They say once you’ve seen one shopping centre, you’ve seen a mall.
But you still won’t have never seen anything like The Bloomberg Arcade.
It’s something of a culinary Mecca that’s effectively spring up overnight (or over the course of a few weeks, whatever) spanning the gap between the two Goliath-esque buildings that make up Bloomberg’s new European headquarters, and filled with – instead of shops – restaurants. 10 of them. And the very first of those restaurants to get their foot in the door? Vinoteca City.
As with all the branches of Vinoteca, VC has been individually styled to fit the surroundings – here, the space itself is appropriately large, and appropriately plush, with a spacious, leather-seat-filled open plan dining area surrounding a curved marble bar. Oh, and there’s a private dining room. And a bottle shop. But we’ll get to those later. First, let’s look at,
THE FOOD
Again, as with the other branches of Vinoteca, the menu changes weekly, and is unique to the site. Here, you can expect a more British slant to their normally very European-inspired offerings – they’re open from breakfast with dishes such as parsley butter-glazed grilled Manx kippers, or Berkshire sausage pastries with fried duck eggs. For lunch & dinner, expect the likes of roast guinea fowl with smoked bacon broth; or a caramelised Tamworth pork chop with wild mushrooms. And to go with all of this of course is,
THE WINE
Matching the food, the wine list changes frequently, with 25 always available by the glass, to buttress the 200 bottles they have sitting in the cellar… and indeed, on the shelves of their bottle shop, where you can buy them to take home with you. The staff are immensely knowledgeable, and the list if broken down by flavour profiles to make it all considerably less intimidating.
So there won’t be any whine coming out of you, at least.
NOTE: Vinoteca City is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Monday-Friday; brunch and dinner on Saturdays; and brunch and lunch on Sundays. You can find out more, and book a table right HERE.
Vinoteca City | 21 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR
Like good wine that goes with good food? Head on down to Noble Rot…