One Canada Square is the latest venture from ETM Group with ex-Ivy Club Head Chef, Jamie Dobbin at the helm. Set in the lobby of Canary Wharf’s most famous building, and offering an ‘exciting modern European menu’, we donned our best suits à la Men In Black and headed to the city to find out more.
The restaurant and bar is closed off from the building lobby in a sort of wooden box. Instead of feeling cramped or closed in, the space feels intimate and you soon forget you’re in an office building. We were shown to our table and introduced to the drinks menu, in the form of an iPad. This swish touch turned out to be a little too confusing, but our extremely friendly waitress was great at talking us through, and recommended a London Spritz to start. The cocktail, Chase rhubarb liqueur, mixed with Prosecco and soda, was sweet and refreshing. While we browsed the four course menu, we were brought over the biggest bread basket known to man, served with orange, lemongrass and spring onion butter, something we have since attempted to recreate at home…it didn’t work!
The Raw Bar, the ‘pre-starter’ section of the menu, offers ceviche, carpaccio and tartare dishes. We went for the Wild Bass Ceviche with Mango, Lime and Chilli Salt.
The mains are a mixture of classic British dishes such as Slow Braised Cumbrian Beef Cheek with Creamed Potato & Glazed Carrots, and slightly more daring options like the Scallop & Shrimp Burger, all using fish and meat freshly sourced in good old blighty. We did the right thing and went for the steaks…
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The best course by far, aside from the bread basket, was dessert. On the recommendation of our waitress, shout out to Sarah, we went for the Espresso and Vanilla Baked Alaska. This definitely wasn’t the buy-two-for-a-pound at Iceland/school dinner Baked Alaska of our youth, but a creamy espresso ice cream surrounded by Italian meringue on a cinnamon biscuit. It’s worth a trip to One Canada Square just for this.
We finished off with a couple of double-cream dessert cocktails (try the seasonal St Nicholas with Kraken Rum) and headed off into the night.
One Canada Square had some great dishes, but definitely has the city suited and booted vibe about it. If you’re ever in Canary Wharf with some cash to splash, go and check it out…
One Canada Square, No.1 Canada Square, London, E14 5AB
www.onecanadasquarerestaurant.com