I stumbled upon the Trafalgar Dining Rooms almost a little accidentally when I had theatre tickets for The Grinning Man and needed to grab dinner somewhere nearby before the show. I did a quick search on Open Table trying to find somewhere I could have a nice meal and also be in and out within an hour and a half, thought the menu looked nice and booked.
Rushing out from work, I hurried down to Trafalgar Square, running a bit late and not entirely sure of where it was I was looking for I was very pleasantly surprised to find the very smart bar and dining room nestled on the corner of The Mall and Spring Gardens with a great view of the square. I arrived first and chose to sit in one of the lovely opulent looking booths. I ordered myself a glass of wine and took in my surroundings while I switched off my work brain and waited for The Boyfriend to arrive. I definitely wasn’t expecting such a beautiful dining room. With a modern Art Deco feel The Trafalgar Dining Rooms oozes luxury and would make such a beautiful venue for a special date night or a special occasion.
Since we were catching a show later on in the evening we opted to start with some nibbles rather than a starter before our main meal and being the big lover of Greek food that I am, I had to choose the spinach and feta spanakopita. Traditionally spanakopita are served in filo spirals but here they had been restyled into a cigar shape, resembling a spring roll, ideal finger food. These spinach and feta snacks were an ideal tasty little treat to sate my peckish-ness while we waited for our main meal.
I wasn‘t feeling overly hungry so I ordered the grilled calamari with chorizo and mint gremolata. When you hear calamari, most people think of the deep fried squid rings we‘re used to from our Spanish beach holidays. Whilst that is without a doubt a classic, this was a much more refined, more traditionally Mediterranean version. The squid was stuffed with a chorizo mixture and grilled, served with a smoky sauce and topped with more delicately cooked squid rings and tentacles and courgette ribbons. I did find the smoky sauce a little over-powering to the dish as a whole but once I‘d squeezed over the grilled lemon wedge the juice cut through it nicely.
I didn‘t hang around for dessert on this trip to The Trafalgar Dining Rooms, but now that I‘ve discovered it I really want to get it booked up for a special occasion or date night. It‘s a really impressive venue and I‘d love to take my friends and family there for a meal I can spend a little more time over.
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