Pharmacy 2 – Vauxhall, London

Interesting….from a lot of points of view.
Pharmacy has an exciting and controversial past but if one forgets about it – it still comes across as a striking place!
First and foremost – the acoustics are just perfect. They have made great use of acoustic paint on the ceiling so be the place empty or full (as we experienced it as we arrived early and the place became packed) there is always a great atmosphere.
The artwork (by Damien Hirst himself) is obviously there and they have created a lot of tailor made details with the pill shaped chairs, pills on the plates, pills on the sofas and butterflies on the menus.
Prices are also very reasonable and they even have a kids menu! What is really disappointing is the food itself. I mean just look at the plates. If you call something as complex as “De Beauvoir smoked salmon “HIX” cure with scrambled Burford Brown eggs” – I am sorry but my expectations are a bit higher than what you delivered here. Besides that was about 25 grams of salmon – probably enough if someone wants to keep up their modelling career but disappointing for the rest of the population. The kids’ portions seemed to be more generous – especially of the fried stuff – but it was all probably frozen minutes before so did not take much effort.

So overall if you are visiting the Newport Street Gallery and want to sit down with girlfriends to have a good chat and cocktails the place is perfect!

Pharmacy 2
Newport Street, SE11 6AJ London
www.pharmacyrestaurant.com/