1 Bank End
SE1 9BU
Tel: 020 7940 8333
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, October 6, 2005
The Victims: Bastiaan, Renee, Jeff, Alex
The Damage: Unknown!
We were looking for someplace close to London Bridge, not too fancy, and not too casual. Cantina Vinopolis seemed to fit the bill, and I have walked by it a lot and wondered what it’s all about.
We ambled over. After a confusing arrival (we were a little early, and they really, really, really wanted us to wait in the bar, and they wanted to take my laptop bag, which I refuse to part with), we were finally shown to our table. I liked the atmosphere, sort of. The wine stacks are great. Very atmospheric. Loved the magnums scattered about. But there was something vaguely high school cafeteria-esque to everything. I can’t put my finger on it. But it was odd.
Service was lovely. I don’t know what I expected, but our waiter was very kind and friendly. However, he lost total points when we went for the Lebanese wine and we waited and waited and waited and waited and it never arrived and we were 75% done with our entrees. Finally he just grabbed us something else from the bar. (The Lebanese was supposedly in the cellar somewhere.)
Food-wise, I went with the goat cheese terrine. I do love goat’s cheese. It was truly delicious. I asked our waiter what he’d recommend as my main and he suggested the lamb which was served with mushy peas. I love mushy peas! Very tasty. The lamb was as well, but I found the sauce a bit overpowering.
Dessert: Cheese plate. Love cheese. By that point, however, my palette was completely dead. It was the sauce on the lamb. Too salty or something. And the red wine. You know when you see the cheese in front of you and it looks oh-so-delicious but you can’t eat it because you had too much lamb shank and goat’s cheese and pirriminna? (For the record, I had never had Pirriminna before and felt like a loser. But a quick Google of various spellings tells me I’m not the only one who hasn’t had it. I promise to never use my new found knowledge to make it seem like I know so so much about wine. I’ll only do that with Carmenere.) That’s how I felt. So just a few cheese nibbles for me.
The Verdict: Hmmm. Nice atmosphere. Might go for a drink. Not sure about eating here again. Only if I can just have the goat cheese terrine!
