On the Belgravia/Pimlico fringe, the former Ebury has been relaunched as a good-all-round bar/restaurant, offering food of no particular ambition, but realised with solid consistency.
It’s ‘rather picniccy’, said the young Miss Harden. As good a word as you’re going to find to describe the bright and effortfully informal mismatched décor of this large, light and airy Pimlico bar/restaurant, on the site long known as the Ebury. (Those with longer memories may recall it was once a pub where the highlight was stripper nights. How areas change.)
The same adjective could also be applied to the cuisine. This is, they say, intended to be a female-friendly sort of establishment, and the menu is long on snack-style dishes, including salads. That’s by no means to say they’re all lo-cal – our chicken schnitzel and chips was very good on both counts, though the portions might not satisfy a true trencherman. Bread was very good too, and came in a nice variety, even if they do charge for it. Prepare yourself for a real sugar high, but the rhubarb roulade – again, no real economiser on the calories – was a real highlight of a visit in which none of three people found anything really to fault.
As the dishes we’ve mentioned suggest, it’s clear that this is a place whose pretensions might be characterised as ‘wholesome’ rather than ‘foodie” and the friendly service is very much in keeping with the general tone. But what’s wrong with the sort of establishment which, back in Mrs Thatcher’s day, we might have described as a ‘wine bar with food’? When everything’s done well, nothing in our book.
We hope it prospers.
