Arbutus Review + Wicked!

Boo!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mothers in the world! Hope you're all spoilt rotten! :) If any of you are still looking for last minute DIY gift ideas, you can click HERE for a paper rose or HERE for other DIY gift ideas. 

Anyway, how is everyone? Did you have a good week? A while back J and I went to Arbutus and watched Wicked. Needless to say Wicked was amazing!! But I wanted to share with you my experience at Arbutus :)

If you asked me why I like London, one of the many reasons is the variety of restaurants. Granted there are a lot in other cities but London in particular has a lot more to give, and you would expect so given that it is the capital city. J and I are trying out as many restaurants as we can and do so by looking at what deals are on. At the time we were going to the theatre and we saw that Arbutus had a pre-theatre menu for £20.95, and booked via Open Table. Arbutus is a Michelin starred restaurant, so given its reputation and the price, we were in for a treat!  

The restaurant is situated in Soho with Soho theatre being the closest - but we were actually going to the Apollo Victoria theatre. They have their pre-theatre menu running from Monday to Saturday 5pm to 6.30pm and change the menu daily. One thing that I really take notice of, apart from the dishes, is a restaurant's interior design, and Arbutus has a lovely design. It is cosy yet modern at the same time and again provides a perfect setting for any date. 

Royalé of Stilton, broccoli velouté, toasted hazelnuts

We both ordered the soup to start. I was having the fish as a my main so didn't want to start with fish as well haha. I'm usually not a huge fan of blue cheese so I was really worried the cheese would be too overpowering. Surprisingly it wasn't that strong which I personally preferred. The fusion of flavours was really interesting and very tasty!

Crisp Elwy Valley lamb, goat's curd, gem lettuce, quinoa

Silver mullet, purple sprouts, pumpkin, Italian leaves 

I'm not a lamb eater so I ordered the fish dish which was so so delicious! I'm not sure what the sauce was but it was incredibly tasty. As with the Stilton cheese I am usually not too keen on pumpkin, but the addition of this here added an interesting mixture of textures and flavours. J ordered the lamb and said that it was tender and flavourful. 

Olive oil cake, pear, yoghurt

Finally, for dessert we both had the oil cake. Again, the flavours and contrasting textures were very interesting. I wish there was more of the cake though, it was so delicious! I need to find a recipe for it haha. 

Overall, I had a really enjoyable time here. If you want a taste of delicious food but not at a ridiculous price I'd definitely go for their pre-theatre menu, even if you're not going to watch anything. It just gives you a little snippet of what they have to offer, which I am very impressed with. I would, however, warn that this isn't the place to go if you're super hungry, as the portions are a lot smaller than you'd probably expect. I just had a look on Arbutus' website and their pre-theatre menu is currently for £25 (HERE), but their group website and Open Table both have the £20.95 offer, so I would double check with them to see whether that offer is still available. 

I just wanted to finish off with a little about Wicked. The nearest station for us from Arbutus was Leicester Square station and we changed to the Victoria line. The Apollo Theatre is right next to the Victoria station, but with the road works going, you have to cross several roads to get to it. How am even going to start explaining how amazing Wicked was?! You can definitely understand why it is such a loved muscial. The cast were absolutely incredible and it is simply crazy how high and powerful they can all sing. We managed to get tickets for £25 and were on row H which was fantastic! There is just one word to describe Wicked, and that's WOW. I would highly recommend watching it. You'll be singing the songs way after watching it :) For those who've watched it/have heard of it, what's your favourite song from the musical? Mine's For Good :) 

Apollo Victoria Theatre:

17 Wilton Road, 

London, 

SW1V 1LG

Arbutus:

63-64 Frith Street, 

London, W1D 3JW

020 7734 4545 

info@arbutusrestaurant.co.uk

I hope you enjoyed this review! I actually have a question and would love to hear your thoughts, is it appropriate to take pictures with a camera at these kind of places? Here I used my phone but the quality isn't as good as I had hoped. 

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day, take care and speak soon!

☺

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