Vivat Bacchus

I was taken here on a first date and it was brilliant. The food was amazing. Pro tip: if you are on a date, don’t sit next to the Cheese Room…

Great wine, steak and cheese! What’s not to like? Always good after work and I’m looking forward to some wine tasting here

Quick glance:
+ good quality ingredients
+ good selection of wine
+ friendly staff
— pricey
Full review:
I’ve lunched at Vivat Bacchus a couple of times and the underlying ingredients are always fresh and of good quality. Presentation is nice but I always found the flavour lacking a punch. Most recently I had a beef steak with peppercorn sauce. The steak was cooked as I asked and had nice flavours of its own, but the sauce was watery and didn’t taste particularly peppery.
The staff is friendly and served the guests with a smile, making it a pleasant environment to dine in. Unfortunately on both occasions we didn’t have any wine so I can’t comment on the quality, but the wine list looks enticing.
The downside is the price; while the ingredients speak for themselves, the dishes never came to its own for me and I don’t feel it’s particularly good value for money. But if you need a quiet place to catch up with friends at lunchtime and want good quality ingredients (and maybe a glass of wine or two), Vivat Bacchus won’t disappoint.

After having Vivat Bacchus on our list of places to try for quite some time, my girlfriends and I finally booked a reservation.
The pros: Cheese — They have a couple of cheese plates to choose from — we tried the Italy plate and shared amongst the three of us. I think this place is worth visiting simply for the cheese!
The cons: I won’t say a total con but I didn’t love the steak (though why would I go to a wine bar for steak). It seemed like the best option at the time on the menu, but in hindsight I would prefer to come here again and just order a lot of cheese and wine plates amongst friends.
The atmosphere isn’t great if you’re looking for something a bite more low key and intimate (as I was imagining) — it was quite popular and loud after work and though a lot of wine bars I frequent around London are normally full, the smaller size sometimes makes it feel a bit less intense after a long day of work. Worth checking out with a bigger group of people for after work drinks and sharing plates.

Great bar/​restaurant, good service, lovely wine. But check out the cheese room! Sample as many different cheeses as you like from France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy & the UK, a personalised cheese board is the end result, complete with fruit, nuts chutneys. Cheese lovers heaven!

Love the food… service can be an issue with big groups. Atmosphere is pretty cool and always a nice crowd.

Excellent!
Had the pan fried scallops appetizer and pork chop for main course… both were very, very good.
Service was fantastic even for a large group.
Excellent vibe and a very good crowd especially for an early week weeknight.

Vivat Bacchus is the pinnacle of my London dining experiences so far, which is especially nice as I didn’t have to pay for my dinner here. I enjoyed a night of wonderful food, company and drinks, as well as a nice tour of the wine cellar.
I rarely go out for really nice dinner, which makes it difficult to give a truly comparative assessment of Vivat Bacchus as compared with other restaurants of that caliber. But, for places I’ve been in London, it is certainly top notch. The wait staff impeccably handled a large party, the food was deliciously prepared, and the ambiance of the restaurant was welcoming yet gave the impression of exclusivity (this may have been because we were dining downstairs).
Vivat Bacchus is absolutely the kind of place that you go for a nice night out – it will give you all of the key attributes of a lovely dining experience.

Overall Verdict: Highly Recommended
YOU: Have enough money to eat pretty much anywhere in London or other major cities. You love great food, fine wines, and great service and want to know the place in which you dine is attractive and cozy enough for both business dinners or romantic nights out.
OR
YOU: Money is not running over but you want to have a great night out from time to time. You love good food and wine and are proud to say you know some of the best values in town. You want a nice spot without attitude.
OR
YOU: Can only afford to go to one or two «really nice» restaurants a year and have a special someone you wish to take on a romantic date. You want it to be special, memorable, have amazing food, and not completely break the bank.
Message to ALL OF THE ABOVE:
Go. To. Vivat Bacchus. Now. Really.
For full review, please visit my blog at the below link:

Incredibly good! It was a real surprise to have such a fantastic mean. We only went there to try the kangaroo, but got more than we bargained for. the waitress was brilliant, everyone was friendly. We had 3 courses which were all excellent, especially the Roo! Great stuff and so different to the standard menus. The wine selection is huge, and we found a great rosé. The desserts, which i usually wouldn’t get, are stunning.
Thanks for a great night Bacchus :)

Vivat Bacchus so nearly had 4*s out of me. It came close, and a 3.5* rating is fairer than the 3* I’ve allocated but it’s better to set expectations low rather than higher in my opinion!
I went for the set meal of two courses for £15, which despite a limited menu was very good value for money. My mackerel starter was good but too vinegary. My kangaroo main was really well cooked but disgustingly salty, as was the veg that came with it. Had they got the seasoning /​dressing to food ratio correct, they would have earnt the 4*. Had I paid full price, the 3* would be the upper limit.
I’ll go back again to give them a second chance and post the results here.

A gorgeous restaurant — and definitely soemthing a bit different. ostrich carpaccio starter (which was yummy), and also my first try of springbok, which was nothing like I thought it would be. Not gamey at all, it was like a beefy lamb, or a lamby beef, and immediately became my favourite ever meat!
I took a friend for his 40^th birthday when they were doing a 50% off food offer on Mondays, which made it exceedingly affordable for brilliant food. the Varlhona Chocolate Textura dessert was an absolute MUST have!
Famed for their wine cellar and their two cheese rooms, I will certainly go along for one of their cheese & wine evenings some time!

Vivat Bucchus gets a five star rating from me. It’s the first time I’ve eaten at a South African restaurant (apart from being in SA itself) and judging by last night’s meal, the UK is missing out if this is the standard.
It was a Monday night and the place was packed (partly helped by a Top Table 50% off a la carte, I’m sure). Amongst our group of four, the Warm Marinated Mackerel and Green Asparagus were enjoyed for starters. For mains, I was very impressed with the Mediterranean Soup (Halibut, Plaice, Prawns, Mussels, Black Olive Aioli — with a sneaky bit of fennel), while the others all had Sea Bream. The wine was great and not tooo expensive at £22.
The only downer was that we didn’t make the cheese room.
The bill worked out at £45 per couple, which was great value, considering the quality of the food — but maybe I’d balk a bit if I was paying full price.

I’ve been to Vivat Bacchus a few times, and as a result am close to adopting a policy of refusing to visit restaurants that don’t dedicate an entire room to their cheese selection. It’s a fantastic place.
My most recent visit was my first evening visit, the rest all being to take advantage of the lunch deals, and my first time in the restaurant downstairs. Despite being part of a fairly recent office building the restaurant has great character. The brick walls, bottles of wine and wooden wine boxes that adorn the place give it a much warmer feel than you might expect from looking at the outside.
The friendly welcome we received was also greatly appreciated. Being three scruffily dressed ‘creative types’ turning up at restaurants in the middle of the legal district packed with suits we are occasionally prepared for looks of disdain, but the front of house staff were amongst the most welcoming I’ve come across in the city, and remained as such throughout the evening.
My two fellow diners chose to eat from the £16.50 set menu that offered two courses and a glass of champagne. The set menu contained two starters, two mains and two desserts (three courses were available for £19.50, one of the desserts was a cheese board with a £4.50 supplement).
I chose to eat from the a la carte menu, settling for cured salmon with orange and crème fraîche to start and a fish pie for the main course.
The wine list is big in this place. The list itself is actually only two sides of A4, but I have a feeling that if you were to let the sommelier loose with your credit card there are plenty more that go unmentioned in the depths of the cellar. The sommelier was very friendly and happy to explain what was available, and we plumped for a bottle of white from their ‘summer wines’ board at £25 (a lovely British Gewürztraminer, not usually a big fan of sweet wines and was going on the basis of the recommendation, but it had just right the right balance and certainly a great one for the summer).
Both courses arrived quickly, and disappeared about as quickly too. All utterly delicious, perfectly cooked. The fish pie had a fantastic combination of flavours, and the puff pastry lid which was stuffed with the fluffiest mash potato simply melted in the mouth.
Finally to one of the more anticipated parts of a trip to Vivat Bacchus. The cheese room. I’m slightly biased as being a big fan of cheese a restaurant which dedicates a room (two in fact, one upstairs and one downstairs) to it’s cheese is always going to earn my respect. There’s also something very nice about the way it ends the meal. Rather than being brought a selection of cheeses you may not even like, or having a trolley of cheeses that’s been left out all evening trundled over to the table, the three of us crowded into the little room while the different options were explained by the waiter — who knew enough about the selection to be some kind of cheese sommelier in his own right.
It’s not cheap, the cheese room. I know this from previous visits when getting a little overexcited in the selection process set us back about £30. Armed with this knowledge we picked four cheeses to share between the three of us, the waiter offering suggestions that would help balance the palate. The cheese is served with some slices of french bread, oat cakes and grapes, and our selection came to around £15. You do have to like your cheese to justify that sort of money on just four, but it’s the first time I’ve heard someone still talking about a cheese course the morning after, as was the case with one of my fellow diners.
We paid around £100 including service — two set menus, my la carte, cheese and a bottle of wine — and would happily do so again. I’ve certainly spent more on food that didn’t earn as great praise as this did from the three of us.
A great meal, great atmosphere and great staff, I’d highly recommend this place.

I went back for a wine tasting of English wines (with British/​Irish cheeses). English bubbly is actually quite good! The white wines tend to taste like pears, and the red wines are not so good (it’s too cold in England for red grapes).
The crowd was really cool – a good mix of people to talk to.
Next week, it’s French wines and cheeses – anyone in? It costs £20 p/​p.

Vivat Bacchus deserves a mention on two counts alone: the Cheese Room and the extensive wine cellars. The restaurant has an astonishing range of cheeses (80 apparently) of every provenance and stlye, kept in a climate-​controlled environment and lovingly looked after. For cheese lovers this is a kind of Mecca. The five wine cellars are mostly South African, and a visit is a great opportunity to learn about South African wines.

The most impressive thing about Vivat Bacchus, is the wine list. It’s not often outside of South Africa that such a great selection of SA wines can be drooled over on one wine list. The food in the basement restaurant was very good and allowing diners to choose wines from the cellar was a great (if expensive!) touch. I prefer the relaxed atmosphere of the wine bar upstairs, find the wines and the bar snacks a much more affordable way of spending a few hours at Vivat Bacchus. Not sure I’d eat in the downstairs restaurant again as it was too expensive for what it was and our cheese board was disappointing (I’d had much better choices upstairs!).

Visited this place a while back and I have to say, I left with the impression thathis was a bit of a hidden gem.
Located in the middle of Lawyersville, with Lovells situated above it, this place serves not only genuine South African fare, but the selection of wines is Mind Boggling.
I had a roast loin of Springbok and it was superb. As my guest was having fish, we decided on a white wine the Paul Cluver Sauvignon Blanc and even though I would have rater had a red, this was really good value at £21.50 a bottle.
My guest said her fish (Bass I think) was perfect and we shared a selection of cheeses afterwards.
Not often you get change out of £60 for a decent lunch in London, so I will definitely be back.

Went on a Tues evening to the restaurant downstairs and expected the place to be empty. But through the meal it filled up.
We were offered help from the extensive & high quality wine list by the lady owner. We found a reasonable modestly priced white, but with a few more pennies some very fine wines are available.
The food we had was ‘South African’ and unusual and simple in construct but high on quality and was very good. Service was also just right, the ambience is fine and I will go again. Thoroughly enjoyed my repast.

Upper Market Vinothek and Restaurant with the little bit extra.
Brilliant chef with a fable for South African cuisine and an even better wine cellar. Don’t forget to ask for the cheese selection before finishing with a nice south african glass of port.
Cellar restaurant ideal for a romatic tete a tete, the upstairs bar is suitable for the good old drink after tough business negotiations.
Just a thought. .. .
Enjoy the evening out!
John Rosenbrook