A short walk from the wonderfully grand façade of the Portland stone pillars at St. Pancras New Church on the corner of Euston Road and Upper Woburn Place, lies the newly refurbed Memoir Club Hotel, which used to be the Ambassadors Hotel.
Bloomsbury is a rather marvelous London gem, tiny quiet side streets such as Woburn Walk and Cosmo Place punctuate bigger streets like Duke’s Road or Marchmont Street filled with independent Cafes, Restaurants and Bars, secondhand book shops, and small retailers, untouched as yet by the developers who have nearly finished ravaging our beloved Soho. Although there are signs that they are heading that way, so go soak it up I’d suggest. I was pleasantly surprised at the soul and community left in the area as I walked about before lunch.
The inspiration behind this £7million refurbishment and the name Memoir Club and Adeline Restaurant is The Bloomsbury Set (or Group), a collection of writers and artists who frequented the area from the turn of the 20th century.
Thankfully, this isn’t too much of a leap of the imagination as many lived and partied in the nearby Gordon Square.
They have done a great job on the restaurant décor, the bar details nod to art deco with big windows which view the afore-mentioned Woburn Walk. The room is big enough for parties of 60 or intimate lunches, which is what I’m having with my alcohol declining friend.
There are a host of 1920’s feeling champagne based cocktails for me which the convivial waiter, Marios, goes into detail about. Apparently one recipe has been handed over on a scrap of paper by a locally based regular customer. I’m hoping it was the rather mesmeric gentleman eating alone in the restaurant wearing thick cut red cords and a cream linen jacket.
I tried a Wolfers cocktail, which is Cîroc Passion vodka, pineapple juice, hibiscus, and champagne. Delicious. I then tried the Keynes Twister made up of mango chili gin, tabasco, cranberry juice and Champagne, warm and fruity, and finished off what was turning into a boozy aperitif session for one with a Negroni as a palate cleanser.
My friend was offered several delightful sounding zero percent tipples; something fruity appeared and she settled down with what I’m assured was a ‘banging’ ginger gin and tonic. I declined the offer of a taste. Why ruin the habit of a lifetime?
The menu is the creation of Executive Head Chef Charles Holtz, and I love that he’s previously been designing menus for private hospitals according to google. It’s Mediterranean with some influence of French classical I would proffer.
Marios, our enthusiastic and delightfully chatty Romanian waiter was obviously very excited for us to try as much as he could feed us and was clearly proud of the food and drinks on offer and his homeland.
There were no misses in the food we ate, to start with we had Harissa King Prawns on slices of toasted sourdough with smashed avocado, Greek Feta and Fig Salad with spinach and huge triangles of black sesame filo crisps for texture, Caprese Salad with heritage tomatoes, strawberries and a creamy mozzarella panne cotta which was wobbly, creamy and light as a cloud. The highlight being the latter, but all were scoffed with relish.
I didn’t go through the wine list properly, but the list is very reasonably priced as I look again writing this. Champagnes start at £60, most of the white and red wines are under £50 and half of them under £30 a bottle. Not bad in this current climate where restaurants are increasingly expensive.
The main courses we chose were the Whole Grilled Seabass which was served with lemon butter and samphire and capers, and a big grass-fed Fillet Steak which came with Rocket salad, a grilled Red Pepper and three sauces, Bearnaise, Peppercorn, and a Tomato, Chili and Shallot Salsa Verde. Both main courses were simple and cooked to perfection. Perhaps they could have done the fish filleting at the table, but we didn’t mind butchering it badly ourselves. I had a nice glass of Merlot with the steak and a drip of Pinot G with the fish.
We concluded the meal with more excellently executed classic puddings. A Lemon Tart with crème fraiche, Espresso Tiramisu and an oozing Chocolate Fondant with vanilla ice-cream. All were worthy and reasonably priced affairs.
Hotel restaurant/bars aren’t my thing normally, but they’ve done a good job on this one, and I’d suggest if they can maintain some authenticity with the Bloomsbury literary links that they are very keen on, not make it a cheap gimmick, and make it a place for locals as well as the tourists staying there, then it will have some longevity and community love, and that might make for a beautiful thing.
Adeline Restaurant @ The Memoir Club, 12 Upper Woburn Place, Bloomsbury WC1- The Memoir Club