Allegra

We’d certainly heard a lot of good things about Allegra so it was time to finally experience it for ourselves. I am now very delighted to say that after thoroughly enjoying our lunch on sunday we will definitely be making more visits in the future.

The restaurant itself is located on the seventh floor of The Stratford Hotel adjacent to stratford international station. You enter the hotel and make your way round to the lift. Then you just simply press the seven and before you know the doors open and your in the restaurant. We were given a delightfully warm welcome before taking a seat at the bar for an aperitif. This also gave us a chance to have a look around.

The bar is on the right with bar stools and a seating area. The far end turns into counter seating where you can see the chefs in action. Then in an L shape you have the restaurant which has a very spacious and modern look. We then ordered our cocktails the Remember The Name of rye whiskey , cream sherry , raisins and the Clementina featuring mezcal , fino sherry and clementine cordial. They were both an absolute delight.

After our drinks we were escorted to a lovely round table in the corner of the dining area giving us a fabulous view of the entire restaurant. Once settled our waiter Rodrigo who’s service throughout our lunch was impeccable. He first gave us a description of how the menu works. This is designed for sharing that includes snacks , starters , mains sides and desserts but you could also quite easily create you own three course meal as some mains are smaller than others.

We decided to start with a couple of snacks. The Fried Oyster , malt vinegar , sea perslane and yoghurt along with the Pistachio Choux liver parfait , preserved clementine and black garlic. The flavours were amazing leaving us eagerly waiting for what was to follow.

Next it was onto the starters where we ordered the Potato Rosti with whipped cod brandade , pickled onions and seaweed , Crab on Toast with elderflower and shellfish sauce. Lastly was the amazing Duck Neck Sausage with poached egg , sauce ravigote and bitter leaves. We were washing these down with a fantastic light red wine from Greece. The Xinomavro 2020 from the Thymiopoulos Winery was full of strawberry flavours.

Now it was on to the main course. Here we shared the Aged Sirloin of Grass Fed Beef with a bordelaise sauce that was heaven. We accompanied this with side dishes of Crispy Potatoes with pickled onion and wholegrain mustard , Roasted Carrots , harissa , almonds and yoghurt , Purple Sprouting Broccoli with hazelnut butter and toasted yeast. We really were enjoying all the fantastic flavours and each dish was perfectly cooked.

We then needed a little rest before moving to desserts. What was to follow were three delicious treats consisting of the Fig Mille Feuille with epping honey ice cream , the Milk Chocolate , speculoos and fig leaf and also a clever Ricotta Ice Cream with preserved cherry and olive oil.

We finished with a coffee to bring to an end a fabulous dining experience and one that I can’t wait to repeat. I would also like to visit at a different time when their tasting menu is on offer. I highly recommend a visit here as the food was fantastic and matched by excellent friendly service. You can also enjoy a fabulous cocktail at the bar or outside on the terrace while enjoying a great view of the surrounding area.

Thank You all for a fantastic lunch and look forward to seeing you all again soon.