. Bad idea. It was a Saturday night and the restaurant was half-empty. Still our starters took 45 minutes to arrive.

I had lamb and apricot sosaties (quite nice, to be fair) and my husband warm pita bread served with hummus (fine..but hard to mess that one up though). For mains I ordered Lamb and tomato bredie and my husband the burger. We were very surprised that they ONLY serve the burger well-done. Health and safety apparently.
When our meals arrived AN HOUR later (I complained numerous times) my lamb was inedible. It was fatty, sandpaper-dry and just plain awful. My husband's burger was FAR too dry. Surely the sign of a good restaurant is that they will cook their meat to your specification?
The wine list is very expensive. There is quite a large selection of South African wines, but sadly they are "supermarket wines" back home. These were around £30! Even with import duties, this is exuberant.
Don't even bother with this place. The service and food are terrible, and it's expensive. I don't mind paying for quality, but I would have preferred Nandos.