Thursday 13 September 2012

Restaurant Review: The Garrison, Southwark

Swordfish special

Last Wednesday was an epic day of eating. After lunch at Barbecoa with my aunt, I ventured to The Garrison in Southwark for dinner. I was planning a restrained evening, but two courses and half a bottle of wine later it didn't quite work out that way!

While I was in Oz I read a few reviews of places on Southwark St and I was expecting quite a vibrant strip of restaurants and bars. It turned out to be more of a cross roads, rather than a whole street, of exciting places. However, the venues that I did spy all seemed to be full to the brim.

The Garrison has retained it's original pub exterior and layout but is now firmly a restaurant. The still have a bar, but it definitely isn't the sort of place that you'd pop in for a pint. I was pleased I'd booked a table as otherwise I don't think we would have had a chance of getting in.


Side order of chips

With lunch having been a meat fest I decided to order the swordfish special. A generous piece of swordfish was set on top of a roasted vegetables and finished with a fresh tomato relish.

I enjoyed the hit of garlic in the chopped fresh tomato, but was hoping for a bit more zing from the rest of the dish. I felt that the swordfish could have used some extra seasoning or a sauce to bring it to life.

The side order of hand cut chips (£3) were crispy to the extreme. It was almost like the kitchen were so obsessed with making the chips crispy (and not just wanting a thin crispy outer shell) that there was no middle left to the chip. It was only something I noticed for the first couple of chips and then I sat back and enjoyed them.

Cheese board

Continuing my contrarian evening, rather than ordering a dessert I opted for the artisan cheese, house chutney and biscuits (£7.70). A piece of jarlsburg (?), brie and a blue came served with an sweet, marmalade like chutney and oatcakes.

All of the cheeses were tasty and went well with the salty oatcakes, but I found that only the blue cheese could stand up to the marmalade cum chutney.

The Garrison was a fun evening. A welcoming and lively atmosphere, down to earth service and decent food. I'll happily visit Southwark St again.

99 Bermondsey St
Bermondsey
SE1 3XB
Garrison on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. Knowing where all the good restaurants are around Bermondsey street is a bit tricky, but trust me there are plenty (Zucca, Magdalen, 40 Maltby street, Elliot's cafe, Pizarro, Jose, Village East, Constancia, Champor Champor...and I can go on). Happy culinary hunting :)

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  2. I'm confused. Southwark Street and Bermondsey Street aren't that close together and I wouldn't say that Bermondsey Street was in Southwark except in the sense of it being the local borough.

    #nitpicking

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