Darwin Brasserie at Sky Gardens

I seem to forget how hard it is for young mums to enjoy the lifestyle that us singeltons do. My sister is visiting from the States and I thought what better way to treat her than to get snap happy high in the skies whilst munching on some brunch minus her kids for once.

If you follow my blogs, you’ll know by know that I hate being late but we ended being 30 mins late, and I was super stressed as Sky Gardens is one of those places that is very hard to get bookings at and give your table away 15-20 mins after the time of your booking.

Eventually, we got there and even got a great window table so were really lucky, but only had an hour to stuff our faces. I had had a look at the menu before (obvs). Sky Gardens serves halal chicken and lamb with 72 hours notice, so atleast I had that piece of mind.

My sister and I shared most meals and it was plenty… First the drinks came..

When you think freakshake, you think totally OTT milkshakes, but this was more of a pina colada with a few macaroons..Which was a little disappointing. If ots not a freakshake, don’t call it one! The macaroons didn’t seem like the best of ideas as the 3 macaroons were crumbling away (You see 2 as 1 macaroon fell to its’ fate soon as the waitress brought it over, although disclaimer – It was still yum crumbs and all!)

We got some bread to stifle the hunger. The bread was delicious. Now I will always always fail to understand why restaurants serve bread with frozen butter that is so hard to apply to the delicious bread! Any restaurant that serves butter vwry slightly melted will be a 10 out of 10 for me just for that.

For mains, we ordered the chicken as we had ordered halal meat in advance of our booking. This was the only chicken dish on the menu. They alao offer halal lamb. So here it is the Roast Cadecott Chicken

The chicken was enough for 2 people, which it was for sure. The chicken comes with potato puree (basically a posh way of saying mash, it was mash!), veegtables and roasting juices (aka gravy). One thing to note here is that the chicken also comes with black pudding which is obviously made from pig blood (!). I asked the waitress before hand whether it was made together and they advised it was not and as I had requested halal meat they would remove it from the dish altogether.

The dish was enough for both me and my sister to share. There were 5 decent sized chicken pieces, crispy on the outside and juicy and succulent on the inside, just the way it was meant to be! Beautiful!

We now only had 20 mins before we got kicked off our table so we decided to move onto dessert. I had my eye on the Passonfruit and Coconut Tart, but was advised by the waitress that this was the only dessert on the menu that, annoyingly, had gelatine in it. She very kindly recomended the Chocolate Bar and Jivara Ganache, so that’s what we went with.

What an absolutely beautiful dessert. When I pictured this on the menu it sounded like a bit of a caramel chcoclate bar, but it was not that at all! Bottom lined with crushed Oreo cookie, the mousse had a thick texture, not too sickly sweet but was just right, add on the beautifully made ganache which just melted in your mouth, this dessert was the win for me. The burnt banana ice cream was scarce but was a great addition to an already good desset, would’ve liked to see more of rhe ice cream though rather than just a drizzle on the side.

Nothing said about Sky Gardens is complete without a mention of the views. Genuinely. I cannot put into words how breathtaking the views are. The Sky Pod Bar’s large open spaces itself make your jaw drop. And if you are in love with London like I am, you won’t be able to get enough. My sister and I had plenty of photo opps to say the least! 🙂

I had such a great time at Sky Gardens. If you haven’t been, are new to London, or want to do some siteseeing, or just want to drool over this amazing city that we live in this is the place to go! You will not be dosappointed with the experience.

Overall, the food at Darwin Brasserie was good but not mindblowing. The menu was labelled as brunch but was actually just lunch. I loved that they served us halal meat at request, and moreover, the waitresses were so helpful as they knew we had Muslim dietary requirements they stressed what was actually “halal” – i.e. Which dishes had alcohol, gluten, etc. Price wise, it was a bit overpriced for 2 drinks, 1 main and a dessert the bill was a little over £70, and considering this could be  just enough for some to eat on their own, it wasn’t great!

I would have just  preferred to go to the Sky Pod Bar and ordered some drinks and nibbles there. I can’t believe I just said that out loud but the views definitely stole the show here.

Food – 6 out of 10 
Service – 8 out of 10 
Price -5 out of 10
Atmosphere – 8 out of 10 
Experience – 9 out of 10

Overall, giving Darwin Brasserie  a total TLH score of 7 out of 10.

Address: Sky Garden, 1 Sky Garden Walk, London, EC3M 8AF
Website: https://skygarden.london/darwin
Halal Status: Chicken and Lamb can be requested with 72 hours notice. Some dishes contain alcohol and gelatine so be sure to ask your waiter beforehand.
Closest Station: Monument (Circle or District)