Skylon

More than 60 years after the British Exhibition of 1951, the Royal Festival Hall is all that remains of the glorious exhibition that highlighted Britain’s contribution to science, technology, industry, architecture and the arts. However, its incredible impact on the South Bank of the Thames has changed London forever.

Festival of Britain. View across the Thames of the exhibition buildings for the 1951 Festival of Britain which were sited next to County Hall. © Copyright John Ritchie Addison (via Creative Commons)

If you have never walked along the South Bank you are truly missing out on one of greatest parts of the city. Every time I walk from Tower Bridge down past the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre towards the South Bank Centre I am reminded why I fell in love with this city in the first place.

To accompany the grand Festival of Britain, the Skylon Tower – a vertiginous engineering marvel to rival that of the Eiffel Tower – was erected alongside the Jubilee Gardens. As I mentioned before, the Royal Festival Hall is the only surviving relic of the Festival of Britain and it is most likely the Skylon Tower was turned into scrap.

The imposing name however, a combination of the words ‘sky’, ‘pylon’ and ‘nylon’ (terribly exciting in the ’50’s I’ll have you know) lives on as the name of restaurant on the third-floor of the Royal Festival hall overlooking the Thames. Skylon is named after the temporary tower built for the 1951 festival of Britain.

On a particularly sunny autumn Saturday I met with my family to have lunch at Skylon, to celebrate my sister finally becoming a qualified Architect. Skylon is particularly memorable for me as it is where I ate my first piece of pork belly several years ago, when the same sister graduated with distinction from her Masters, and so when I saw pork on the menu I couldn’t resist.

We had the set lunch, which for three courses is a very reasonable £29.00 per person (plus service). We started with sparkling wine, followed by a smooth bottle of red. I ordered the chicken terrine to start, followed by the pork – naturally – and a lovely pear and chocolate mousse for dessert.

The food didn’t disappoint. A rich and flavoursome terrine was served with a basketful of warm artisan bread and delicate fresh garnish. This was followed by a generous portion of saddleback pork served with apple gravy, smooth creamed carrots and crisp potato cubes. Now, my family could eat gravy competitively, but in the end we had plenty on our plates to satisfy everyone – which is almost unheard of.

For a fine dining restaurant the food was suitably filling – no tiny servings – but I would recommend three courses over a long and lazy lunch, to fill even the heartiest of appetites. As you can tell from my photo I was too excited to eat it, so please see my photograph of the meal ‘deconstructed’ (aka half-finished, sorry).

I could have eaten the dessert again. A fragrant poached pear perfectly set off the chocolate mousse, which can only be described as a chocolate and pear tea cake from heaven. Accompanying the delicate arrangement was a refreshing pear sorbet and drops of caramel, which finished the dessert nicely. Elegant petit fours of marshmallow, truffle and coconut macaroons served on a silver stand were enjoyed by all with the pots of tea and coffee that followed.

Although one might imagine that at this point we would be full and – four hours later – ready to leave. Instead we continued our afternoon at the restaurant bar overlooking the Thames. Fresh pots of tea rescued most of our party from what could have become a food induced slumber but I selected one of the Virgin cocktails – a mixture of lemon and ginger, which had just the right balance of sweetness and tang to be refreshing without being bitter.

I would definitely recommend Skylon if you a looking for a fancy lunch without paying through the nose. The a la carte evening menu is pricier but the grill menu shouldn’t be dismissed. We went for a family celebration and it suits just that. However, if you are just looking for a quiet and subtly sumptuous drink away from the hustle and bustle of the South Bank I suggest stopping off at the bar, which has average London prices but a not-so-average view.