The latest project from Clive Watson (of Blixen, Lorne and Riding House Café) is Provisioners and it’s just as fancy pants cool as you’d expect given how good those other three places are. Found inside the brand new Dixon Hotel, Provisioners sits on the site of the old Tower Bridge Magistrates Court – inside you can still find two jail cells with the original doors. The court itself is now a bar, which they’ve decided to call the Courtroom Bar. Well duh. With art deco decor, pastel colours, velvet seating and lots of plants, Provisioners is made for a little Insta action.
Hitting the evening menu, we started with the oxtail croquettes and red onion jam from the nibbles section, and it was about as a strong a start you could get, resulting in an unintentionally loud “fuck me” seal of approval. The scallops, a special that day, were also devoured and the black pudding, pear, port caramel and pistachio dish is something we’d defo come back for
For mains, we went for line-caught bream with mussel cassoulet, smoked trout, pickled cucumber and red wine jus, which was rich in flavour and generous in size. The 8-hour lamb shoulder was also a dream, with the super soft and juicy meat served alongside sweet potato, carrots, pea purée, shallots and thyme jus. We finished with the black and white coconut ice cream with granadilla syrup, and it certainly satisfied those sweet cravings.
Not only is the setting pretty slick, the food at Provisioners is more than a match for the surroundings.
4 Queen Elizabeth St, London, SE1 2LL
provisioners.co.uk