Eaton Square Bar & Restaurant Review: Inventive Cocktails and a 95% Gluten-Free Menu

Expertly crafted cocktails and a delicious 95% gluten-free menu. Just some of the things you can expect from Eaton Square Bar & Restaurant. While the restaurant itself isn’t situated in the most glamorous of locations on the corner of Hobart Place and the very busy Grosvenor Place, it is located in the most glamorous of postcodes, Belgravia. It’s also very close to some of London’s most famous landmarks. Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park are just a stones throw away, the river is just a short walk and Victoria station is around the corner. It’s no surprise why this restaurant and bar is so popular for its mixology masterclasses.

Settled in nicely and with menus in hand, we ordered a couple of the restaurants award-winning cocktails. Living close to the restaurant I wasn’t quite sure why I hadn’t visited before and having now tried their cocktails, I still don’t know why – because they were pure perfection. Best of the two was the ESB Manhattan. A delicious mixture of Maker’s 46, Antica Formula, Benedictine and flavours of plum. Served in an old-school science project flask and some dry ice it really was the most perfect start to our evening.

Equally as satisfying and just as delicious was the roasted negroni. This is my favourite cocktail in the world and so every time I see it on a menu, I have to order it. Here it was a mixture of Whitley Neill Gin, Belsazar Sweet Vermouth, Amaro Del Cap and topped with a roasted walnuts and even candy floss for garnish. The flavours were excellent and the presentation was even better. I thought for London it was a bit of a bargain too, priced at just £10.

First out from the kitchen in terms of food was a starter that I think just about everyone loves and this was no exception. The burrata actually could have been a lot creamier than it was, but the flavour of it was excellent and so were those vibrant coloured tomatoes. The best part of this dish was the scoop of refreshing basil sorbet and the topping of balsamic caviar was a lovely touch. With the restaurants new menu having been designed by a Michelin trained head chef and is 95% gluten-free, there are lots of reasons to shout out about their revamped food menu.

Another starter we loved was the classic crispy baby squid. This version was sprinkled in North Sea salt and topped with micro coriander cress, chilli and fresh lime. It was all served with a rather lovely pot of spring onion salsa which went down a treat.

One thing they don’t hold back on here is portions sizes – they’re gargantuan! Take these words seriously when ordering, especially if you want some room for dessert. A succulent piece of 28 day dry aged sirloin steak, served with some very chunky polenta chips, garnish of watercress and rich peppercorn sauce. The meat was cooked perhaps a little over our medium-rare requested, but the flavour was great.

My favourite dish from our entire evening was the char-grilled giant prawns which came served on a bed of squid ink spaghetti, flambéd in Cognac, fresh chilli and a lobster sauce. The latter had such a rich depth of flavour and those prawns were oh-so perfectly cooked.

We finished up with a lovely slice of cheesecake that had a texture which was almost more like marshmallow. A lovely alternative and it went great with the crumbly gingernut soil biscuit base, passionfruit topping, raspberry sorbet and chewy macaron. Though the latter probably wasn’t needed on the plate given the size of the cheesecake.

We had a lovely evening at Eaton Square Restaurant & Bar and thought their recently launched 95% gluten-free menu was a fantastic new addition and the cooking of each dish was excellent. My only reservation about this restaurant is that although the food is very good, the restaurant itself needs a facelift, staff need to be more uniformed and the serviced polished. It feels like fine-dining on the table, but an almost club like mentality. If they can get that right then they’re onto a winner as the food is already waiting.

NB: Our meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.