Bacchus
special offer
Special Offer only available online - please book above
Tasting menu £35
Offer Details: ...Includes Vat, excludes service and drinks.
Available: Monday to Saturday 18:00 to 23:30
Maximum people: 50
Terms: Expires 15th June 08
our review
Trendy Hoxton ends with the square; up this end it’s all boarded up shops and foul-mouthed twelve year olds. The roller shutters on Bacchus’s windows wouldn’t look out of place defending a James Bond villain’s mountain lair and I bet they need them if the Pacojet and the sous vide cooker aren’t destined to end up in someone’s squat.
But enough of the surroundings what about the, largely self-generated, fuss surrounding Bacchus? Is it worth the trek out? Well we spent £480 for four, a lot of that on the wine admittedly. That’s serious money in any part of London. We could have had a slap-up feast in Aubergine for about the same, without necessarily spending much less on wine, and not worried about walking the street outside.
You don’t want me to detail each of the nine courses - a fair price at £55 ahead and there are much lower priced menus, especially at lunch - there are plenty of blog-bores prepared to do that. Overall it’s fair to say we were somewhat disappointed, maybe because we went so positively determined to enjoy it. Overall the food seemed to lack any wow factor in the taste, although each dish was superbly presented and interesting in concept. Salt was a recurrent problem in that there was too much of it. This reached an apogee with dessert, a Black Olive financier with roasted pear ice cream, pine nuts and rock salt. The salt actually made us gag; overpowering everything else and rendering the dish unpleasant when it could have been rather nice. I have nothing against salt in a sweet dish, it can often work very well, but this didn’t.
Another ‘challenging’ dish was the free-range egg, lardon, hon shimeji and black olives. The texture of the egg was rather repellent and I say that as someone who loves runny eggs. It must have been the cooking method. Hon Shimeji is a highly prized mushroom in Japan for its sweet nutty taste and this we all liked, finding it well partnered with the black olives and lardon. Another thing we all agreed we liked was the course of pork jowel, black radish, langoustine and leek puree which had a quiet range of textures and taste. Artichoke and honey wine soup, with a pine nut ravioli, eringe and yoghurt was also interesting, although the tough eringe mushroom slice was rather hard to deal with using cutlery and had to be fished out with our fingers. Quite a sweet dish, the pine nuts and honey flavours made me think of baklava, which was no bad thing.
Lamb shoulder apparently vacuum-sealed and cooked sous vide for something like thirty-five hours had no texture which is the drawback with this style of cooking. The chew of a morsel should release flavour as well as render it ready for digestion. This wouldn’t matter if flavour is there anyway, but this was again a dish that curiously failed to light any lamps. It was also served somewhat late in the list of dishes, by this point we were looking for less, not more. It might have been better served up before the fish course – sacrilege perhaps, but Bacchus is not exactly a slave to tradition.
Service was good throughout and they dealt with a surprise incursion by a local who may, in his state of mind have thought it was still a pub, tactfully and well, defusing what for a second looked like being a rather nasty scene. The staff seem completely behind their chef, which is always heartening but, for now, we couldn’t help thinking that theory is triumphing over practice in the kitchen and Bacchus is not yet quite as good as it likes to think it is, which rather sums up Hoxton in general really. However both owner and chef are genuinely trying to achieve greatness and may well, with some trimming of their sails, do so yet. Worth a visit but watch your wallet.
N.H. - May 2007
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
What an interesting and highly enjoyable dining experience! Our party of four were genuinely wowed by this gastronomic gem in an unlikely area. After reading many positive reviews I did have an expectation to be thrilled by at least some of the designated courses, which often leaves one disappointed. Not so, as already mentioned.
We opted for the 5 course menu (at a more than reasonable £45 pp), and were served an additional 3 courses (or tasters rather) to begin with.
Hot green tea poured over rose water that had been frozen in liquid nitrogen was a perfect palate cleanser. An unusal texture and pleasent subtle flavour simply set the mood for the remaining courses.
There was great delight in eating every course, so to simply describe all in detail would set for a laborious read.
Highlights, however, included the mix of Halibut sashimi, foie gras and fresh strawberries. A concept that needs to be tasted rather than imagined.
Venison loin with scallops, freshly shucked peas and rhubarb caramel left our table quiet, apart from a few moans of great satisfaction.
The dish of Red Mullet with crab and orange, and cubes of liquorice jelly consisted of flavour matches that worked marvelously. The skill of the chef was really displayed in this course.
One gripe: the balloon of onion soup that was "to be burst in the mouth" for a flavour explosion was too salty.
Our cocktails were made and perfected by a fittingly skilled barman (a round of cosmos were discarded before reaching our table as they didn't pass the taste test). Our 'Bacchus Bubblebath' was the favourite. An unusal, almost soapy taste with a lemongrass foam on top. Needles to say nearly half of our total bill was on cocktails, but without regret!
The service was informed, unobtrusive yet attentive, and certainly very friendly.
Based on our experience, I certainly recommended this establishement.
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David B
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 28, 2008
We were a bit concerned to land in a very posh, trendy and souless restaurant: we were rong! Everything was excellent from the very beginning: the restaurant is very well decorated, staff is professional and nice, and the food is excellent and creative. It's definitely one the best restaurant in London, and probably the best value for money. Bravo!
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Pierre
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
I've been a fan of Bacchus since I ate there the first time about 5months
ago. I think the food has improved massively and they've also made some
changes in the decor, which has made the place feel even cosier.
I am really surprised by some of the reviews here as every time I've been to
Bacchus the service has been fantastic (friendly and professional but not
over the top) and the food flawless. Yes, some of the combinations haven't
always worked for me but I have enjoyed trying new things. I think Nuno is a
genius and he always finds time to chat to the diners at the end of the
night.
Last time I ate at Bacchus, a table of four next to me were so pleased with
their meal that they applauded the kitchen. That was pretty hilarious and
Nuno looked slighlty embarrassed. :)
The onion soup on the menu is to die for and my other absolute favourites
were the lamb and prawn dishes.
I'll be going back again when the menu changes to see what he has come up
with this time!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 31, 2008
I was taken here as a birthday treat, so I should probably be careful what I say. That notwithstanding, however, I can still hopefully give a balanced review.
First the environs. Given it's about 3 minutes from Hoxton square, I think anyone who finds themselves nervous in this part of town needs to get out more. Having said that, if your idea of an edgy area is Fulham Broadway, you'd probably be better to get a taxi to and from the restaurant.
The restaurant itself looks like a pub that's been gutted and replaced with tables. Unfortunately, being a Tuesday night there were few other covers, and therefore I would think the atmosphere was not at its best. Nevertheless, it was pleasant, if not slightly too open for my liking.
As for the food, this is the first time I’ve ever had a 'tasting menu', and while I believe other restaurants offer such menus as a way of sampling the best of their kitchen, restaurants such as Bacchus specialise in offering only the tasting menus, without being able to order individual dishes as mains. To this end, I think Bacchus serves very well as a laboratory. Not only did we have the 7 course + wines, we were also treated to 2 additional starters, and an additional main; clearly destined to be future menu items, given the feedback requested by our waitress. The dishes themselves were of a very high quality, however, as the menu changes once per month, I think it's probably pot luck as to whether there'll be enough on the menu for you to enjoy. Personally I hate oysters, and found myself presented with 2 courses of oyster, served in different ways. As it turned out, the first (the additional main mentioned above) was not that nice, but the 2nd, with a delicate bread, and onion soup was delicious.
The wines also were good. Frankly we were staggering out by the end, and that was without consuming anything but the accompanying wines (bonus point - they served tap water without asking). There was only one wine pairing that didn't work for me, which was a powerful aussie shiraz with the slow cooked ox cheeks, but otherwise it's worthwhile to go with the matching wines.
The service was also exceptional, and we had a very knowledgeable waitress, even going so far as to put a birthday candle on my dessert. Having said that, however good your knowledge of food, I can guarantee there will be plenty of ingredients you've never heard of. To that end, they could have been serving pretty much anything, and we would have nodded and smiled. Some might call that pretentious, but I’d prefer to think of it as a learning experience (not least as I’ve kept the menu and can now go away and work out what exactly it was we were eating).
Overall, I think this is an experience best viewed in retrospect. Looking at the menu and talking with friends, I realised that almost all of the dishes were in fact superb, and I would gladly have ordered any of them on their own as mains; however, the sensory overload of the entire menu is just too much. This for me is where the Bacchus experience falls down. I'd quite like to go back there and select the Red mullet and liquorice, or the succulent Ox cheeks, but I know I’d have to fork out a small fortune (over £100 a head) and have the entire menu instead. As a result, I’m very glad for the 'tick in the box', but I’m not sure I can justify a return visit.
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Edward - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The place is an unremarkable pub conversion in a very creepy area. The food is over pretentious, minuscule portions and I didn't enjoy it at all. The menu for £30 a head ended up being £60 including the drinks, and it was so not worth it...
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Overall rating 
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 10, 2008
What a treat! Friends from the East End recommended this place to us and it was a fifteen minute trot from Old Street tube. Second night of a new menu, so we didn't know what was coming till it came. Seven courses with two or three additional items to tease the palate, each more intricate and more delightful than the last. It's a comfortable space, smart but not stuffy, and the service was attentive all through the night.
We bumped up the bill with the "wine pairing" option but it was a fine thing to be surprised by a different selection for each dish. I reckon you could do it for less than a hundred quid for two, if you go for the five course option and choose your own wine judiciously. And, for that, you'll enjoy a meal of marvellous quality and invention.
Clearly, I'm a convert!
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David G
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Friday, February 08, 2008
I went to Bacchus last week with a couple of friends and I must say: WOW! We were made to feel welcome straight away and the music made the atmosphere relaxed, which is a nice change as usually with places serving such high quality food as this, the general mood can be a bit, shall I say, Stiff.
The restaurant manager, Derek, a canadian guy, is very friendly and knows his wines - he chose some really amazing ones for us.
The food was delicious. Some of the dishes had a few too many ingredients for me but the rest of the table enjoyed it all. We did the 9 course tasting, which I would highly recommend as you get a really great idea of Nuno's cooking. (We were told that he loves Japanese food, which influences some of his ingredients at Bacchus)
I would highly recommend this place to anyone who loves good food and is not a fan of pretentious places.
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helena
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
What a pleasant surprise this restaurant! The first impression is a bit strange, you do not know what to expect, especially as this was a random booking without a high level of research. The menu and the atmosphere were a nice surprise - a fixed menu with each dish comprising of a special ingredient. The service was really good and accomodated our dietary requirements without any hassle. The chef created an alternative to one of the dishes which turned out to be very nice and refreshing.
I would definately recommend this place to anyone who wants a slightly different dining experience and who likes to try out excentric combinations and tastes. The only comment would be to add 1 or 2 more dishes to the list so people can actually choose different combinations.
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anna v.
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, December 30, 2007
I dined here on Saturday night and must admit that if the reservation hadn't been made by someone who was much more into haute cuisine than I, it wouldn't have been my choice. Now, that being said the experience surprised me well beyond my expectations.
I had made the mistake of reading old reviews and was under the impression that I could order from an a-la-carte menu, an important idea for me as I cannot eat fish or shellfish. Upon arriving and reviewing the menu I learned that the tasting menu, which consists of primarily fish type items, was the only option available. Not wanting to leave my group and miss out on a convivial evening I decided to ask if there was something that could be done to accommodate my dietary limitations. After consulting with the chef the waiter announced that special dishes would be whipped up for me. I couldn't have been more pleased! So, the entire party of 6 people all ordered the 6 course tasting menu with the wine accompaniments. It was lovely and surprising and fresh.
It was not cheap but the service, the quality of the ingredients, the surprising mixes of flavours and the attention to detail made for a surpassingly good evening. If you are looking for something a bit different then I highly recommend Bacchus.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Eight of us unanimously agreed that dinner here was one of the worst dining experiences of our lives. Unbelievably pretentious, unsuccessful combinations of deliberately odd ingredients do not equal fine dining. The portions were minute, inclduing the wine - a dribble at the bottom of an enormous glass even though we were paying 5 pounds a pop. The textures were unanimously sloppy, slodgy or mushy. So many random ingredients sloshed together that you could not actually taste any of them. The service was irritating. We left most of our food, but none of the waiters bothered to ask why or whether we enjoyed our meal. Overpriced to boot: we paid a hefty 60 pounds each for this dreadful meal.
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Overall rating 
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
