Baltic, 74 Blackfriars
Rd London SE1 8AH
04/08/2013
She said: Armed with a new restaurant
discount card and in the area after attempting and failing to get into the
Guinness Book of World Records thank to an abysmally organised event by ‘Ride
London’, we hit Baltic for digestive respite. Promoted as ‘Eastern European’
Baltic is a delightful surprise. You enter an unassuming dark entrance next to
a neighbourhood pub and pass a long bar which then opens into a vast, stunning,
contemporary dining space bursting with natural light coming through the
skylights above a 40 foot wood-beamed ceiling. This former 18th Century coach
builder’s works offers a wonderful mix of dishes that blend traditional and
contemporary foods from places such as Georgia, Poland and Russia along with a
long list of flavoured vodka shots which are hard to resist. I started with a
fig, smoked artichoke and rocket salad which was heavenly, achieving the
perfect mix of salty and sweet; I followed this with the salmon blini but
mistakenly ordered the main sized portion which came with four warm, saucer
sized blinis and ample salmon; the starter portion of two blinis would have
allowed room for dessert, which I sadly had to pass on despite the superb range
of options. Service was efficient and pleasant and the atmosphere at Baltic is
chic, smart and yet relaxed. The bill
was reasonable for such fine food and setting at £30 for two (including £20 off
with our discount)! Baltic is one to come back to.
He said: as if we didn’t eat in restaurants enough as it is, we now have
a card that gives us 50% off in a bunch of places. It’s like giving crack to
Lance Armstrong, or a loaded gun to a baby. Totally irresponsible. But it turns
out that Baltic is giving love away, and so we had to go. This is a place that
we discovered a decade ago, but like most places that we like, we tell
ourselves we’ll go back but then we don’t. Except that in Baltic’s case there
was a good reason – it burned down some time ago, and had to be rebuilt. The
place looks great: the bright, modern dining room and its cathedral-height
ceiling cunningly concealed behind a dark and narrow front of house. Miles away
from the rustic Polish village thing, and definite wow factor. And park any
stereotypes that you may have about Eastern European food (donkey sausages,
pork & potato milkshakes, etc): Baltic makes all the classics but with a
very light touch. Of course I had to have the pirogi which here were fluffy
pillows of potato and cheese under a thin, lightly fried skin of dough. I
shovelled them in. Then I followed with blinis served with finely chopped
mushrooms, cucumber in yogurt, and aubergine caviar (like baba ganoush) – so
much better than the more usual salmon version. Most Slavic people have got a
totally irrational and deeply passionate thing for mushrooms, so it was really
great to see this on the menu. Add to this superb food a vast array of
flavoured wodkas and you’ve got a winner. It’s no wonder that Baltic has been
kicking butt for more than a decade. I’d love for this place to be around the
corner from me.
, we tell ourselves we’ll go back but then we don’t. Except that in Baltic’s case there was a good reason – it burned down some time ago, and had to be rebuilt. Baltic Adventures
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