Toast the City: Dine in a former bear pit at Libertine at the Royal Exchange
Our Toast the City Awards are celebrating the City’s top spots and takes place this October. This week: Libertine at the Royal Exchange.
The newly-opened Libertine restaurant at the Royal Exchange is allegedly where bears were kept. I was skeptical until the lady behind the bar told me the whole story, then a waiter corroborated it, and then so did the manager.
Is this what a 17th century libertine was? I guess buying a bear would afford you true libertine status. We’ve all seen pictures of Salvador Dali walking his anteater… But my goodness, weren’t the beforetimes odd?
Today The Libertine has been cleared of bear poo and filled with design details that make these vast underground chasms feel both trendy and warm. “The plastic flowers can go,” says my guest, and never has a truer word been spoken, but we both admired the polished concrete walls, hung with portraits that clash with the exposed brick that was presumably once clawed at by beasts. Dainty little lighting fixtures behind the tables are arranged in the shape of Art Deco buildings and photos of horses are everywhere. It’s an inviting kind of kitsch.
The food is thoughtfully spun British classics, though not all of it has libertine flare. The spiced chicken lollipops on the starters list did – they are gorgeous little balls of high-quality junk food – and aubergine crisps drizzled in maple syrup with a spicy tomato chutney also felt exciting. Mains could be more imaginative for a restaurant gunning for this theme – a few burgers, blackened chicken and a risotto hardly felt risque – but the food is done very well.
Lamb with mash and crunchy-fresh carrots was generous, with tender lamb, and the veg avoided tasting too sweet. A side of creamed corn was back to the weirdness and was all of your American dreams. Desserts were encouragingly off-kilter: a cherry blackwell mess was a brilliant new way of doing the British eccentric dessert and a chocolate orange torte did what most chocolate orange desserts fail to do: actually taste like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
I was glad I had no grizzly bear to haul up the spiral stairs on my way out, especially after quite so much pinot noir. Could I still be a libertine? I’d had two desserts, and it was a Monday, so I made my way home in the comfort that I had become a thoroughly modern one.
Libertine at The Royal Exchange can be reached through libertinelondon.co.uk or call 0203 772 6610, Read more restaurant reviews at City PM Life&Style