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Sunday 8 March 2015

Skylon, Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX

Skylon, Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX
www.skylon-restaurant.co.uk
08/03/2015

She said: After looking at a rocket atop the Hayward we were hungry so I suggested Skylon. He agreed but I knew he had never been keen on this one but by the gods did I come out of this one the ultimate food pleasure finding queen of queens. From the moment we arrived Skylon was exceptional. The setting, elegant, grand yet intimate. The service, pleasant, attentive and generous. The food flawlessly magnificent. I was already planning a return by the second course. My fig and shallot starter was heavenly; the halibut with mushrooms juicy without being over-seasoned; the peanut butter brownie divine. As they didn’t have a table by the window, they gave us complimentary Proseco to make up for it. The coffee came with beautiful, delicious petit fours. They even brought the dessert exactly at the same time as the coffee as requested. Faultless. At £32 for three courses not including drinks, Skylon is at the higher end of the scale for a set lunch but believe me when I say it is SO worth it. This place is a wonderful occasion restaurant but also just somewhere to spoil yourself when you just want a delicious meal in a setting that will take you away from all your troubles.


He said: one of the few things I remember from school that doesn't involve clique politics or the usual mischief, is that one of the main causes of the French Revolution was the rising tide of expectation. The middling classes had been promised for so long that things would get better that they came to expect it, and believed that the time had come to go and get it. So it was, dear reader, with Skylon, except the opposite. When it first opened a few years ago I heard some pretty bad things about Skylon. So when we decided on impulse to go lunch there, I had zero expectations. As it turned out this made this surprisingly good experience stand out even more. The first thing that strikes you is the uncommonly large, triple height space, with one long side all glass overlooking the murky Thames. We were seated at a nicely appointed table (draped with a white cloth, a novelty these days!). Still I went up to the maitre d’, with little hope for success, to ask for a table by the window. Fat chance, obviously. I don't think my face reflected crushing disappointment, that’s just how I look. But still the maitre d’ felt bad go have ‘let us down’ and sent a couple of flutes of prosecco. This really characterised the whole experience at Skylon: the obviously attentive cooking and plating matched by top notch service, attentive but with a light touch and never in your face. Skylon even passed the ultimate test: desert and coffee, as requested, arrived precisely at the same time, a feat accomplished by one restaurant a year (at best). 

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