The Door Cornhill

The Door

Oyster Bar & Grill

33 Cornhill

EC3

020 7929 1378

Cornhill  takes its name from one of the three ancient hills of London. The others being Tower Hill and Ludgate Hill, all these hills played an early part in Christianity and were crowned with churches, only one hill remains crowned and that with St Pauls Cathederal, Tower Hill obviously has The Tower Of London and Cornhill has come to represent the contemporary bastion of commerce, Money. Although Sir Christopher Wrens Church St Michael's on Cornhill stands on the site of the Roman Forum when London was Lundinium, so it is fair to say that this stretch of road has played an important part in the development of London. All these titans of industry have to be fed and there are an awful lot of restaurants in the area, while I was walking up Cornhill to number 33 I passed a few and given the fact that it was raining and early August a time when even the city gets quieter, when I walked in to The Door I was amazed to see how busy it was compared to the half full restaurants I had just passed, This was about to become totally apparent, through the course of lunch.

The Door is an oyster and steak restaurant, although other tastes are accounted for it is primarily these two staples that they are quite rightly proudest of. As we had a drink at the bar we decided to try the oysters that they had as I hadn't tried the particular types that they had before. You can get 6 oysters and a glass of champagne for £16, well worth a trip on its own as the oysters were among some of the best I have had. My favourite was the small Kumomoto oyster that had such a strenght of flavour to it, and simply dressed, I would have been happy to have a dozen, they also had Mourne Rock and Blackwater wild, both good and larger in size, but I have to say it was the Kumomoto that won me over.

Going into the restaurant from the bar, it was good to see that the tables were well spaced apart, obviously it is a room where deals are done and the need for discretion paramount. It also allows the diner to relax more knowing that they are not being eavesdropped on. With such an emphasis put on the steaks we asked our waiter Rosco to talk us through them, he came out in favour of the Midwest USDA steaks the cattle that provided this meet had spent the last 100-150 days of its life on a grain diet after a lifetime of grass, the choice of cuts are as follows, Fillet, Ribeye and Sirloin this goes for the USDA and Argentine meat with the Australian/ Chilean Waygu beef which is available as a Ribeye. They also have a very fine selection of wines as you would expect and indeed it is the sort of place that you would see as being the winner of " The bill of the week" in CityAM. The acoustics in the room were perfect, probably helped by the coffered ceiling and considering the amount of people in there the conversation ran smoothly and voices were not needed to be raised, something you cannot always guarantee in city restaurants.

They seem to have got everything right at The Door, the food for sure was very well cooked and as with a thriving lunchtime restaurant there was no delay with the food and all presented very well with a flourish. The creamed spinach in particular sprang out as the winning side dish, although the hand cut chips came a very close second. Although very busy at lunch time it also has a thriving evening trade so no matter when you go you are sure to have great food, great service, and while your time in a very stylish room. To be honest it is not an area of town I spend a lot of time in but if I find myself there again it would be somewhere I would look forward to going back to, and even if I only persuade one of you to go I will consider it a work in progress and recommend it continually should anyone say they are going to that area for lunch or dinner, I really don't think I can say fairer than that.