The Shard Oblix Restaurant – with my wife’s birthday on the horizon and with reservation in hand (2 months in advance) I was very much looking forward to an evening at The Shard Oblix Restaurant and a menu devised by founder and renowned Chef Rainer Becker.
The lift accelerates us up to the 32nd floor which seems to take no time at all, where we are welcomed by staff and escorted to the lounge bar for pre-meal drinks.
The view from this now famous landmark and prominent feature on London’s skyline is something very special, one can’t help but admire this amazing feat of engineering, which took just over three years to complete. Viewing London from this perspective is not something everyone gets a chance to see that often and I was pleased that we had been catapulted past the long queues for the general viewing platform and into a fashionable and sophisticated setting floating way above the frenzy of Friday night commuting. Our first cocktail was soon consumed whilst admiring the cityscape and before we new it our table was ready and we were handed the wine and food menus.
The impressive wine selection available didn’t make our choice particularly easy so we enlisted the help of the head sommelier Daniel Murray, a fellow Scot, who was brilliant. His recommendations throughout the meal were nothing other than spot on, I certainly was impressed. Having eaten in some of the world’s best restaurants touting michelin stars, he certainly new his stuff.
My starter, a really interesting squid dish, was delicious, followed by beef tenderloin and ultra smooth mash which was perfect. I shouldn’t have stretched to a dessert, but could not resist after browsing the selection on offer, this was washed down with a small glass of Italian dessert wine.
As we were not quite ready to depart, we returned to the lounge bar, to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening listening to the live band, who by the way were very good. Modern jazz playing in the background against a backlit London view – had I died and gone to heaven and could fine dining get any better than this?
Fantastic night out, bring your credit card with a decent credit limit on it, you’ll need it!
