The Savannah Bar & Restaurant London

Oh, how the days are flying by.  It's funny how the grass is always greener.  When I was working I just wanted to be at home.  Now that I'm home every day, I can't wait to get back to work.  Unfortunately, now that we're outside of London, getting out and about is a bit more difficult.  (I'm still working on that UK Drivers License and making slow progress.)  I was whining on Facebook that I'm going a bit stir crazy.  My friend Fiona from London Unattached invited me to join her for lunch in London at The Savannah Bar & Restaurant.  It was the perfect reason to get out of the house and back into London. 

When you exit the station at Euston Street, you'll find several chain restaurants eager for your custom.  My advice is to take a few extra steps past the usual fare and try something a unique just around the corner.

The Savannah Bar & Restaurant is one of London's newest ethical, eco-friendly and sustainable restaurants.  It's located at TheWesley, London's first ethical hotel.  They've recently opened to serve their take on fusion cuisine.  The menu includes European food with the flavors of Asia and Africa as well as some classics.  

The first thing that impressed me was the decor.  It's inspired by the open spaces of the Savannah.  It is comfortable and chic, designed to be a place to "relax and reflect".  I couldn't take my eyes off the digital photo frames.  There's a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant upstairs.There isn't a separate lunch menu just yet, so if you're on a lunch budget I'd advise ordering from the Small and Sharing Plate menu in the bar.

In the small and bright restaurant, we ordered from the simple a la carte menu, but not before breaking bread.  The manager welcomed us cheerfully and extolled the virtues of both the Spanish olive oil and wine on offer.  He's from Seville and we had a quick chat about our upcoming visit in a few weeks. 

My starter was the chicken and duck pastille served on a quinoa salad with orange dressing.  This was the star of the show for me.  The pastille was crunchy and flaky.  The slight sweetness of the duck went perfectly with the citrus of the orange.  I could have eaten a double serving of this as my main and been quite happy. 

My lunch mate chose the prawn tempura with spicy tomato, shiitake mushrooms and mango puree on a banana leaf.  She declared it lovely and we both cleaned our plates. 

With all the catching up that we had to do, it's a wonder that we had time to eat.  Over a bottle of Orballo Albariño, a beautiful Spanish white wine, we moved on to our mains.  For Fiona, the oven baked chicken breast with a ragout of wild mushrooms and proscuitto served with baby carrots and a red wine jus.  It smelled wonderful. 

I chose the sea bass in papillote with bok choy, lemon grass, red chilies and baby corn.  The sea bass was delicate and perfectly cooked.  The squeeze of lemon brightened all of the flavors and it was a great selection.  (On a side-note, both of our mains were gluten free.)

There are several interesting sides on offer, including spinach with chilies and garlic and spring greens with lemon and olive oil.  But we were both in the mood for some good ol' hand cut chips. They did not disappoint.

For dessert, I was swayed by the recommendation of the lemon basil panna cotta.  It was very good, but I typically prefer a dessert with a bit of crunch.   

I was coveting Fiona's ginger and almond pudding with vanilla ice cream.  If it was half as good as it looked, I think she made the better choice.  They also have some interesting ice cream flavors including lemon & red chili, mojito, olive oil and even whiskey, which I'm quite keen to try.  Overall, a beautiful space, a limited but interesting menu and very good food.  

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  *I received a complimentary meal from The Savannah Bar & Restaurant for the purposes of review.
All photos, writing and opinions are my own.
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.


You can find this review and many others in my
London Attraction Guide.