INC Bar and restaurant,
Greenwich
Kim
McAusland checked out this smart
neighbourhood diner
Greenwich
INC - dining for art-lovers and antique
enthusiasts
Greenwich,
the most visited place in London… Greenwich,
the home of time, where 'Greenwich
Mean Time' was first measured. Greenwich,
where Cutty Sark, the last tea clipper
in existence, is now dry-docked,
and has a long and fascinating maritime
history. With its royal connections,
Greenwich is also home to modern
day celebrities including Laurence
Llewelyn-Bowen, Glenda Jackson and
Jools Holland.
However,
if you're like me, and you've never
felt very spoilt for choice when
you go and eat or drink there, take
a closer look now. You might find
there's more to Greenwich than meets
the eye, as I recently discovered
on my tour.
Bar de
Muse, The Trafalgar Tavern, Spread
Eagle and the INC bar and restaurant
to name a few, are surprisingly,
all owned by the same company. Completely
set apart by style, ambience and
menu offering, the common bond is
consistently evident throughout all
seven hostelries - history, art and
antiques clocks too, now that's a
fitting connection!
I felt
a connection with the INC Bar, for
it's stylish and sociable ambience…for
a moment, I thought I was back in
the Big Apple. I was fascinated by
the building - grade II listed, Victorian.
The internal design is the work of
celebratory designer Mr Llewelyn-Bowen,
and some of the key decorative features
are commissioned from some of Britain's
most applauded artists Antony Stern,
Neisha Crossland and Christian Lindenbauer.
The gold-embossed
antique-style clocks are a splendid
back-drop to the Bar, but, for considerable
time, my attention was firmly transfixed
on the art taken from the Bridgeman
Art Collection, displayed on digital
screen and the images perpetually
changing.
INC restaurant
describes itself as modern/contemporary
British, offering simple food. The
Head chef is Wayne Gray. The restaurant/diner
grill serves rare breed meats, prepared
in the venue's own butchery. There
are all the possible kinds of beef
steaks, from Rump and Rib-eye to
Fillet, plus veal, lamb or pork cutlets,
and exotic meats like ostrich as
well as tuna, salmon and whole sea
bass. You can choose your own sauce
and side orders, so it's a sort of
DIY menu. For those not wanting the
whole hog, there are a range of appetising
tapas dishes priced between £3 to £5.
On this
occasion, we started with a cocktail
- the Martini Mitch, a subtle blend
of passion fruit, peach brandy, vodka
and apple juice -I'll have more of
those please! I decided to skip the
main course and went straight to
the biz - the deserts - all five
of them to be precise (well, I'm
easily seduced, and it didn't seem
fair to not try them all!). The chocolate
soufflé with beetroot ice-cream and
the baked blueberry cheese cake are
both worth a specia; mention. We
also indulged in the Noble late Harvest
2002 desert wine from South Africa
to accompany them!
The
Inc Bar and Restaurant,
7 College Approach, Greenwich, SE10 9HY Tel: 0208 858 6721
Opening Times: 6pm - 11pm (12 pm Fri and Sat)
Average Price per head: £40
Kim McAusland April 2004
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