City Social, the newest addition to Jason Atherton's restaurant empire, combines English-inspired fine dining with the novelty of a high altitude setting.
Atherton boasts a line-up of eleven other restaurants, including Little Social, Pollen Street Social and Berner's Tavern, with City Social's addition to his portfolio, designed to offer a more business like atmosphere for it's diners. A glance at the website gives assurances of "the ideal environment for those in search of a place to talk business", and it is certainly hard to argue with.
On arrival, my partner and I immediately encountered security, where you have to go through the obligatory bag search, which I suppose given the building's profile and location is a necessary evil, but a less than ideal situation. Discretion is not typically the word that would spring to mind, when describing its floor to ceiling glass windowed surroundings, situated in the lofty location of floor 24 of London's Tower 42, but the dark wooden interiors and art deco style make it seem appropriate. It has an old fashioned gentleman's club style feel to it, for better or worse, but the large beautifully upholstered booths, and pristine window seated individual tables, make for an appealing spot to talk business as the sun sets. The restaurant interiors were created by award winning designers, Russell Sage Studios, and it shows. The open kitchen makes for an excellent visual centre piece, where guests can dine in view of the kitchen staff at work.
City Social head chef Paul Walsh had teamed up with Atherton to create City Social's menus, making excellent use of British ingredients to create simple and unpretentious dishes, sprinkled with a few seasonal offerings. The bar area offered an extensive range of cocktails, with interesting twists on some old classics, and a gin and tonic list full of variations that any G&T lover would be dying to try. A particularly memorable drink on the inventive cocktail menu was the ‘In-Cider Trading', a four person concoction based on 10 year old Somerset Cider Brandy, served out of a briefcase that has to be experienced first-hand. When seated at a beautifully positioned table adjacent to the "Gherkin" building, my partner and I opted to try the yellow fin tuna tataki and Brixham crab from the uncooked and cooked starters respectively. The tuna tataki was beautifully prepared and creatively presented, with the Brixham crab and Caledonia prawn, perfectly complemented by the watermelon and black olives. Both dishes were vibrant and appealing, raising expecations for a promising main course.
We opted for two sea food dishes, the Cornish sea bass with deep fried-oyster, cucumber and cauliflower, and the line caught cod, with chorizo, baby squid and squid ink aioli. Once again high quality presentation and the food was unpretentious and delicious.
Over the course of the evening, restaurant manager Adam Vass and the waiting staff were both discrete and attentive, always on hand with impressive knowledge of an excellent wine selection. Our needs or questions were dealt with quickly and efficiently, as were those of the guests dining in our surrounding area. An issue that many high altitude restaurants have been found guilty of in the past, with a view that having supplied a stunning location, the job was effectively done. At no point did this feel like the case in City Social.
Atherton's cooking unsurprisingly is the real draw of City Social, the décor and location is sure to attract the post work city crowd, should that be your scene. There are certainly more intimate settings and grander views to be found in London, but if you are a fan of Atherton's cooking, City Social will not leave you wanting.
