Places To Eat In London: Wright Brothers, Borough Market

Last week I stretched my Bank Holiday out a little by heading up to London for a totally work free day on the Tuesday. I’d had tickets to see the Oresteia at The Globe Theatre since the box office opened, so to make our little Mummy/ daughter theatre trip complete, I decided to book us in for lunch at Wright Brothers Oyster & Porter House just by Borough Market after a turn around some of the stalls. As it is only a 10 minute walk from the market to the theatre, it is the perfect spot of pre or post-theatre eats. 

I’ve been to Wright Brothers Oyster & Porterhouse at Borough Market before. I find it is the perfect place for the type of work meeting where you know the person really well, so you can get all the business out of the way over a bit of food first, and then enjoy silly amounts of wine from their fantastic wine list and a good dozen oysters on ice together. They have a menu with starters and main dish sized plates, but I always just order a load of starters and different bits of shellfish and seafood for everyone to share at the bar. 

To start, their bread is delicious, and their wine menu just small enough that you know it is going to be well curated. While sometimes you know exactly what you fancy, they usually make the perfect choice for you if you just tell them if you’re after red, white, rose or bubbles, and what you’re going to be eating. They paired this beautifully crisp Spanish number with my oysters, and we both really enjoyed our carafe, chilled on ice. 

So, after my discovery in Glasgow that I did in fact, really, really love oysters, I was keen to start discovering what I like and what I love. Wright Brothers is perfect for this, because you can choose to get your dozen or half dozen platter as a selection. I had a pair from Carlingford Lough, a pair from Lindisfarne and a pair of Jersey Royals. I loved tasting them all together to see the difference, I think this selection is a must for anyone new to oysters. Personally, I loved the briny flavour of the Carlingford, and the way the Jersey Royals took me back to Gorey Harbour, evoking the flavour of where they came from. 

Something I always order at Wright Brothers without fail is a half pint (you can also order a full pint if there are more of you) of prawns, fat, juicy, full of flavour and served with a good homemade mayonnaise. They’re great like this to pick at and share, or as I’ve discovered in the past a great little side dish to one of their Bloody Mary’s (which are bloody – excuse the pun – fantastic, by the way.)

As my mother is not really one for oysters (I did manage to get her to try one eventually, and while she did not dislike it per-se, she still did not really understand the appeal) I let her choose our third dish; the mackerel pate. So deliciously smooth and creamy, it had more in common with a parfait, a truly stellar dish. 

For dessert, we went for two to share. First up, their deliciously creamy ice cream. A scoop of some of the best salted caramel we’ve ever had, with little chewy chunks and just that right balance, and a rather good honeycomb. Their ice cream is a star dessert, not just an afterthought. I’d spied the Grand Marnier Chocolate Truffles when I first glanced over the menu when we sat down, and they did not disappoint. Rich, and with a good balance of the liquor flavour, I’d recommend them if you just want something sweet to go with coffee. 

After dinner, if the weather is nice, be sure to walk off your lunch down Southbank to take in what has to be one of my favourite views in London. Sorry it has taken me so long for me to update my ‘Places To Eat In London‘ column (my last one was in June!), but I hope you’ve all been enjoying some of my restaurant reviews from Canterbury, Glasgow and Los Angeles in the meantime. I should be off to check out another London eatery I’m rather excited about next weekend, so stay tuned for the next instalment! 

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