Coal Office London

Such a great find. We have been there for a lunch meal after our visit to st pancras station and we were so happy with the experience. The quality of the ingredient used was top notch. We had the goat cheese gozleme, the salad, chicken skewers with fennel salad and the polenta with mushrooms and asparagus. For the desserts, we tried the lemon tart and black tahini icecream. I would absoutely recommend that you try all the meals mentioned above.

Part of the impressive Coal Drop Yard development behind St Pancras station - the Coal Office cuisine is a mixed, Middle Eastern affair. Shades of Ottolenghi abound. The menu is divided between small bites, mid-sized and large plates. It’s a little confusing and does work out a little pricey as the line between under and over-ordering is a fine one. The breads were excellent - a good mix - ordered with a tahini dip that was nicely bitter and hot. I unfortunately did not pay too much attention to the menu as other family members were ordering so, can’t recall the details! The highlights were the grilled Hispi cabbage, the corn croquettes and the poussin - everything else was tasty but not outstanding. The low lights were the sardines - OK but not too much flavour - and the calamari - tiny little rings of OK’ness. The staff welcome was warm however, despite being relatively quiet, the service was slow - we had to go and ask for drinks - on the up side, given we are both fast and big drinkers, the inattentive drinks service probably saved us from ordering another bottle of wine! Desserts were fantastic though. A delicious chocolate ganache served on a chewy biscuit base, semifreddo with cherries, a lemon tart and a panacotta with strawberries all hit the spot. The dessert was a high point to end the meal. All in all it was OK but at £75 pp, overpriced.

Had a fantastic meal here over the weekend. We sat at the chef’s table and what a delight it was! The food was amazing. Many things on the menu we didn’t recognise, but all were explained thoroughly by the staff. Our favourite dishes were the Ana-Shuvi, Meshagea, Krov Cna’ani and Poussin, but notably mentions were Tartero Oto and the Cinematek. Special mention has to go to the Australian grillmaster whose name we failed to get, but who really looked after us throughout and made the afternoon our favourite dining experience of the year. Would highly recommend.

This was my fourth visit. CO used to be good; it’s now just ok. Laughable price of £47 for the octopus (single tentacle). I assume the premium relates to the black truffle which was completely superfluous. The wine list is small and all over the place. Do I want to pay £65+ for a Slovakian Pinot? Absolutely not. Dips at £7?! Small plates were minuscule. Pumpkin croquettes tasted of old fish. Very bread heavy menu. Won’t return despite punctual service and decent aperitifs.