Galvin Café a Vin

Time Out says

Fri Sep 24 2010

The Galvin brothers’ empire now includes (in order of opening) Galvin Bistrot de Luxe (a benchmark for bistros, in Marylebone); Galvin at Windows (haute cuisine, with views from the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton); and Galvin La Chapelle (the beautiful refashioning of St Botolph’s Hall).

Galvin Café a Vin sits next to the last of these, in a slightly confusing arrangement that includes terraces at front and back, a bar area and quite a small dining space. It can’t match La Chapelle for decor or dish dazzle, but it’s handsome enough, and prices are considerably kinder on the wallet.

Charcuterie maison with celeriac remoulade and cornichons was a generous, well-balanced platter (and only £7.50); crab salad with cucumber, avocado and bottarga was also good, if (bizarrely, given the ingredients) a tad bland. Calf’s liver with red chicory, speck, figs and balsamic packed more of a punch; the liver was first rate and cooked just-so. Sea trout with samphire was also well flavoured, with a real blast of the sea. Chocolate and hazelnut pot de crème, plus a fine macchiato, rounded off the meal nicely.

As the name suggests (it opened as Café de Luxe, but has since been renamed Café a Vin) there’s an emphasis on wine, with plenty by the glass and ‘pot’ as well as by the bottle. A useful, grown-up spot.