As a matter of principle, if I'm ever going to be stuck somewhere, I try and be stuck somewhere around lunchtime, it just helps. And so it was this week, stuck in Bethnal Green for an hour or so after the midday chimes, but where to go, for Bethnal Green is not exactly blessed with places for a pop in lunch? Viajante is clearly the pinnacle of the local food scene, but there's two problems here, first, I don't think they do walk ins for lunch (or dinner), and a meal there is rarely just an hour: for a lunch, best take the rest of the day off work. Second, having eaten the food of Nuno Mendes a couple of times, I just don't think I get what he's trying to do. He has legions of fans so he's clearly doing something right, but for us, we can take it or leave it, with a bias towards leaving it.
But I had heard people talk about 'The Corner Room' with high praise and thought I'd see what the deal was. To be honest, I wasn't sure if this was an offshoot of Viajante, the bar area of it or something else altogether. With the entrance to Viajante seemingly closed, it was half heartedly that I walked round to the front of the old Bethnal Green town hall, now a hotel, thinking this idea was already dead in the water. To be honest, it's not obvious there's a restaurant inside the Town Hall Hotel and I had to venture in to the lobby and ask at the front desk.
So what's the deal? The Corner Room is a separate restaurant in the Town Hall Hotel. They serve water out of Viajante bottles but this is not a part of Viajante, so for example, reference will not be found to The Corner Room on the Viajante website, you'll need the hotel's website for information on it. Nuno Mendes is however overseeing the menus, but don't expect to find him cooking. They offer an a la carte menu and a no booking policy for dinner, though they do take bookings for lunch. Lunch is available between 12-4pm which we think is great, but even better, the lunch time prices are just £17 for two courses and £21 for three, so effectively a saving of about one quarter from evening prices.
Decor is very 'old town hall' like and that this room was formerly a bureaucrats office or civic meeting room will come as no surprise, even the furniture looks mostly left over from its town hall days, though in reality, that's highly unlikely. There's some funky light fittings throughout the room but it's really a simple affair, appropriate for the informal atmosphere they are trying to encourage.
But I had heard people talk about 'The Corner Room' with high praise and thought I'd see what the deal was. To be honest, I wasn't sure if this was an offshoot of Viajante, the bar area of it or something else altogether. With the entrance to Viajante seemingly closed, it was half heartedly that I walked round to the front of the old Bethnal Green town hall, now a hotel, thinking this idea was already dead in the water. To be honest, it's not obvious there's a restaurant inside the Town Hall Hotel and I had to venture in to the lobby and ask at the front desk.
So what's the deal? The Corner Room is a separate restaurant in the Town Hall Hotel. They serve water out of Viajante bottles but this is not a part of Viajante, so for example, reference will not be found to The Corner Room on the Viajante website, you'll need the hotel's website for information on it. Nuno Mendes is however overseeing the menus, but don't expect to find him cooking. They offer an a la carte menu and a no booking policy for dinner, though they do take bookings for lunch. Lunch is available between 12-4pm which we think is great, but even better, the lunch time prices are just £17 for two courses and £21 for three, so effectively a saving of about one quarter from evening prices.
Decor is very 'old town hall' like and that this room was formerly a bureaucrats office or civic meeting room will come as no surprise, even the furniture looks mostly left over from its town hall days, though in reality, that's highly unlikely. There's some funky light fittings throughout the room but it's really a simple affair, appropriate for the informal atmosphere they are trying to encourage.
wood features heavily in the dining room
an industrial chandelier
Starters are normally £8 outside of the lunch deal and there are five to choose from: one veg, three seafood (sea bream, mackerel, squid), and pig's head. I opt for the sea bream with coriander and grapefruit. I expect something more basic than what arrives on the plate which looks fresh and enticing, and so it is. Generous with the sea bream and nice acidic notes from the grapefruit, it's a league better in our view than similar dishes served at Ceviche.
Five choices for the main too, this time two seafood, two meats and a veg option. I go for onglet in ash with barley and cauliflower (£14 on menu). Here the barley and the jus come together to form something like an umami rich risotto with a little sweetness from the onions for good measure. It's a lovely bit of comfort food on a dreary day.
I'm deeply suspicious of their desserts however. Beetroot with milk and cereals (£6) is one choice. Really, seriously? An expression involving a bargepole comes to mind, for I detest beetroot in desserts. There's sweet potato & popcorn; this could be all right but still sounds risky. So, the last of the three becomes a default option; fortunately, it sounds okay: apple & hazelnut with frozen pannacotta. It is, like what's gone before it, very nice, with apple coming in a crisp, grilled and jelly form. The pannacotta is lovely too; it feels like a real dessert.
Of an evening, the meal would have cost £28, but the lunch offer prices it at £21 which we think is great value. The corner room, by what it seeks to be, has curbed Mendes's more outlandish ideas and the food is accessible and tasty, just what it should be. The shocking thing is that I much prefer this meal and this menu to the one at Viajante, where a 3/6/9 course lunch comes in at £35/65/80 respectively.
The Corner Room is never going to be a restaurant to make a journey to, but if you do find yourself stuck in Bethnal Green for an hour between 12-4pm, this would be, without doubt, my recommended place to kill time.
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The Corner Room is never going to be a restaurant to make a journey to, but if you do find yourself stuck in Bethnal Green for an hour between 12-4pm, this would be, without doubt, my recommended place to kill time.
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