Buddha Bar, Knightsbridge

Ramadan is upon us, some of us have waited all year for this time to come, a month of giving and blessings. Ramadan is a time of abstinence from eating, drinking and a time of being at one with The Creator.

But this still does not stop us from going all out on the last weekend before the start of Ramadan. My friend and I did just that as we headed to Harrods for some shopping and went straight to one of my favourite restaurants in London, Buddha Bar.

I have been to Buddha Bar in Knightsbridge countless times, but can never get enough of the food. You know you have been at a restaurant more than you should have when the waiters refer to you on a first name basis! Oops!

So while I waited I did what I do best… took photos!

I arrived early as usual and my friend was late (as usual!). So as I waited and waited and had mocktail after mocktail, but as my friend arrived, I knew exactly what I wanted off the menu (which I knew before I got to the restaurant anyways!) Mongo sushi for life.. more of that to come later..

So we started ordering. For starters we got the Tuna Tartare with Egg Yolk, Spicy Mango Maki and Suzuki (Sea Bass) Ngiri…

I have to admit, I hadn’t tried this before and it was really interesting. This dish is a perfect example of “don’t judge a book by its cover” – when I saw it it looked like a lump of meat. We were instructed to pour the eggyolk into the tuna and mix it all up, so we did. It was odd but it tasted to immense! The eggyolk added to the texture of the tuna and the tuna was full of flavours that are a little hard to put down on paper.

By far THE most amazing piece of sushi I have had in London, this is one of my go to dishes at Buddha Bar. Each aspect of this sushi works so well together – mango, crunchy tempura and a flavoursome sauce on top, makes this my one true love!

We pretty much ordered this because it had a cute name but it was really delicious, the sea bass was great although kept coming off the rice which was a little annoying but with a dollop of ginger, was a great dish overall.

We also ordered some mocktails..

For mains we ordered Rack of Lamb with a spicy coconut crust and fennel salad, Wagyu Beef (120g) with Truffle Butter and Deux Petit Burgers Parisiens. Unfortunately by the time I finished taking photos, the food was pretty cold. Surprising, given that I must’ve only taken about 7 minutes in total, but the meats were very cold at this point. The management was very happy to warm it up for us though which was great!

Once warmed up, the lamb was great. It was succulent and juicy, easily came off the bone, but was a little too fatty for my liking. Also, what really attracted me to this dish was the coconut crust, but to my dismay I couldn’t taste any coconut whatsoever. Still a good dish though but more coconut would have been amazing.

I remember when a few years ago the only dish that was halal on the menu at Buddha Bar was this dish and that was fine by me. I remembered the wagyu steak being so succulent, “flavoursome” being a major understatement and the truffle butter!! The truffle butter I could have bathed myself in it was that good!! (Joke!) However, this time round I felt that the wagyu was a little too oily, greasy for my liking. Although this may have had something to do with the fact that they reheated it, at £59 it was still so delicious but not as amazing as I remembered it to be. The truffle butter added to the oiliness but the taste was beyond amazing.

Now, you all know burgers aren’t my favourite foods,I initially only agreed to eating these because sweet potato fries are my weakness! But these sliders were actually really tasty. The beef was so succulent and full of flavour, and the chips were amazing! My soft spot for sweet potato fries was maintained!

Last but not least.. dessert! No meal is complete without dessert obviously, so this was ours..

I love creme brûlée anyways but I also love a bit of choice. The trio of brûlée was made up of Pandan (which is a South-Asian plant and kind of tastes of pistachio), Vanilla and Chocolate. The pandan was my favourite, the flavours were not too strong but different enough to know what it was, the vanilla one was well made and so delicious, but the chocolate one was a little strange and more of a mousse than a brûlée, yummy nonetheless but not what I was expecting.

I love cheesecake and lime and ginger… so I was super excited about this dessert, rightly so. It tasted immense, the lime and ginger combination was so refreshing and tasted great along with the pineapple salsa, although the texture of the cheesecake was a little disappointing. When you think of a cheesecake, you expect it to be creamy, this was more of a mousse than a cheesecake, although it didn’t matter as it tasted so good, but wasn’t really much of a cheesecake.

Overall, between the 2 of us we ate to our full capacity, the food was delicious, the ambiance was great (they even managed to play a bit of Bollywood so can’t go wrong with that). What I love about Buddha Bar is that it isn’t snotty at the very least, the prices are reasonable and its a great night out with amazing food.

The prices are reasonable, for all this food, we paid around £80 each (£160 in total including 12% service charge), bearing in mind £59 of that was the wagyu steak, that in my eyes is one good deal!

My ratings as follows:

Food – 8 out of 10 
Service – 8 out of 10 
Price – 7 out of 10
Atmosphere – 8 out of 10 
Experience – 8 out of 10

 

Overall, giving Buddha Bar a total TLH score of 9 out of 10.

Address: 145 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7PA
Website: http://buddhabarlondon.com
Halal Status: Everything is halal on the menu except the duck, please make sure you state your preference when making your booking. Also check for dishes with alcohol
Closest Station: Knightsbridge (Piccadilly Line)