My friends and I regularly try new cultural experiences. We’ve been to see the Lipizzaner Horses, Louboutin Exhibition and Degas paintings but this month we decided to focus on
stepping outside our foodie comfort zone.
And thus we ended up at Abracadabra Restaurant
- which bills itself as the best Russian restaurant in Central
London (Jermyn Street) . I’m not sure about
this claim (being in PR and a deep sceptic) but I certainly think it might be
the most bling. Apparently, it was
refurbished at the cost of £4.8 million in 2005 and – wow – what a job it was.
Everything is slightly gaudy, slightly Russian and each
booth has an individual style. We had
the Venetian Mask booth and while the sofa chairs could certainly do with a
little spot on, it was wonderful in a delightfully kitsch way.
But what about the food?
It is a delightfully bizarre mix of mainstream European (Pizza,
hamburger) with an emphasis on Russian and Georgian. To start, we had Khachapuri which was (as the
waiter described it) a little bit like naan with cheese – utterly lovely. The starter section is peppered with the
phrase ‘ideal with Vodka’ which made me smile.
While I didn’t try it – the Borsch looked great and I will
definitely be returning to see what this is like. Mains were Goluptsi (mince stuffed cabbage
leaves with excellent mash), Chicken Kima (chicken stuffed with soft cheese)
and Cossack Lamb Casserole (nice lamb stew).
All were excellent and to be thoroughly recommended.
The only down side is that Abracadabra was rather quite on
Wednesday night and it would have been far better if it was busier. However, the booths are a lovely idea as we
had a girly natter and catch-up.
All in all, I like Abracadabra with all its idiosyncrasies
– it is an odd little restaurant with slightly tarnished glory that captured my
heart.
Lxx
Don’t forget to follow me on twitter
@alittlebitofwhatyouwant
No comments:
Post a Comment