Sometimes the only thing that can sustain you after a bad morning at work (with only the promise of a worse afternoon) is a good lunch.
I work in Shad Thames which is a cobbled street (general area) on the south bank of the Thames which starts at Tower Bridge. Amongst the design studios, estate agents and hotel representation companies are a number of purveyors of fine food.
The Dean Swift is just off Shad Thames on Gainsford Street a convenient two minute walk from my office. The decor is very sparse, the walls and ceilings are white, a few wrought iron fittings and a wooden floor. The high ceiling gives the room a bright feeling as the light reflects around.
The bar situated in one corner is small but well stocked. The usual array of spirits and mixers are assembled along the back wall and fridges. On tap though... Stella, Kronenberg, Fosters, Strongbow, Guiness... none of them on show. Thank goodness. They have a supreme cider, Thatcher's Gold, on tap which strips away the dull familiar taste of Strongbow and Magners.
They have a £6 lunch menu along with daily specials. Two of the dishes i've tried this week are the Chicken Korma and the Bacon Burger.
Chicken Korma is one of those dishes that varies wildly depending on where you get it. Sometimes it can be a darker slightly spicy affair and sometimes it can be a thick creamy sweet dish. The Korma at the Dean Swift straddles this balance and has a medium thickness of sauce with a nice warm blend of spices and sweetness. The Mange Tout and Carrots are a surprising garnish atop the Korma, but nonetheless compliments them well. The chicken is soft and tender as it should be and tastes as though it has been marinated for some length of time meaning every bit is infused with aroma and spice.
The serving in two bowls is odd, when the more usual arrangement (either at home or in a restaurant) is to have two food filled dishes and a third for you to serve yourself. This means that here you either intermittently have to spoon your rice in with the Korma or go all in in a somewhat gung-ho manner knowing that the rice will absorb the sauce but make every forkful a heavy one. In the end i half and half it eating the first half of the meal eating from both dishes before employing a full on edible merger and dumping the remaining rice in with the remaining chicken and sauce.
The Bacon Burger from the lunch menu doesn't suffer this way as it comes, not on a plate, but rather on a small board. The burger is packed, much in the fashion, with halved gherkins and thick wedges of tomato. This makes the burger somewhat difficult to handle, not least because the filling is wider at the top than at the bottom. However the ingredients within are excellent. The burger itself is a quality beef that cracks upon the first bite and then melts away under a chew.
The bacon is not the horror of some (microwaved) pub bacon and is distinct. A good decision to go for Kale instead of Iceberg is always welcome (Iceberg Lettuce is Satan's garnish as far as i'm concerned) and the gherkin is juicy and tasty if a little under sliced. A few wedges accompany the Burger and these are very much standard issue wedges, with a sprinkling of salt. The dip is a garlic mayonnaise. I think.
I probably would have liked to have seen a few more potato wedges served up with the burger for my £6 but that may also be only because i'm washing it down with a pint of Thatcher's and want to soak up as much alcohol as possible before returning to the office.
All in all the Dean Swift is a decent place to grab lunch. The prices are not bad for the area but if you're coming in from somewhere else £12 for the cheeseboard dessert might seem rather hefty. There are a couple of bigscreen TVs and pleasingly these are only on when there is something worth watching, such as the cricket. Otherwise music plays (quietly) from the speakers and proves to be an eclectic mix. One recent lunch included acts as diverse as Finlay Quaye, The Coral and Captain Beefheart.
My only real complaint about The Dean Swift would be that ordering from the bar often seems to incur a 10% optional service charge which you won't be aware of if you don't get a receipt, but worse, are not asked about before the transaction. Service should always be opt in rather than opt out. An opt out service means the customer is paying for something up front when they have no idea if it's worth it and can breed laziness in some servers (though not here.) Opt in is the better service because customers can assess the service they are receiving accordingly and if servers wish to bolster their wages with a little extra they will have to provide a service.
But this is a minor gripe in an otherwise excellent establishment.
You can find out more about The Dean Swift - Here.
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