1707 Wine Bar at Fortnum & Mason Piccadilly, London

Visiting Fortnum and Mason - Piccadilly to us is like a day out treat. The chocolate corner, tea and coffee corner, cakes and patisserie and so on are just too hard to resist. That’s just on the ground floor..

Knowing we are very weak-willed when it comes to food and drink, we went straight to lower ground floor to the Food Hall. Our intention was to pick up some little stuff to take home, which we did manage to do. But, when we were just about to climb the stairs, our eyes caught the menu board at 1707 Wine Bar.

And guess what?? Seconds later, we found ourselves sitting at the bar ordering Devilled Whitebait and Preserved Lemon Aioli and a bottle of Ruinart Brut Rose.

The time shows a quarter past 12, what was a quite bar when we arrived soon filled with people. It gives such a lively ambiance to the venue. Friendly staff helped too.

Our Devilled Whitebait arrived, presented quite uniquely in fritter basket with aioli on the side. Champagne glasses topped up and we tuck in in no time.

Well… we must admit, the whitebait didn’t blow our mind, but it was ‘okay’. It was reasonably warm when it arrived at our table, crunchy in texture, but we hardly taste the fish at all as they were so small and the batter over the fish was under-seasoned too, unfortunately. 

Not quite fulfilled by the whitebait we decided to order a portion of Baked Camembert a la Provencal, Florentine Chutney and Poilane and a Warm Potted Shrimp served on Rye. We can’t really go wrong with those two (we hoped). 

And we were right, we should have gone for the camembert and potted shrimp at the first place! 

The baked camembert was so deliciously creamy, complemented by small chunks of garlic that tasted so nutty. Spread the cheese generously over a slice of bread with a small dollop of chutney.... mmmmm... Heaven!

Forget the amount of calories in potted shrimp and just dig in while it still hot! That's all we can say.. 

Not the best potted shrimp we ever had, but the one at 1707 did serve the purpose. Filling and comforting during wintery afternoon... 

Enough savouries intake and on the second bottle of Ruinart, we then move to something sweet before we call it a day. What could be better than the old Knickerbocker Glory??? It comes in generous portion too! Ideal to share between two persons (unless you are a real munchkin, then you would want it just for yourself :))

Our overall experience snacking at 1707 was reasonably pleasant. A great place to spend long afternoon with family and friends. Service was not exceptional but the staff are friendly and accommodating. We wouldn't mind going there again... 

1707 Wine Bar at Fortnum & Mason Piccadilly, London
181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 77348040
Website: http://www.fortnumandmason.com/