Rosemary Lane

How does this restaurant keep going? Like everyone else, my wife and I found ourselves alone in the restaurant all night. However, the night was fantastic. This is top quality food at the price (£86 for three courses plus wine). I started with beetroot and chorizo salad followed by the pork. My wife had the lamb shank. Both meat dishes were exemplary.

The waiter was attentive but not overbearing (which would have been easy considering he had no other tables to watch).

I'd urge people to go here.
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Piers
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 6
Thursday, February 14, 2013

Had a fantastic meal at Rosemary Lane last night. Even better than the last time and that is really saying something.

I had the grilled vegetables and feta salad with two types of beetroot which was lovely. My other half had what was described as a pea and mint 'flan' which was like a very robust mousse/paste formed into a pie shape and served with salad. It was truly divine and one of the best things I have tasted in ages.

She had chicken supreme which was so flavoursome and my slow cooked pork belly was utterly heavenly. The meat fell apart on the inside, while the rind was crisp yet not hard and the caramel flavours were superb. All washed down with a very nice Sancerre.

We finished with a shared plum crumble, which - and I am sorry to repeat myself - was superb.

Each dish was beautifully balanced and the flavours, though highly complimentary, could be distinguished from each other. It was a tour de force.

OK, it was quiet last night and we were the only table booked, but a couple of others wandered in and the atmosphere was pleasant. Tonight would be different as they are full to the gunnels, apparently.

If you've not been to Rosemary Lane, you really should go soon.
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PSAF
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 01, 2011

Went here for dinner a few weeks ago.

First thing that struck me was that apart from 2 other people, it was just us. In a way this was actually quite nice as our group of 5 really sort of took the place over. Services was good, nice polite waiter.

The food was EXCELLENT, for starter I had the halibut and grapefruit salad, wasn't sure about how that would be but thought it was unique and worth a try, I wasn't disappointed, absolutely delicious. My wife had the tuna salad which was also good, though I did prefer mine.

For mains I had perfectly done lamb, very very nice. My wife had the pork belly. Let me tell you, I've had a lot of pork belly in my life, it's one of my favourite foods, but that was literally OUT OF THIS WORLD. I'm salivating now just thinking about it again! It almost felt like 3 different dishes - the crackling was perfectly done, the fat was excellent and the meat itself was like a dream. Certainly the best pork belly I've ever had.

Desert was a delicious chocolate parfait. Wine was well recommended by the waiter and very tasty.

Will certainly be back, also heard that if you order well in advance they can send you a menu of all the dishes they've done over the years, then you can select several of them for a taster menu. Certainly looking forward to that and am sure the pork belly will feature prominently in that menu!

I heard it nearly closed down a few months ago due to issues with the lease. It will be a real tragedy if London loses this place. I can only urge everyone to visit and keep this place going - it deserves it! Location is a bit odd but very easy to get to from tower gateway/bridge.

Go there!
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Ben H
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Two of us for lunch. Guide books had indicated that they offered a reasonably-priced set menu but there was no sign of such an offer. The menu comprised individually priced dishes ranging from £6 to £9 for starters and from £13 to £18 for mains. Not outrageously expensive but the bill mounts up especially with a couple of glasses of wine. The food is good but why the 40 minute wait for the main course when there were only two other diners? Service pleasant and attentive. Bring prices down 10% and we''ll be back ...
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7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Friday, July 15, 2011

This restaurant is really perfect! The location is rather odd, but the food is really perfect! I Will recommand this to anybody who wants to get good food for à good price!
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Evert
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 01, 2011

My husband and I ate here on Saturday night (28/05/11) to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. We spent most of that day reviewing and searching for somewhere decent. We stayed in the towerhill area (5 mins for Rosemary Lane), after much deliberation we called here to make a reservation. I was surprised that there was availability at such short notice (6pm for 8.30 booking on a Saturday night in London!!). Anyway the point is don't let the lack of people & 'odd location' put you off, the place was a delight. We thoroughly enjoyed our night, the service was that of a fine dining restaurant, the food was amazing (we cant wait to go back on our next trip) and have already recommended to our 'London' friends. The wine was also great - Prail 2008 (so much so i have ordered some online!). if you are in London and looking for great food we recommend you get along to Rosemary Lane. (the chocolate pudding with orange ice cream is so good as well as the apple crumble...mmm). Like other reviews my only comment is where is everyone, a hidden gem.
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Anne-Marie Kerr
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 29, 2011

I've eaten all over London, and this has seriously good food.

The lamb and pork in particular are irreproachable, the chef loves her vegetables, and I've had some memorable meals there.

The downsides? The location, natch. But in my opinion, to eat food that is really handcrafted with passion, for little more dosh than London's many mass-manufactured meals - is worth at least *one* visit if you're going to be around Tower Bridge or St Kats.
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, January 13, 2011

This is the most amazing restaurant, with absolutely excellent food at astonishingly good prices. Its main problem is obviously a location, but anybody who is looking for some of the very best cooking in London at a very, very sensible price ought to beat a pathway to Royal Mint Street. Aldgate, Aldgate East, Tower Hill, and Tower Gateway are all a matter of minutes away. It's just in a rather quiet street that gets no passing trade. A great pity, as this is really, really worth a visit. In another location, this would be packed out all night, every night, and deservedly so.

We went to dinner there the other night, and had a glorious meal in a practically deserted dining room - just one other table occupied. OK, so it was early in the week, but when you have cooking of this quality, that's a kind of culinary blasphemy! We'd recommend this place any time to anyone looking for something special.

By the way, difficult location or not, the place is charming inside in every way.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 15, 2010

Saturday night tasting menu is best deal in town. Wonderful food and ridiculously good value for food and wine, Been coming for many years, unfortunately last time they had lost my booking for the tasting menu. This is despite me ringing and having a long conversation about the menu and how many times I'd eaten it. Worse still the staff didn't handle it very gracefully begrudgingly giving a free bottle of champagne. Not what we wanted, all they needed to do was try and offer us some of the experience. Maybe five courses instead of nine, a little effort. Instead there was a flat 'you didn't order it so cant do tasting menu'. But the tasting menu was made mostly from the a la carte that evening . It was a special occasion and we had guests from out of town so not a great start. Still a la carte was just as good and its always a pleasure..
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6 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 8
Saturday, August 21, 2010