Caravan – Bankside, London

A relatively recent new opening by the Caravan chain, in (yet, another) upcoming trendy area of London.

I went there for a Sunday brunch and the restaurant was relatively full, very buzzy. A large room with some windscreens / structures of sorts to create separate dining areas. A long open bar dominates the end of the room. Large windows bring lights in making it a very airy space.

I went for the yuzu pickled mackerel, soft egg, potato, baby spinach, wasabi crème fraiche. Come on guys, really? You probably mentioned all the ingredients but oil, salt and pepper in your description of the dish… Anyway, it was actually quite a good and filling dish. The yuzu-pickling was super light but still pleasant; same for the wasabi crème fraiche which lacked a bit in wasabi. It was a simple dish yet satisfying.

My friends went for salmon with eggs and a side of avocado, and for the jalapeño cornbread, frijoles negros, fried egg, chipotle, avocado and lime. They both liked their food, well presented, in good portions and again filling.

Each of the dishes came between £8 and £9, which was a reasonably good price.

For dessert I went for medjool date and hazelnut cake, halva ice cream, cardamom, syrup, labneh while my friends shared a blueberry tart. My cake was super moist, super delicious, served warm, battling with the cold of the halva ice cream and the labneh. Not much medjool dates and not much cardamom in there but still balanced, pleasing flavours. Desserts were priced at £6.5.

The buzz in the restaurant was not overpowering; we chatted with ease, with no problem hearing each other despite the restaurant being full.

Service was ok, not super-attentive but overall we managed to order food, get food and pay with no big mishaps so I think we were ok with that.

Acoustics
Banqueting
Courtesy
Décor

Caravan – Bankside
30 Great Guildford Street, SE1 0HS London
www.caravanrestaurants.co.uk