The Dalloway Terrace @ The Bloomsbury hotel – Review

16-22 Great Russell Street, WC1B 3NN

 I have been invited to review The Dalloway Terrace, a new inside/outside place with an all day menu at The Bloomsbury Hotel. It’s named after the eponymous heroine of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway. I hope that the themes of regret and disappointment that permeate its pages are not reflected in my meal!

 I’m sitting ‘inside’ in the outside covered terrace in early March but the heaters and blankets as well as the sparkling lights and greenery make for a cosy atmosphere. In the summer it’s going to be packed to the gills.

My opening gambit is a Mrs Dalloway cocktail (£12)-a champagne cocktail that blends Perrier-Jouet fizz, Courvoisier, sugar and Angostura which gives a delicious hint of bitterness.

 A deftly constructed dish of seared tuna, soy & ginger dressing and pickled radish (£11) was an exercise in oriental minimalism, packing a hefty but well balanced flavour punch.

More generously portioned was a Dublin Bay prawn cocktail with Marie Rose, avocado & lime (£12). This was a great version of the classic with a real citrus zing.

A bottle of Cuatro Rayas Verdejo, Rueda, (£27) was full-bodied enough to match the main courses but still had enough acidity for the seafood. I ordered a lemon sole meunière on the bone,  (£25) which was perfectly executed with a few capers to cut through the butter.

Dry aged Aberdeen Angus Beef 6oz fillet (£27) was tender and full of flavour. A really good cut of meat.

Sides of mash, some crisp fries, green beans and crunchy kale (all at £4.50) were all well executed in a little price-heavy.

Lemon tart (£7) was suitably tart and nicely caramelised with a handful of raspberries for sweetness.

There is no clever concept at The Dalloway Terrace, just straightforward food that you want to eat done well in a great space. London needs more places like this. I think the bourgeois Mrs D would approve!