Belgo Lobsterfest
I was invited to a preview of Belgo Centraal’s ‘Lobsterfest’ recently, a special menu available throughout the month of June with the aim of celebrating, well, the lobster. It’s an ingredient I usually associate with either paying a fair wad in a restaurant or (for much less money and twice the excitement), the ultimate coastal holiday pleasure of eating by the sea side just steps away from where it landed. Obviously I was willing to give Belgo’s lobsters a chance though and I wondered how well a central London beery place would treat them.
Inside, Belgo Centraal is a vast space with communal style dining benches, an open kitchen and lots of signage depicting references to Belgian beers. The place was absolutely rammed on a Wednesday evening, creating a nice buzzy atmosphere.
The waiting staff are donned in what I think might be traditional beer serving outfits – elaborately stringed aprons – which look like they might be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to relieving oneself as per the man on glass above. Our waiter did seem knowledgable about the beer too though so perhaps it’s not all just for show.
After appropriate refreshment then, we started the fest with a (very) cheesy-mustardy lobster Thermidor (£8.80) and a red Thai lobster (£8.50), both of which, if I’m completely honest, would benefit from a much lighter touch to let the lobster flavour shine through.
This was followed by a whole grilled lobster slathered in naughty Pernod butter and served with frites and salad (£16.95) and the Surf ‘n Turf, steak/lobster option, again with Pernod butter, frites and salad (£16.95). The steak was fairly unremarkable and personally I’m a black ‘n blue kind of gal but I still found myself chowing down happily due to the buttery goodness on top.
The stand out dishes for me were the rich bisque (not the best ever but good value at £4.95) and the lobster salad (£16.95) – generous chunks of meat with crispy vegetables in a light dressing – a simple preparation which allowed the sweet flavour of lobster to hog the limelight.
If you are looking to eat the most perfectly cooked or straight-from-the-sea freshest lobster of your life then you’re not going to find it here. What you will get however, is a shellfish supper, which you may or may not care to wash down with copious amounts of beer, that won’t break the bank.
Belgo Centraal
50 Earlham Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9LJ
0207 813 2233
http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/
Category: Blogging Events, Restaurant Reviews 7 comments »
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
It looks delish, love the sound of the pernod butter in particular!
annes last blog post..Picnic Time!
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
cheap lobster and honey beer sounds a treat to me. Been a while since I last trekked into belgo, I think its about time I headed back.
Agree with ya about lobster not needing much to shine through. I’ll be trying the lobster salad – though I do love themidor too… but not too much cheese.
Dammit. now I’m thinking about lobster.
kangs last blog post..L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon: French Revolution [Review]
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Seems like we all came out with a fairly similar opinion – except for the foodepedia guy who loved everything except eating with us!
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:28 am
That looks SO cheesey! It’s such a shame when delicate fish is drowned in sauce, I can see why you preferred the salad.
Kerris last blog post..Barbecued Steak
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Great photos as ever Helen – and a great evening. Shame about the odd element of grumpy old-media, but you can’t win ‘em all!
Chris Poples last blog post..Launceston Place, Kensington
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I really think lobster is best cold with a good real mayonaise and a few leaves. There really is nothing better than cracking those claws and slurping the lobstery flavoured juice, it is not the same hot, but as always a review of professional standards
June 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I’m a big fan of Belgo in general, and their moule-frites particularly after a kriek or two, but I think i’d agree with you that the sweet buttery-ness of lobster does benefit from as little embellishment as possible. Still, as you say, there aren’t many places in London where you can eat arthropod for that price – not something to be Manneken Pis’d at…