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Time Out says
Thu Jan 3 2013
This dining room of sparse glass and white walls is curiously named after the cook’s apprentice in ‘Canterbury Tales’, Perkin the Reveller, who was more partial to revelry than hard work. The choice of name only becomes clear when you realise that the location, on Tower Wharf, had its initial construction overseen by Chaucer.
Luckily, the Reveller’s executive chef Andrew Donovan takes his cooking more seriously than the apprentice Perkin did. Rather than opting for a menu filled with historically inspired dishes in the ilk of Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner, the food here is a seasonal mix of classic British and Modern European dishes, with a few steaks for good measure.
A clever starter of venison ‘cottage pie’ – tender chunks of juniper-scented venison topped with a creamy potato purée foam scattered with crisp ham pieces – arrived in a glass teacup. Equally nicely presented and flavoured was the rich, Cornish fish stew. Infused with saffron, and filled with a mix of white fish, shellfish and baby vegetables, the overall effect was not far from a provençal fish stew.
A vanilla cheesecake made with Rosary goat’s cheese was bold in flavour and light in texture, balanced well by the berry sorbet. And a light-textured chocolate and hazelnut mousse, presented in a slice with a shiny dark chocolate glaze, was given extra crunch by some dinky mini meringues.
The Perkin Reveller may not be able to compete with the conviviality of the 14th-century taverns of Chaucer’s time, but it’s worth a pilgrimage if you’re looking for quality cooking among the tourist trap options around the Tower.
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