Living near Waterloo station has some perks. We used to have the Eurostar on our doorsteps, now we have the Railway Children performances (no, really).
But sometimes we also have some special, one offs events which are worth checking out. One of these is surely the Minotaur, a temporary art exibit with music with a bar with a bunch of Michelin starred chefs. We decided to check it out with a coupe of friends. It’s all quite strict and you need to pay a non refundable deposit of £25 per person to book. This will then be taken off the final bill, which will consists of a £75 three course menu.
Enter the world
We walked through the ‘box office’ door which is right behind Lower Marsh and super easy for us to get to. As soon as we walked in, it felt like we were in a really ‘exclusive’ place, if you can so define such a type of hyped, upmarket event. The tunnels under the station have been used already in a variety of roles from graffiti artists events to Old Vic performances so it was good to see yet another form of use of those damp and dark arches.
To get to the dining area, we were escorted through the art installation rooms, which included spooky statues, light forms, industrial style pieces, smoke and strange noises.
We then walked through the bar, again, shrouded in semi darkness with candles and neon lights on the walls and a dj up on a booth. We checked in.
The dining area appeared behind black curtains, beautiful – it felt like a movie, where you half expect to see masked, tuxedo-ed men courting naked ladies (think ‘Eyes Wide Shut’).
The room was busy, with different size tables dotted around the vaulted cavern and a mezzanine, where we were actually sat. Yet more darkness (hence the rubbish photos, it was near impossible to read the menus), flowers, dripping candles.
Thankfully our waitress was there to tell us about the two chefs who were cooking that night (Matthias Schmidt and Ollysan) and their menus. 3 of us opted for Ollysan sushi menu, while my other half went for Matthias Schmidt meaty menu.
We received the amuse bouche which was half forgettable (a bliny type thing with sour cream on top) and half memorable (some form of alchoolic hazelnut and apple mini drink).
A mixed start.
The first course arrived, a bit too quickly to have been made to order in my view. The first course for us was sashimi. A gloopy shrimp, a semi gloopy sea bream, salmon eggs, two good fresh pieces of yellow fin tuna and two chunky pieces of scottish salmon (no information of their provenance unfortunately which makes me doubt the sustainability of them). The sashimi was served with soya sauce and with a lemon and sugar dip which was simple but so good. The overall result was ok but not more than that.
My other half starter was cutely presented in an egg box (but then why only fill 5 holes?). Each hole had a carefully cut egg shell filled with eggs or chicken prepared in various way. I tried some of these and did not like the Truffle scrambled eggs (cold and too soft), while I loved the Jerusalem artichoke chicken liver pate and the Pickled quail egg.
In my humble opinion, it was way too much for the food that was served and from a foodie point of you, I feel a bit cheated. Yet it was a very interesting venue set up, with a fantastic atmosphere. It did feel like something special and unusual and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening so this respect – money totally well spent!
Sounds very disapppointing
From the food point of view, it was. It did not match the surroundings and the atmosphere they had created
Ciao, sono Dario di ‘Ingegno in cucina’ e ho letto il tuo coomento sulla ricetta delle girelle di nduja. La Farina manitoba è una farina prodotta in America che ha la caratteristica di assorbire più materia liquida rispetto alla ’00’ ed è quindi molto indicata per i prodotti di panificazione. In alternativa puoi usarte la ‘0’. Complimenti per il blog, a presto! Dimenticavo, se provi la ricetta fammi sapere!