The Rosemary – A piece of Hungary in the middle of London
Our next stop is London! A sunny day in England, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, a little bit of Trafalgar Square. Now what could be better than eat at an awesome Hungarian restaurant. Wait… what? No it’s not a joke and yes, you’ve read right. While walking around London, we spontaneously bumped into a great Hungarian restaurant called The Rosemary that offers vegan food as well as Hungarian specialities that contain meat. Since Stefan, representative of our beef-side of life, is Hungarian as well as author of a Hungarian cook book we decided it’s the perfect restaurant to check out for our next review.
1. Location
The Rosemary is located roughly in the southeast of the city beneath the Thames (technically it’s south of the Thames but who’s counting right?) in New Cross Road 178 in the New Cross district.
While going inside, we could already feel the special and warm welcoming atmosphere of the restaurant. It’s kind of a Hungarian thing, to somehow make you instantly feel comfortable and cosy. The Rosemary is appointed with wooden furniture, a bar and lots of plants. In the background there’s swing music playing.
Special about this place is also the green house above the part of the restaurant in the front right next to the street. It’s made of huge see-through glass windows with plants that entwine around it. But why? Because the Rosemary has its own natural filter system to grow vegetables, herbs and spices.
2. Service
The owner of the Rosemary is serving us himself while giving us a lot of useful information about the restaurant and the filter system. He is very patient with us and has some great recommendations for us, explaining the different and special homemade ingredients.
3. The drinks
The drinks are all vegan apart from some coffee specialities which contain milk. The amount of choices goes from Hungarian beer and wine to various soft drinks, coffee, tea and more.
4. The food
The Rosemary not only convinces us because of the Hungarian specialities, but also because of high quality and organic ingredients. The vegetarian and vegan offers are marked on the menu.
The menu is balanced out and just right for us because there is a starter, a main dish and a dessert for both of us, vegan as well as non-vegan.
Stefan goes for „tatar“ as a starter,, „chicken paprikash“ as main and chestnut puree for dessert.
Esther chooses a pea soup for starter and a mix of „lecsó“ and „mushroom stew“ with rice as main course because she can’t decide which one to take. The sweet part of the menu is a homemade vegan chocolate muffin.
For me, our visit at the Rosemary is a special test because I know the Hungarian kitchen very well and have been raised with the food myself. Therefore my expectations are as high as ever, but there’s little to complain about.
The tatar as entrée is nicely spiced, but be careful about the pepper, it’s Hungarian! The hot flavor is just slowly developing and becomes pretty strong over time.
The main course also surprises me in a positive way. The chicken is very tender and soft and the sauce made of bell pepper fits perfectly. And of course, the sour cream must not be missing in a real Hungarian dish. Also the noccles, self-made noodles, taste just like my grandma makes them.
My dessert is made of fresh chestnut puree with whipped cream on top. The mint leaves add a nice fresh note to the flavor. And it tastes just like the one I know from Hungary. Delicious, amazing!
My starter soup is perfect for a cold and rainy day in London (which apparently there is a lot of). The vegetables are fresh and not too soft. All in all it’s a light soup which leaves enough room for more food.
For the vegan main course you can choose between three options. And since I can’t decide whether to take Lecsó, a pepper-tomato-stew, or the mushroom stew I get a small portion of both with rice on the side. Both dishes offer completely different tastes which both fascinate me. I’ve known Lecsó from Stefan and the Rosemary’s version doesn’t disappoint. It tastes spicy, light and somehow a little fruity. The mushroom stew is very creamy and fits perfectly with the rice which has its own flavor. The side salad adds up to the all around satisfying dish.
The dessert is, although I’m already full, so tempting that I have to try the vegan chocolate muffin. It is still warm, homemade and tastes amazing. The muffin has a light and fluffy texture as if you had just taken it out of the oven at home. Definitely a vegan treat!
5. Nice-To-Know
The restaurant has set great value on organic ingredients and natural flavor. The lamp shades are made of turned around flower pots and the plants are integrated into the decoration everywhere. In front of the Rosemary’s there’s even a little stand with flowers to buy.
The Rosemary is also present at a lot of festivals and guarantees delicious catering.
At the restaurant you can pay with cash or credit card.
Summary
Even though the terms England and good food not always go hand in hand, this will definitely change after you’ve visited the Rosemary. Original and traditional Hungarian dishes made of organic, self grown ingredients served in a familiar and cosy atmosphere and a vegan choice that many dream of – what more could you ask for?
BOL
