Belgo Bar and Restaurant [CLOSED]

My sister and I happened to be in London one weekend and I had asked friends in advance for something near the Lyric Theatre to eat at that was decent. Belgo was suggested so we decided to give it a go!

I think we ended up at the Centraal branch of Belgo, although it was raining at the time and my sense of direction isn’t the best.

Interior

Belgo interior

So it appears the upstairs area was more of a bar and downstairs was where all the eating happened. We were seated in a narrow passing as it was just the two of us, this made for a rather “cosy” environment, not the best place to sit, to be honest. It was also dimmer where we sat, so I can’t help but feel we got the worst seats in the place.

The Drinks

Boon Kriek Lambic Cherry and Floris Framboise (raspberry)

We decided to get some drinks since it was a wet evening. I ordered the Boon Kriek Lambic Cherry since cherry is my favourite fruit flavour (next to pear). This is a gorgeous fruit beer and quite high on my favourite alcoholic drinks. It’s not as sweet as ciders but still, has that fruity taste. My sister ordered the Floris Framboise which I also recommend.

The Food

The spread

Given the fact that Belgo’s two main selling points were their mussels and rotisserie chicken, we decided to order one of each to see if they lived up to the hype. Our small table struggled to store everything we ordered, as you can see.

Herb & garlic moules

Herb & garlic moules: Sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic and butter

The Thai and Kimchi moules were awfully tempting, but alas my sister does not eat spicy food so this was a nice compromise. We ordered the herb and garlic moules in the end, this has the added benefit of actually being able to taste the mussels. These were quite nice and substantial, I’m not a mussels connoisseur, but these were a-ok and I’d happily come back here again if I had a mussels craving.

Belgo Beer BBQ chicken

Belgo Beer BBQ chicken: Sweet, sticky & smoky

Next up was the Belgo Beer BBQ chicken. The sauce on this was soooo good and the chicken was very tender and moist. It’s a shame the chicken looks so sad on its own as the sides came in their own bowls. Overall, a thumbs up for me.

The sides

For each main, you had a choice of sides to accompany them. You can choose between bread, chips or salad to accompany the mussels. For the chicken, it was chips or salad. I had thought that the bread would be perfect for mopping up the sauce that went with the mussels, but I decided to go for chips in the end as it sort of went with both chicken and mussels. I would recommend you go for bread if you are ordering mussels, though!

The salad is very much needed as there was a distinct lack of veggies in the meal. Although the salad was very varied and dressed nicely I did feel that the salad was disproportionally small, compared to the chips.

Speculoos cheesecake

Speculoos cheesecake

The speculoos cheesecake was a must, even though at this point both of us were rather full. We shared one and the Lotus biscuit pretty much fell after I took this photo, it probably wasn’t necessary. The cake was delicious although on the small side for £5.50.

Overall rating and comments

6/10 -2 for the atmosphere and seating, which weren’t brilliant. The staff were very pleasant and quick, though, so we weren’t made to feel like third class passengers in service as least. -1 for the prices, I felt that they were ever so slightly overpriced, especially the cheesecake. -1 for the small salad, more salad, please! 

Would visit again?

Hmm, probably not. The place was nice but nothing spectacular. As the chain only seems to be in London and Nottingham, I don’t think I’d visit again as there’re other places I’ve yet to eat at.

Information

Website: http://www.belgo.com/

There are several branches of Belgo in London and one in Nottingham. Here’s the address for the one we visited.
Address: Belgo Centraal, Earlham Street, London

Have you eaten at Belgo before? What would you recommend I try in London?

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