Time Out rating:
<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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Time Out says
Tue Oct 16 2012
St Paul’s crypt may not have quite the impressive architecture of nearby St Mary-le-Bow (Café Below), but it is a delightful setting. Old terracotta floor tiles, bone-handled knives and woodwork painted in heritage green contrast pleasingly with a shiny part-open kitchen, black slate tablemats and understated contemporary seating. This spot should be offering paragon British Sunday roasts – and they are pretty good – but charging a £2.50 supplement for them over the set menu price is brazen. And with a mere four wines costing under £20 a bottle, there is a sense that it is geared to City wallets and well-to-do tourists shy of the hubbub in the adjacent café. Maybe that’s why we’ve never found it busy. On the plus side, they do a fine job showcasing British produce, putting a modern spin on traditional combinations: Norfolk asparagus, say, with poached quail egg, spinach and lime hollandaise, or arbroath smokie on toast with fennel mayonnaise and piccalilli. There’s always something lovely for vegetarians, but desserts aren’t a strong point. Rhubarb and custard meringue came in a leathery pre-baked pastry shell. And the blue foam topping elderflower and gooseberry fool tasted of egg white – not heavenly at all.
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