Blueprint Cafe

It's Wednesday night and twenty work mates descend upon the Blueprint Café, Butler's Wharf for a night of epicurean excess. First impressions were not favourable: the decor looked dated, and the four flights of stone steps in a stark white stairwell were reminiscent of a public toilet. I suppose this passed as minimalism in Conran's eyes back in the 80's or whenever this pretentious little "design" complex was conceived. Onward, and upwards (quite literally in this instance) we arrived in the restaurant proper. We were seated at a preposterously narrow red Formica refectory table, furnished with junior style cutlery courtesy of David Mellor, a myriad of glasses (that stayed resolutely empty) and black rubber place mats. These 50’s throwback mats reminded one of the old BR cafes, crossed with that black hole Bob Hoskins threw around in Roger Rabbit. After a hellishly long wait of around 20 minutes drinks began to arrive in dribs and drabs. It must have been a full hour before the starters arrived. I elected for asparagus with parmesan – what could they do to mess up that dish? It was after all the English asparagus season, fresh Evesham spears brushed with olive oil, seasoned and seared on a char grill. Wrong! They took some implausibly weedy little specimens, wrapped them in sheets of parmesan and grilled them producing a kind of cheese on toast flavour sans asparagus. The main course for me was a very good, simply grilled sea bream followed by a descent almond tart, but the wait between the courses was excessively long. Some colleagues chose a tomato and chickpea soup that turned out to be a solid, coagulated mess of pottage; others went for a beetroot and boiled salad that was drowned in vinegar. All in all the food was okay, but the service was so slow. The wine we choose, 2004 red Chianti was good but the stocks only ran to three bottles, which for a party of 20 was a joke. Sadly, the Blueprint Café disappointed in all departments.
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Steve O
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Friday, May 16, 2008

We dined at the Blueprint Café on a Saturday evening before Christmas.

Overall, it was Ok, which is faint praise for a restaurant with such a location and surroundings. The sardines on toast was bland and slightly burnt - I wasn't sure what sardines on toast should be like, but I would have thought saltier and less dry.

I then had the Sea Bass with Spinach puree', which was very good and cooked to perfection. My girlfriend had the solitary veggie option on the menu, which was goat's curd with asparagus, and again more edible than outstanding. The roast potatoes accompanying my bass were also slightly dry and burnt; perhaps it was the style of the restaurant?

Along with the service, which was indifferent - the waitress paying us so little attention she forgot she'd just welcomed us, and so did so twice - we weren't overly impressed with the restaurant as a whole. To finish, someone then forgot to deliver our chocolate brownie dessert, although this actually was worth the wait!

Overall, the Blueprint Cafe is miss, hit, and miss.
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Damian
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, February 11, 2008

We went for the set menu and it was the best meal we have had in London for a long time. Excellent.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Friday, September 28, 2007

I decided to venture into my second Conrad restaurant and opted for dinner on a Thursday night for two, under a special internet deal (£14.99 for two courses plus glass of wine). Fantastic offer, I thought. Blueprint has generally received positive reviews, plus with the stunning views of the South Bank by night, we were sure to be in for a treat.

For starters, we ordered the beetroot salad and sardines on toast. While the former was beautifully presented with lightly poached egg halves nestling on a bed of salad leaves and a very generous portion of at least two types of beetroot (quite delicious), we were very disappointed by the very plain sardines on toast. Both of us chose the sea bream (the whole fish) for our main course, and were delighted by the freshness of the fish, and the unusual side of cucumber in mint sauce. As an unexpected extra, we were also served with overly dry roast potatoes and lovely spinach, although all the accompanying sauces were a tad on the salty side.

Despite having only ordered two courses and no extra wine, we spent most of the evening happily chatting away and were most impressed by the patience and politeness of our waiter, who made no attempt to rush us - to be much commended. All in all, a really satisfying night out. We will happily return here in future to savour the delights of their a la carte menu, deal or no deal!
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Nicole
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, July 06, 2007

Visited The Blueprint last weekend and were very impressed. Food was excellent and had a lovely view of the River. Service was excellent and prices seemed reasonable for the quality on offer. All in all a very positive occasion.
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Marie Lloyd
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, May 13, 2007

We went there on a Sunday for lunch where they serve a special 3-course meal formula for only 17£ (without wine). The food was very good, we had a great view, and personel was nice. The only problem is that it's a Conran restaurant, and they very often look the same inside... Excellent value for money.
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Jérôme
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, April 12, 2007

We had a big group of 9 people who were all impressed by the fantastic view. The service was very efficient and friendly and the restaurant had a relaxed but stylish feel.

The food was quite adventurous (things like ox tongue, rabbit and lamb sweetbreads) but we all really enjoyed it.

Not a cheap night out however definitely value for money. Although there was a definite divide in opinion on one of the Lebanese red wines that was served.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, August 02, 2006