This spring I’m on a mission to find the best bottomless weekend menus London restaurants got to offer.
Today it’s Smith’s Bar and Grill Bottomless Sunday Roast with a picturesque location, a short walk from Paddington along a quiet canal.
First things first, when they say bottomless they really mean it. It’s limitless starters, mains, desserts and drinks.
It starts with an order of two starters each. Smith’s Bar and Grill smoke their own salmon in-house, that’s too good to pass on.
Looks like it’s hand cut as well as the slices are on the thicker side, slightly smokey and salty with the thinnest fat stripes on farmed salmon I’ve seen. It’s very good, comes topped with giant caper berries for an extra sour touch and dotted around crème fraiche.
The second starter is deep fried calamari rings with an interesting more crumbly yet still thin coating, cooked in quality oil leaving no aftertaste. The squid is also well made, no rubbery texture like many always worry with squid rings.
My guest goes for meat before the main meat feast – beef carpaccio with a generous drizzle of dijionnaise and cancha. Cancha the rising in popularly starter topper is corn nut or simply toasted corn for those who aren’t sure.
Its paper thin slices are incredibly tender and the dijionnaise has a satisfying mustardy spice to it.
We’re then asked if we wan to have a round of any of the other starters because well as mentioned it’s truly bottomless, as we’re reasonable people who still have 2 more courses and drinks to go we politely decline.
Although, if I had space I would have gone for another smoked salmon.
Drinks should not be ignored here, mine is a classical and fresh sparkling – Spumante Brut while my guest’s is a fruity Portugese Cintila white with very soft palate.
We are told the wine brands don’t change here but the cocktails do. Today it’s cranberry vodka, a bit like cosmopolitan but not as strong and on the sweeter note.
It’s on tap for a quicker serving but a bit too sweet if we were to go for bottomless.
Now to the star of the meal Sunday Roasts. Grass fed picanha is my chosen while chateaubriand is the meat of preference for my guest. The meat choice is wide here from free-range chicken, to 10 days mature lamb, pork belly and field and chestnut mushroom parcels for vegetarians.
I like picanha cuts for the tender meat and their fat cap, which is a cherry on top. Decent marbling makes it nice and juicy while keeping it tender.
Veggies are all the classic selection although spring broccoli instead of the standard is a nice addition. When I’m in my home kitchen cooking myself I’m particularly careful not to overcook the greens.
These are nice and perky, with bright green colour and crunch still in tact. While the honey roasted carrots are well prepared too without burnt ends. It’s good to see the veggies received the attention they all needed as apposed to just thrown all into a boiling pot together.
Shocking to hear but I have seen this happen in supposedly good gastro pubs. Potatoes are another important item not to neglect, these are prepped in duck fat. Both my guest and I agree, they are amazing, no burnt or dried out ends that will challenge even strong teeth.
Soft and creamy inside with a lovely coating. The Yorkies are the only not perfect edible on our plate, a little flat, mine especially. I’m not sure what went wrong for it but it’s resembling a pancake more than it should.
Flavour wise it’s not bad but could benefit from a better shape. Portion wise if you were to go for non bottomless it’ll more than suffice.
However, the option to order more is there, in our case we just ask for a few extra slices of picanha and chateaubriand, reminding ourselves that we still have a dessert.
The desserts section is great from just light ice cream, something those who dine on a few plates of Sunday roast might got for to cheesecake dome and churros. Nikkei style Ayllu sister restaurant downstairs clearly has a tropical influence here.
Churros come freshly made perfectly angled hoops, they are fun to pick by hand and dip in the nutty hazelnut sauce. My cheesecake is also lovely, it’s a little sphere with creamy center topped with a passion fruit and orange for the acidity balance.
I didn’t ask but it does come on a subtly coconuty sable making me think it might be a gluten free dessert.
Overall, although this is our first Sunday roast of the year, it’s settled quite high up on the ranking, flawless meat and faultless veggies, a little hick up with the Yorkshire pudding but nothing too major.
Also, as far as good value for money goes, it’s excellent with the quality cuts and truly bottomless, the limit is person’s eating capabilities really.
Smiths Bar and Grill, 25 Sheldon Square, London W2 6EY