Bondi Green - bites of Australia in Paddington - a review.
Header image courtesy: Daisy | Green
A touch of Australia in West London, Bondi Green is part of the small chain of Aussie-owned and themed restaurants. Prior to visiting, I wasn't quite sure what constituted an Australian theme or even Australian cuisine - but I'd walked past the branch enough times that it piqued my interest and I had to give it a go. Within just the immediate area around Bondi Green, the small chain have two other branches - including:
- Darcie & May | Green on a boat in the canal
- Beany | Green at Paddington Central
- As well as eight other branches in West & Central London
Where Bondi Green, the group's flagship, departs from the others is their focus not only on casual dining, brunches and drinks, but also sumptuous main meals consisting of fresh and high quality produce.
The restaurant sits around an easy five minutes walk from Paddington Railway Station just on the iconic Grand Union Canal. Outdoor seating is available and is in high demand - with it being booked out for weeks when I tried to make a reservation. Inside has a large range of tables in booth and regular table style making it suitable for almost all types of dining. The décor is a combination between stylish and sleek Scandinavian style alongside quirky Australian titbits. The style is interesting but I like it, it's good looking and fun all at the same time.
I've visited the restaurant on two occasions. The first was on whilst on annual leave for a coffee and pastry - these were good quality but no better than a lot of other cafés - the interesting décor is what bought me back.
On my second visit, we came for dinner and this was far more impressive making it more noteworthy of writing about. At the time, there was two key menus on offer -- dinner and all day. All day offers items like sandwiches, pastries, salads and also pizzas whilst Dinner goes for bits a bit more interesting. Bondi Green's Dinner menu is more expensive although it includes tastier, more filling items like salmon, tuna, monkfish, tomahawk and ribeye steaks - they are certainly going for the more premium end of the casual dining market.
Thankfully, however, you can mix and match across both menus. We opted for:
- Hot Sausage Pizza - featuring spicy chorizo, nduja, organic tomatoes, mozarella and jalepeno hot sauce
- Tuna Steak with salad (item not currently on the menu - and had a far more fancy name on the menu)
I'll start with the pizza. It was great and satisfying made in a high quality pizza oven giving that unique taste. This would've been great until I saw, and tasted, the Tuna Steak with salad which was jaw droppingly divine. I'm not sure whether it was the fact I've not had a Tuna Steak for a long time or the way it was cooked but this was a very memorable meal. The tuna had been cooked to perfection on a grill whilst the fresh and raw salad atop the steak created a great, and healthy, counterbalance to the fish. I only got a few bites but if I was to visit again, I would definitely jump to retry this dish.
We also grabbed a couple of desserts (#CheatDay). The first was a Tiramisu which was quite unlike any I'd had before - and not necessarily for good reasons. Although it was tasty, having a rich coffee and brandy flavour, it didn't feature the velvety cream that is usually on Tiramisu making it a little dry and not the most appetising dessert I'd had. This lack of juiciness was not a problem in our other, somewhat healthy, dessert - BBQ Pineapple. I've no idea how Australian this dish is but it was unique and I've never seen it in any other restaurant. The taste was undeniably pineapple but dialling up the sweetness by one hundred - the heating process of the grill and charring of parts of the fruit made the taste even greater. Strange but worth giving a try - plus it may be one of your five a day.
If you're around the Paddington area looking for a good meal or just for a stylish place to drink a coffee, then Bondi Green is the place. The most noteworthy aspect of Bondi Green is the emphasis on high quality, well sourced ingredients across all of its dishes - an attention to detail that is not appreciated everywhere.
Have you tried Bondi Green or any of their other restaurants? What's your thoughts?