Boundary restaurant

E2 7JE

London

2-4 Boundary Street

Boundary restaurant,

Set in the basement of a restored Victorian warehouse, the Boundary restaurant injects a good dose of swank and swagger into this area of East London. Earlier this year, Terence Conran and his wife Vicki partnered with Peter Prescott to unleash the Boundary project onto the cobbled backstreets of Shoreditch. An ambitious venture comprising of three restaurants (Boundary, Albion and Rooftop Terrace), a bakery, food store and 17 lavishly designed bedrooms.

We wandered over to the main restaurant on a Sunday afternoon to check out the set lunch menu, which comes at the bargain price of £23.50 for three courses. Upon walking into the restaurant, we were immediately taken aback by the sheer opulence of the venue. Bare brick walls with cosy alcoves, red and burgundy velvet chairs, hanging silver trays, stylish lighting, fresh flower arrangements, numerous immaculate waiters and a vast display of modern art including drawings of greek goddesses hovered above our heads. The look here was ultra-chic and sexy. And of course, typical of Conran, there’s the open kitchen running the length of the restaurant that brings an element of realism to the plush and theatrical décor.

The set menu offers a choice of three starters, mains and desserts, all plucked from the a la carte menu, which boasts a large selection of crustacea along with classic no-frills French and British dishes. A starter of quail with Jerusalem artichoke puree and a deep-fried quails egg made me giggle. The legs were just so tiny and cute, yet very succulent and flawlessly offset by the sweet and nutty puree. It’s a shame my knife and fork couldn't do it justice and I had to resist the urge to pick up the dainty bones for a good nibble. An assured combination of pear, blue cheese and endive salad was less of a munchkin-sized portion and was fresh and tasty.

For mains we opted for a generous and pleasingly medium-rare rib of beef, accompanied by a perfect puff of Yorkshire pudding, crispy roast potatoes and buttery French beans. It was basically a Sunday lunch, but a very good one at that. A dish of bouridde arrived with an assortment of beautifully cooked, plump white fish but the sauce lacked any flavour or depth making the overall dish fairly bland. Thankfully my dessert was so lovely, the memory of the bouridde floated away. A comforting bowl of warm boozy cherries with moist ginger bread and vanilla ice-cream hits the autumn chill spot perfectly. My friend’s apple and blackberry crumble tart was equally as good, served with a delicate crème anglais. The service was sleek and attentive (there were almost more staff than customers), and I never stopped enjoying the ambience and lush venue. It was laid out in such a way that every table was suitably intimate, whether it be families dining, friends or couples. The Boundary is a decadent, bold and plush restaurant that’s well worth being seduced by.

A three course set Sunday lunch menu is priced at £23.50 per person.

**Reviewer:** Leila Sarraf