Where
The Happenstance, St Paul’s

What
The Happenstance, situated by one of London’s most iconic landmarks, St Paul’s, is a magical Alice in Wonderland style bar & restaurant. Customers can expect innovative cocktails and seasonal & locally soured cuisine, from breakfast, brunch & lunch right through to dinner & late night bites.

The experience
There’s nothing quite like a catch up with one of your amazing friends and what makes it even better is good meal to go with it. I met my good friend Abi (also one of my new Food for Think contributors!) for dinner on Monday evening at The Happenstance. As it was a Monday, neither of us were drinking, so instead we guzzled a lovely mocktail, which was a sweet and delectable mix of passion fruit, mango and vanilla.

The menu at The Happenstance was slightly confusing. It is split into sections – a few small plates, a big range of flatbreads, salads, steak, mains, burgers & sandwiches and sides. We opted for a couple of small plates to start – Abi had the Great British Bloody Mary mussels and I went for the Tempura crispy squid with ginger & firecracker sauce. We chose meat for main – I ordered the rib-eye with a side of fries and Abi had the Suffolk farm lamb shank with sweet potato mash, rosemary jus & harissa.

The starters were great – Abi’s stole the show with the most delicious tomato sauce, but I was slightly disappointed when my steak arrived. Having asked for it to be cooked medium rare, it arrived more on the well done side. Abi’s lamb shank was much better – meat fell off the bone and the harissa and jus was the perfect accompaniment.

For dessert I ordered a crumble, which I struggled to eat as the portion was so large, but Abi once again chose well with the ‘Wagon Wheel’, a small but perfectly formed dessert of toasted meringue, raspberry sorbet and shortbread.

We were in The Happenstance for a good four hours and it was the perfect setting for a long overdue catch up – the restaurant interior had little nods to Alice in Wonderland, which made it fun and exciting. Next time, we’ll definitely be taking advantage of the experimental cocktails on offer.

Cost
Small plates from 5.95, mains from £8.85 and desserts from £4.95. A range of cocktails also available, from £6.96.

Address
No 1a Ludgate Hill
London
EC4M 7AA