Romantic al fresco dining experience in central London

It was my turn to organise our wedding anniversary celebrations this year, and with it being our 10th I wanted to do something special. Originally I had looked at various different style cinemas, with the aim being to have a special movie experience followed by dinner, then I looked at the weather forecast – hot, hot and more hot. Despite our anniversary being in August (we celebrate when we can get childcare in July/August) each year we have been in London it hasn’t been great weather, so it just seemed wrong to lock ourselves indoors.

I started looking around to see what al fresco dining I could find for us. Surprisingly London has quite a lot to offer – the bar/restaurant on the banks of the Thames next to Somerset House, Kensington Roof Gardens and many more. After drooling over various beautiful photos and mouth-watering menus I settled on “Coq d’Argent” in the City.

I couldn’t have made a better choice: it was really easy to get to (it is literally right next to Bank station), it has a stunning rooftop terrace and the bar boasts views of the City, including the Gherkin, the food and wine are outstanding, and the service is perfect.

Hubs started his meal off with escargots, not everyone loves snails but he’s a big fan and tells me they were lovely:

Hubs & snails

I didn’t try any as I was too busy tucking into my foie gras (I know it’s not ethical but I’m a good girl generally, and this is my one thing, so forgive me, yeah?):

Me and foie gras

After such delicious starters we moved onto our mains, mine came from the menu and Hubs’ was à la carte. Porc et poulpe for him (Pork and Octopus):

Porc et poulpe

And Pithiviers for me which was a puff pastry pie with camembert, celeriac and potato inside:

Pithiviers

They really made a big effort with us, despite the restaurant being packed, and we both had the same anniversary message written on our plates. Here is Hubs’ blueberry tart (I had raspberry cheesecake):

Blueberry tart

Not only was it a great location, amazing food and wine and exceptional service but also very affordable: we had one set menu and one à la carte, the set menu (snails, Pithiviers and raspberry cheesecake) was just £29 for the three courses, which for central London is really good value for money. The à la carte was about an extra £15-20. The wine is not cheap but it is very good, we had one of the cheapest bottles (around £30 as against the more expensive ones of £700!) and it was excellent.

All in all I would say that it is a great place for a special occasion (birthday, anniversary etc), as it can be expensive if you tally up champagne before the meal, one à la carte meal and a bottle of wine on top of the set menu. However if you stick to water and the set menu then it’s very reasonable….but nowhere near as much fun! I would definitely recommend it in any case, and Hubs and I LOVE our food and are quite fussy about what we eat and where.

Unfortunately we will HAVE to go back as I didn’t take any photos of the fab view from the bar before we were seated.

Disclosure: Hubs and I paid in full for our meal but the restaurant knew in advance that I was going to be writing a review. As usual all views and words are honest and my own.

 

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4 Responses

  1. HonestMum says:

    Happy Anniversary and what a fab meal/restaurant. Must check this out when next in London. I think they need to offer you a free meal for such a well written review (with gorgeous pictures too) x

  2. Looks like you had a lovely time. I’m curious about snails but not quite enough to try them x

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      We had such a fab time. The thing with snails is you have to tell your brain you’re eating something else, if you overthink it you’ll be sick, but if you forget what you’re eating then they’re quite nice….as long as you like garlicky, herby, chewy food (think squid consistency).

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