Monday, 8 October 2012

The Booking Office Bar at The Renaissance Hotel St Pancras


If you haven't yet visited the new St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in what was formerly part of the St Pancras station building then I would suggest you get down there quick smart before the secret gets out.  Whilst Londoners might write this place off as a transient location for those coming through, to and from the city, thanks to the unique site and distinctive internal structure, the 207 rooms and three restaurants/lounges here have a lot more going for them than your average journey hotel. My specific experience was with the Booking Office Bar, a loftily ceilinged room lined on one side with a smart 29m long marble bar top and on the other with enormous windows looking out into the station.  This was the station's former booking office for trains to the north but the atmosphere in here is of a grandiose New York hotel, with bucket deep leather chairs that could have come straight from a gentleman's club, dark walnut wood and the original 19th century brickwork.  No too shabby at all.

I went to the Booking Office for Sunday brunch with a friend and to be honest it was not a great start when I arrived for the table I had specially booked for brunch at 11 and was told that breakfast finished at 11. However, my friend has a bona fide gift of the gab and we managed to get them to accept our order despite the fact that it was 11.07. For me, it was corned beef hash with a specifically requested non-runny egg (I know it's not the done thing but sometimes I can't stomach a liquid yolk) and for him eggs Florentine.

(Top: Corned beef hash Bottom: Eggs Florentine)

We chatted our way through quickly served coffees and a watermelon smoothie, watching the Eurostar hustle and bustle through the enormous Booking Office windows and feeling pleasantly secluded. When the food came, my hash was minuscule - served on an enormous plate! - but when I tasted it I could see why it was dished up small, as it was very rich. It was also utterly delicious, with a punchy hollandaise and meaty hash (complete with that specifically requested hard yolk) and some iron rich spinach that was well drained. My only criticism would be that the hash lacked the crunch that I was expecting. I wonder if this was the bowl nature of the plate (see above), which would have encouraged moistness…


(Top: Apple and rhubarb crumble  Bottom:  Sticky toffee pudding)

This brunch took place with the friend of mine who always has to do desert with brunch, and so despite feeling pretty full we perused the puddings. I allowed myself to be steamrollered into a sticky toffee pudding, rich with an unctuous sugary sauce and spongy, moist cakey consistency and an enormous bowl of clotted cream.  For my friend, an apple and rhubarb crumble. It was all delicious but too much - but that was our own fault.

The Booking Office is a good spot for brunch – not amazing as it’s more of a hotel breakfast feel place than a real brunch spot – but good food, unhurried service and a fantastic setting.  At £25 ish each for the food it did fall on the expensive side, but it wasn’t ludicrous for what we had and I didn't feel stung.  Having also spent a few very pleasurable hours drinking cocktails there a few weeks before – the kind that make you flush up and giggle lots and are served with a napkin and a little ornate tin of snacks – I’d say that if you want to be bowled over by the Booking Office then go at a time you can work your way through the cocktail list.  And then maybe do breakfast the next morning.


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