Platform is aptly named, as it has all the charm of a railway departure lounge. It’s perfectly placed next to London Bridge station so that office workers can come in, have a drink (or few) after work, then sober up on the journey back to the suburbs. The spacious ground-floor bar is lined by a lager-lager-lager choice of beer taps and slightly hectic music.
A huge glitterball lights the way up a huge central staircase to the first floor dining area, an attractive high-ceilinged space built under avast railway arch.
Service was muddled, rushed and pushy about upselling on our visit. We were offered champagne (not complementary) on being seated, repeatedly asked about our orders by a succession of staff, and were spun one of the most rote-learned stories about how ‘our farm in Devonshire supplies all the food,’ etc. (Your farm? really?) We heard the same, unasked-for story from our East European waitress, twice.
The farm may well supply many of the ingredients – presumably not items such as the chorizo or chickpeas – but we’re not convinced the kitchen makes best use of them. A Ruby Red (Devon beef) pie was no better than standard pub grub, and the meat filling meagre below the pastry.
Beetroot-cured salmon was okay, though pricey at £7.50 for a small starter portion. The best dish was a starter of whitebait, as the fish were soft-boned, fresh and not oily, though the poached egg served with this dish was overcooked to hardness. Desserts were also heartily English, such as lemon posset or bakewell tart.
We made the mistake of sitting next to a passageway, so that when the staff ran – yes, ran – past us all evening, the floor shook as they went by. And this was a ‘quiet’ night. We’ll not be rushing back when it’s busy – which it will be, because with a 3am licence later in the week, plenty of City workers will be using Platform as a post-work tanking house.