Candid Outlook: Oxo Tower Restaurant

Despite the usual horrible weather in London, I was not discouraged to go out and I decided to meet up with a friend. The Oxo Tower has been on my list of places to visit for a while, not only does it have amazing views at the restaurant, it also has art exhibitions, shops and other bars and cafés to visit.

When arriving at the location, I took a lift upstairs to the floor the restaurant was on. As expected, I was greeted by the helpful hostess who showed my friend and me to our table. Our table was placed by the window overlooking London from a height. We was given the menu, cocktail and wine list and asked if we would like water for the table. As per usual, I opted for still water and browsed the cocktail menu first.

The tiki-themed glass was a big shocker – didn’t really seem to fit in with the expected atmosphere of Oxo but the cocktail was great all the same: rum-based, sweet with a passionfruit placed on the top. As you can see in the photo, there was a quite a few fruity garnishings which looked very nice in the glass. However, after titling the glass towards me, I learned why people lean over the table to drink out the straw. 10 minutes I had been sitting down and I had already made a little mess. Thankfully, I had just put down my napkin to cover my white trousers so that was one disaster averted. The waiter promptly came over at this point and took our orders. This is where the real fun began and I chose some interesting dishes.

For a starter – prawns in a season dressing and crisp wafer for texture. This dish was tasty, nicely presented and the right amount for a starter. With a starter like this, my expectations were raised a little for the main course.

The main courses were good and each had something unique about it. However, I opted for something which seemed simple but familiar – chorizo and scallops! This is not an expected mix – not something I would pair together at home – but, it works very well and the textures were phenomenal. The soft but spongy lightly seasoned scallops and the spicy chorizo sausage roll was just everything you need on a miserable looking day.

The next dish was not necessary but I decided to have something more refreshing – a salad with balsamic dressing, tomatoes and thin biscuit-typed wafers. It was supposed to be an accompaniment but I just wanted something different before I had my dessert. Again, fantastic side dish, beautifully presented and gave me joy whilst eating it.

However, the dessert was not great and didn’t make my heart sing praises to the chef. It was very mediocre with a bland taste and almost unmemorable. It consisted of: a few chocolate garnishes placed on the corner of the brown smear at the bottom, a sticky mush type banana pie as the centre piece, caramelised banana slices and a wafer biscuit on the top. It was not my favourite dessert and the dessert list wasn’t the most exciting to begin with.

To cheer me up, I had a classic Pornstar Martini before heading back to the rain and gloom of London.

Overall, for a casual lunch whilst taking in the views of London, Oxo is an okay place to visit. Personally, I would give the dessert a miss but the rest was thoroughly good and worth going back for.