It isn´t granted that all the great hotels have a good restaurant. But the Boundary does! I was surprised to read their menu, finding myself craving almost all items on it! Luckily we were advised by our wonderful waiter not to get more than three starters, and share them, before having one main course each. The portions were generous, but oh so good! We started out with the blinis served with white and brown crabmeat, salmon tartar, caviar and pickled cucumber. Very yummy. The beet salad with goat cheese was also terrific, but the winner of the starters was definitely the foie gras! Excellent prepared and served with figs and cranberry.
The two mains we tried were duck and chicken. I am a sucker for all sorts of cabbage and when the chicken dish also included truffle, the choice was obvious to me. The duck was also good and cooked perfectly.
The two desserts we chose were crème brulée and a tarte tartin, which was a caramelized upside-down plum tart and cardamom ice cream. I thought there was a bit too much cardamom in the ice cream, but besides from that, I have nothing bad to say about this meal. The menu changes frequently, but I am sure that the good taste is everlasting. They also offer fixed menus where you choose two or three dishes for a very good price. Especially the Sunday lunch is a great deal.
The wine list at the Boundary is also impressive. On their website you can read that they have won several prices for their wine list, and I especially like that their selection by glass and careful is so good. We started the meal with a glass of Champagne from Besserat de Bellefon Cuvée des Moines, which was light and fresh. Then we had a carafe with white Burgundy from Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Les Combes, Domaine Larue 09. I love the “oily” petroleum taste and it worked very well with both the crab and foie gras. Not wanting to spend too much on the red wine, we were advised to try the Pinot Noir Mount Beautiful, North Canterbury from New Zealand. The light and fruity wine was a great match to the chicken and the duck, and even if I have heard good things about the New Zealand Pinot Noir, I was surprised how good it was
The restaurant is situated in the basement of the Boundary hotel in the Shoreditch district, in east London. This is one of those places you have to hear about to find, because it isn´t placed in the main areas where you would normally seek out restaurants. But if you find it and get a table, I promise you won´t regret it.