Bleeding Heart Restaurant

Caveat: I was in a group of 11, so we were only given a pre set menu.
Pros: great ambience, good service
Cons: the food is good, but not enough to keep you coming back for, especially at the price point.

Pros:
— Scallops as a starter will blow your mind
— Scottish beef fillet for the main course was excellent
— Extensive wine list
— Good service
Cons
— Very expensive
— Tight space
All over, make sure you make a reservation.

There’s something quaint about this location — it’s located in the Bleeding Heart Yard, which has a total of 5 establishments with the same name — a pub, a tavern, a crypt, a restaurant and a bistro (God help me if someone ever asked me to differentiate between these close variations of each other). It is unapologetically French in its offerings but with some odd flavour of Britishness thrown in. The menu is somewhat longer than what one might expect from a traditional French place.
I was there on a work lunch so I had to keep up some polite banter but for most parts, I focused on tucking into a good lunch.
For starters I went for ‘Confit duck and corn fed chicken ballotine with apricots’ — it was delectable and moreish, just what you want to whet your appetite slightly when starting off on a nice meal. I also eyed the ‘Seared scallops, purée of leeks with candied lemon and purple shiso leaves’ some of my colleagues had ordered, they looked nice. Since I had read on Unilocal about the lamb, I went for the ‘Roast rump of Suffolk Blackface lamb, glazed spring vegetables and pomme mousseline, rosemary jus’ — very satisfying in its range of flavours, tenderness and juiciness of meat, crunchiness of veggies — yum. For dessert, I had a lovely crème brûlée.
As it was a formalish work event, we abstained from wine which was a shame as this place did have a really extensive wine list, including a wide range of dessert wines!
I fear that I may be overly generous in my rating since it was a paid event for me, but I do think it’s fairly priced for the nice food and friendly service on offer. I think I may come back to check out the pub… or the tavern… or maybe the crypt… or even the bistro: D

Great wine list, great food and great atmosphere. The only thing not so great was our waiter seemed a little on the snobbish side when my son and I wanted to order wine. So, I surprised him by ordering a very nice Bordeaux. All in all, the food and experience was great !!

This restaurant is ran by French people — well at least all the servers are French. The weird thing is, the menu actually isn’t all that French with things like scotch eggs and Yorkshire Venison. What is really French is their English translation — instead of Scotch Eggs they would write Scottish Eggs on the menu, etc.,
But logistics aside, the food is decent and the service is pretty impeccable. The ambiance of the restaurant is really romantic. It’s a bit strange that they dont like seating people in the upstairs portion where people can see in, but everyone is seated downstairs. When we first walked in it felt like we were the only people in the restaurant but it turned out that the downstairs area is huge and filled with people.
I had the butternut squash soup for starters. It was okay. For main, I chose the sole. They asked me if i wanted it deboned and when the server came with my plate, he double checked with me if the fish was mine, then took it to a table next to me and deboned it in the corner while everyone else already had their meal. It made me feel like a picky patron, but in a funny way. The fish itself was pretty good, paired with capers and potatoes. I really enjoyed that one. For dessert, I had a chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate fondants, but the hot chocolate syrup pouring from the inside was pretty darn cool.
Overall, the place is romantic, and the food decent. Price-​point a bit high, for the food. But definitely somewhere nice for business or romantic dinner.

All round great food — Excellent service and lovely wine

I went to the bleeding heart for a project completion celebration dinner. We were in one of the private dining rooms they have. I’d picked from a set menu that was circulated ahead of the meal and to be fair there was nothing that caught my eye or anything I hadn’t tried before.
We finished the meal and a few of us sat down to blow the budget for the meal and make up for all the nights we spent working and decided to work down the drinks menu. There were things that weren’t on the menu that someone said «have you tried this clear spirit, I dont know what they call it exactly, I had it at my in-​laws in France let me ask them if they have it…» lo and behold they had it.
Three of us who liked our whiskies went through every single one they had and these were single cask, distillers own single malt whiskies and they served every purpose of whisky tasting, good conversation, a debate and nobody liking the same thing abou teach of the whiskies.
If I came back to the point of it all though, the place was just a-​ok for the food and the atmosphere — without the drinks selection I would have been rating it even lower.

One of my favourite London restaurants. The staff were very attentive, the food uses quality ingredients and is perfectly cooked. It isn’t cheap but it’s worthy of the price tag, and if you can’t quite stretch the main restaurant then the bistro and tavern are still great (just with a different style of food on offer). I’d recommend going in the evening as it’s seems a shame to cram it into a lunch break. I just wish it would open at the weekend!

Nice place. Food was good. Wine was good. A little pricy to go to often, but worth a visit.

Fabulous restaurant with delicious food. A little pricey but the quality is amazing. French food and service and although I didn’t try it as we went for a set meal, the cheese trolley was mouth watering. If I go again I will be sampling some of their cheese. Wine list/​book was overwhelming but luckily I was with a wine-​buff colleague

To my utter dismay, there were no hearts and no meals served with blood anywhere on the menu. I was going to claim false advertising after my meal if I didn’t like what I ended up ordering. Turns out, it was alright.
Nice ambiance. I came with the Coxhills, my dear mates who live in Zone 6. I want to sound like a local even though I don’t know much about the zones and I don’t think anyone actually refers to them in that way. I’m going to pretend they do. Please go along with it. I’d be chuffed.
I ordered the sea bass fillet with a steak tartare as a starter. A bottle of Morgon wine to go along with it. It was all very, very good. I was happy and I decided to not press charges.
The only concerns I had were the very awkward items on the menu that I think were either racist, homophobic, or both. What exactly is a black-​faced lamb? Is that a certain type of lamb? Does it taste better? Are you eating the face of the lamb? Why does this matter?
Who cares. That one wasn’t that bad. Take a look at this entrée name and description:
Assiette of Suckling Pig and Crackling with Apricot and Sage Faggots
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Where do I start? Assiette? I don’t know about that, but it sounds like the French word for a tight ass. Suckling Pig is legitimate, but when paired with these other words it now sounds dirty. Still, neither are that bad. Not as bad as … sage faggots.
Really? I can’t Google this because I am on my work laptop, but I am pretty sure there is no edible item in the culinary world known as a faggot. There can’t be. Can there be?
Overall, I had a nice meal, the place was very nice, and my meals were really tasty. Decent prices, too. Just don’t order that one dish, or you may feel like you just got bent over.

I am reviewing the dining room which is the upscale restaurant of this trio of restaurants under the Bleeding Heart label.
Excellent wine list but at a hefty price.
Uncommunicative waiter who made no effort to guide us around the menu.
The crab tian was relatively tasteless and the suckling pig was way over cooked and dry. We tried to rescue it with extra gravy but basically the crackling and faggot was the only enjoyable part of the main course. If the waiter had suggested we add green vegetables we would have.
I had cheese and when it says bite size it really means it … mice bite size.
I like expensive restaurants if the food and service match up to the price. In this case they don’t.

I have been here on three separate occasions and they were all OK?
The food is either good or OK, often nothing spectacular but nothing awful. I think it’s a decent lunch spot in the city where you’re likely to always find available seating (as the the dining room is big and you can always try the bistro or the pub). The atmosphere/​décor is pleasant and you get the «nice restaurant» feel without it being too uptight/​snooty. The wine list is a mystery to me but our many instances of wine roulette has never proved to be a disaster. However, the bread selection could be better (this is a French restaurant after all!).
The best part is the «must be French or master a convincing French accent» requirement imposed upon all the staff.

I love this place tucked away in the depths of Farringdon. I went at lunch time which was lovely apart from an abundance of large men in suits who probably frequent Bleeding Heart on a daily basis. But the waiters were very friendly, helpful and attentive, and the food was spot on. A great place to while away an afternoon. Now I’m keen to upgrade and try the Bleeding Heart restaurant across the courtyard.

The food was reasonable given the price and the restaurant staff suitably attentive even if the waiter’s strangely shaped head was a constant distraction.
Avoid the Hawkes Bay pinot noir — it was truly awful. Despite being a consumate alcoholic, even I had trouble drinking the stuff, it was a cross between rocket fuel and ribena mixed with meths.

I came for Christmas lunch here, pre-​ordered and booked for 15. You’d think that knowing 15 people were coming to lunch and knowing what all 15 of those people were ordering that they would have pulled off the food and service without a hitch.
Well, you’d be wrong.
Our three-​course meal took a total of one hour from start to finish. Plates were snatched away before some people were done with them, replaced with the next course. It was a dining quickfire.
The food itself was mediocre, at best, and the portions (tiny) didn’t exactly make up for the the hefty price tag. I certainly could have made the lentil soup I started with at home by boiling some lentils and chucking them in a blender, adding a bit of salt (but not enough, no). My cannelloni, well, it wasn’t cannelloni; it just wasn’t. It was more like a lasagna. With a stodgey pastry (I’m not joking) bottom and unidentifiable orange matter in the middle (pumpkin?). And my chocolate remoulade with clementine jam? Well.
Well.
well…
The most I can say for it was that it tasted like a stale jaffa cake but not as good.
Not as good as a pack of jaffa cakes that you can get for £1. That’s right, people.
But that’s not all. Oh, no.
After our whirlwind Christmas lunch, we were left sitting for nearly two hours.
Two. Hours.
We finally gave up and went upstairs to ask for the bill. Guess how long it took for us to receive the bill and leave from this point. Go on, guess.
Thirty minutes. THIRTY MINUTES!
I know that it can sometimes be hard to serve large groups of people, but if you advertise a Christmas Lunch and then charge a premium for it then you should be able to pull it off.
End of.

God I wanted to love this restaurant. It started rather well. I traced my finger along the calligraphy alluding to ‘1746’ on the lemon basement walls as we tip-​toed downstairs with arched backs, spurring my mind into delusions of grandeur. Typically me, I spent the first 15 minutes painstakingly analysing the story of the Bleeding Heart on the menu overleaf, rolling my eyes dramatically and sighing emphatically. With clients present.
I know, not overly professional but hey, Hatton Gardens encourages malaise when your love is far away, or distinctly absent. However, the food was pretty rubbish I’m afraid. Croutons dumped onto an avocado, bacon and chicken salad. Mini onion balls (technical name?) wedged deep inside my fish pie and a very dry sticky toffee Pudding with caramel sauce. I know it was only the a la carte, but after such a tragic history lesson, I expected more.
Video link:

After taking in some excellent installations by Roni Horn and Alexander Rodchenko at the TATE for a few great hours with Daric we were starving and wandering the streets of London. Unfortunately for us it was after most pubs were closed after lunch and I refused to eat any fast food (even something like the tasty local like Wagamama). Eventually we wandered into the Diamond District. And then very fortunately for us we found the Bleeding Heart.
Their main lunch menu was over and they weren’t doing dinner yet either. But they had some nice cask beers and what I now consider the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten in my LIFE.
Big spit roasted Suckling Pig sliced and served with some arugula greens and a bit of aioli on a fresh baguette. The pig had its crispy skin on the outside and was juicy and succulent on the in. There were some crisps served with it but who cares.
Ever since then anytime the topic of sandwiches comes up I rave about this one to any who will listen. If you make a trip to London you must try it. This is a simple five-​star sandwich.
We had no trouble with the wait staff even though I speak no French and Daric butchers the Romance language more than anyone I know.
Since then I’ve looked at their menu on-​line and the Bleeding Heart looks like a great French restaurant and I would love to try a dinner there the next time I visit.

Really a nice place to get French food, everything was tasty, fresh, and the French accent of all the staff is a pleasure. The thing I liked about it it that it was the right amount of food, exactly what you need.
I recommend you to try the ice cream, fantastic!

Businessy, consistent, French.
I only go here occasionally for breakfast, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get to witness the waitresses having a spat with each other. Most amusing on a friday morning.
Croissants are good. Coffee is surprisingly poor.

Une vraie cuisine anglaise
J’ai mangé un pavé de porc rôti à la broche sur l’avis d’un ami et c’était très, très bon, je né regrette pas. Emmenez-​y votre petite amie car le cadre est romantique avec des roses, des bougies et pleins de petits détails intimes.