Plateau Bar and Grill, Canary Wharf

Given the choice of where to go out to eat in London, you would be hard pressed to find many people who would consider Canary Wharf.

It is unable to offer the allure of Mayfair, the variety of Soho or the swank of Shoreditch. It hardly feels like London at all with its neatly mapped-out blocks and linear streets.

Stepping out into Canary Wharf at night feels like stepping out onto the set of Blade Runner, except that there is a Waitrose instead of a flow of flying cars.

There are a fair number of restaurants in the area and a few are trying to broaden their clientele beyond those who work there. The night I visited, the restaurant was flush with folk toasting the end of the week with a decent mix of people in attendance. But is the food worth the trip out on the Jubilee line?

The meal got off to a poor beginning with the starter of pea velouté. The word velouté comes from velour, meaning that any velouté should the same texture as that material, luxurious and with a degree of finesse. However, for all that the humble pea offers us in terms of sustenance and willingness to be mushed, it does not provide much in the way of refinement and elegance. Making the pea the base for a velouté is like making a glove out of cardboard. And the taste was similar.

The main course was more inviting, with lamb shanks with new potatoes and red cabbage. The lamb was well-cooked to achieve a good deal of flavour. The accompanying vegetables made a good match for the meat. However, there was still the feeling that overall the dish was a little insubstantial with more needed to make it enticing and more satisfying in terms of a main course.

The final part of the meal came in the form of a vanilla panna cottta with braised rhubarb. Again, this was all pretty fine with the panna cotta having a good consistency and the combination with rhubarb making for a surprisingly good match. But like the other courses, it was lacking that spark and excitement that the restaurant should be aiming for.

There should be a lot to recommend about Plateau. It’s a swish and stylish venue with considerate and intelligent service. It’s a place to come to if you’re in the area but it’s not yet a restaurant to scramble to in order to get a table.

Plateau
16-19 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
E14 5ER

Tel: 020 7715 7100