Last night was date night and Nicolas and I headed out to explore Coal Vaults on Wardour Street. Set in an old coal vault – it was romantically lit, underground and had that industrial vibe often found in the streets of Shoreditch.
As we entered we were taken to our table. The atmosphere is relaxed – lit by old school light bulbs and candles. Your senses were immediately heightened due to sight not being the first used sense and the feeling of ease descends.
We started off with a few cocktails and some deviled popcorn.
Nicolas started with a domestic bliss (middle) and I had Marano. Nicolas is the cocktail lover out of the two of us – so he was a happy bunny…however when mine arrived and I had two! Well the cat definitely got her cream
We then went on to select our supper. Coal Vaults’ menu is made up of small plates taking you through from starter to cheese. They are ideal sharers and really encourage people to share and dine together – making it the ideal place for a date 🙂
We choose:
potted crab with home baked brown soda bread
wild mushroom ragu w/homemade pasta, pecorino and chestnuts
‘pulled’ rabbit with smoked black beans, sweetcorn & pineapple relish, avocado, sour cream & flatbread
venison burgers: w/quince & beenleigh blue cheese, rosehip & port jam served with shallot rings.
The venison burgers were to die for – perfectly cooked and juicy. The pulled rabbit was an innovative dish that I had never come across before and it really was delicious. All the flavours complimented each other beautifully. The wild mushroom was good – but you must eat it as soon as it comes out – as cold mushrooms are no mans delicacy! The potted crab was ok – the soda bread was dry and there wasn’t quite enough moisture in the crab to infuse them both together – having said that the crab itself was delicious.
We continued with our exploration of the cocktail menu and moved on to:
Rodeo Drive – bourbon, toasted macadamia liqueur, lemon and egg white, with a fresh cherry
The Marwar Pony – pretty much straight up infused whiskey with a side of smoked almonds – Nicolas wasn’t too impressed with this as he felt the description had mis-lead him into a shot of whiskey…
Now there was a whisper of words about a cocktail called the Dot Cotton – lavender and honey infused gin, blackberries, lemon, egg white. When we were told we would have to wait 35 minutes for this cocktail as the alcohol needed to infuse – well that just made me want it more!
While we waited we finished off our meal with a selection of Neal’s yard cheeses with bread and chutney. Again the bread was dry but the cheeses were fantastic and went really well with the chutney provided…
Finally the Dot Cotton arrived. It looked beautiful and you could really taste/ smell the lavendar…was it worth the wait – probably not – Is Coal Vaults worth a visit – Definitely!
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