Restaurants

Unlike the rest of this busy bar and restaurant complex, the dining room on the top floor is a calm retreat, where waiting staff are attentive, and conversation is at a moderate pitch. The room is modern and pleasant-looking, but plainly decorated; quite rightly, all the focus is on the view. Diners look out over Smithfield’s rooftops and towards St Paul’s through sliding glass doors or, if they’re lucky, from one of the coveted tables on the terrace. The menu (overseen by John Torode) makes much of its suppliers, and ‘rare-breed, organic, additive-free meat’. Steak is indeed first-class, but unusually, on a recent visit, some of the other dishes were below par. Salt and pepper squid with roast chilli dressing (a menu stalwart) was so-so. It appeared unnervingly quickly, as did another underwhelming dish of dorset crab on toast. Mains – pork three ways (fillet, roast belly, braised shoulder, served with veg and salsa verde), and a special, dover sole – were much more dynamic, but didn’t quite achieve the giddy heights of past meals here: a pity at these prices (the pork main cost £19). Still, we’ll return to sample a 10oz Longhorn sirloin; Top Floor remains a gem even in a competitive area.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008