The Union Bar and Grill, Great Portland Street

London is filled up with magnificent restaurants, innovators in cuisine and iconic venues that are internationally recognised as being the best in their field. The problem is that boy are they pricey. There is a special kind of simper that comes over a prospective diner when looking over the menu of a restaurant. He or she will be perusing the various different sections, checking out the prices and musing through pursed lips, “Hmmm, £52 for turbot. That’s, er, that’s a lot for some turbot.”

Fortunately, not every restaurant operates at that vertigo-inducing price range. In addition, you might not want to be dining in those kinds of places all of the time. The kinds of restaurants where you gulp before ordering don’t necessarily offer the kind of atmosphere that makes for great dining. Particularly for this time of year where there is the possibility of eating out in the open and enjoying some clement weather.

These kind of places are venues like the Union Bar and Grill in Regent’s Place. It is a lively venue, very popular with people working near by for some post-work drinks. It’s a flexible venue, settled enough during the day time to allow people to come and work over a coffee and then able to ramp things up for a convivial atmosphere in the evening.

My companion and I stopped by for some post-work food. We started with a trio of small plates; boquerones marinated and seasoned with garlic and parsley, sweet potato wedges with chipotle mayo and fried calamari with aoili. These were a delightful way to commence the meal. Each of the three dishes were light and yet packed with flavour. Out of the three, my particular favourite were the boquerones, simply for the depth of the flavour from the marinade.

For main, my companion and I ventured for a flat iron steak and a steak ciabatta with fries respectively. Although my companion’s steak was not the finest you can find in London, for the price it represented excellent value and had a splendid texture. My steak ciabatta had everything you would be looking for in this kind of thing. It had a large amount of good quality steak and a benevolent amount of fries to go along side.

The Union Bar and Grill may not be on anyone’s bucket list of places to go to and it might not be a place that you boast about to your friends and colleagues. But it knows what it does well and so with an immaculate charm and fantastic service.

The Union Bar and Grill
11 Triton Street
Great Portland Street
NW1 3BF