Magdalen

This is a spot where I would take my wife for a Romantic dinner. The layout of the place is very classy. It can get a bit loud since the room is a bit small, but still very upscale and classy.

The starters are small, but the smoked salmon with asparagus was very delicious. I could probably eat 3 - 5 servings! When I took my first bite of the salmon, it melted in my mouth. AMAZING. The salmon is freighted from Scotland 3 times a week.

The slow cooked lamb was good. Great place for a night out with your significant other and not having to worry about being stuffed.

Roger Faulks co-owns this restaurant who is apparently very renowned amongst food critics and those who know good food when they taste it. Serving a combination of traditional English and French cuisine, Magdalen despite being located on the busy Tooley Street has a secluded, cosy vibe once inside. The decor comprises of wood with soft, rounded edges and leather seating. Of course, it is all very well having a lovely interior but the proof is in the pudding as they say (and the puddings are gorgeous). The menu is constantly updated with added little surprises every day so that even if you are a regular, you will likely be able to experience something different on every visit. I loved the sea bass but the traditional meat option which my friend opted for, was also delicious. The food is bought fresh from Borough Market so it is of the highest quality.

The prices are above average at around £16 for a main but you also have the option of a set menu which works out a great deal cheaper at 3 courses for £18 for lunch.

My friend heard great things about this place and we had a birthday dinner here. Believe me when I say that EVERYTHING was great. The crab starter sounded strange on the menu but amazing on my tastebuds. The mains were delicious and the birthday cake was out of this world!

The entire dining experience was enhanced by the wonderful service of the 2 waiters on the top level.

I had walked past this restaurant many times but never actually had the opportunity to check this place out.
My hubby decided to treat me since we had been traveling so much and this was a GREAT treat for the both of us. It is an elegant place with a lot of bankers and accountants but I cant hold that against them :).

We got a carafe of the red wine plus a glass of champagne, which were both yummY!
The apps we got were good --- mine was a feta and broad bean salad, which was okay but my hubbys onion and cheese tart was to die for, caramelized onion with a stinky yet amazingly delicous cheese.

The mains we got were a roasted pollack, which was not fishy at all and super delcious, and the beef, which looked equally good.

We finished with profiteroles, the caramel truffles and a glass of port, and wow we were a little drunk but very full and happy as well. For £120 for a couple,I cant say that that this was a STEAL but still good food and i was able to have a good conversation with my hubby as well.

I think this place is a bit of a hidden gem. Its in London Bridge but you could easily walk past it as its not that big and in the middle of Tooley Street. It is a great place to take family for a nice evening dinner and the inside is cosy but lively.

Very good all round restaurant on all factors. Great and attentive service that gave recommendations and answered questions. Fantastic menu that had a diverse selection and quality output. Good selection of wines and other interesting drinks. And finally a nice atmosphere and ambience to top it all of.

Christmas dos: A very British tradition found during the whole month of December involving various combinations of groups within the workplace so as to maximize the number of dos (drinking) possible. Thankfully, one those dinner dos involved Magdalen.

I dressed up for this place. Yea that's right, shutup. I had high expectations for this Tooley Street venue, and they were all met with flavorful dishes at heartbreakingly cheap prices for the city.

I personally dove in with the 3 course deal - started off with a pigeon and partridge terrine (how holiday appropriate), then a lovely piece of roasted middle-white with the most delicious gravy, and ended the meal with great heaps of gingerbread ice cream.

And a whole bottle of wine with my name on it.

I cannot praise this place enough, the only reason why I'm giving it 4 stars is because the service was a bit slow...so slow in fact that I got up and sliced my own bread from the stock loaf sitting next to our table (don't judge me). All in all, I would attribute the perhaps slight lack of attention to the packed holiday crowd and would definitely come back again during quieter times in the year.

I've also heard their lunches were quite fabulous as well, time to book!

This surprisingly stylish restaurant is well positioned on Tooley Street near London Bridge. Despite having travelled down that road literally hundreds of time (it's on my way home), I'd always passed by the unassuming and slightly worn awning and sign and dismissed it as just another coffee and sandwich shop catering the swarms of suits (myself included) that worked in the area. Yet through the doors lies a sleek dining room which epitomises French elegance and, more importantly, has the top quality food to match.

It's not cheap with mains running at around £20 and starters and desserts being £8, but the food is delicious and the staff unusually friendly and welcoming. In an area starved of quality restaurants, Magdalen definitely stands out as a bit of hope for those who want to plan a work lunch or dinner without settling for the old stand by of Gaucho.

I should preface this as noting I had just come back from a week of snowboarding in Chamonix, so I had had my fill of French food. Still, despite being frenched out, I love the food, particularly the main of roast veal which was tender and succulent. The meat was a lovely pink colour and the juices mixed with the celeriac puree for a very moreish mash.

The house champagne went down a treat and just showcased the quality of the wine list. Needless to say, for a work lunch it was a bit boozy and we probably didn't get as much done that afternoon as we should have.

All in all, a great meal and a slightly expensive but definitely worth it experience. For an area which had left me in despair for a nice place to eat, I'm glad I was forced into discovering just how good Magdalen can be.

On a misty, misserly autumn evening full of threatened drizzle and pavement leaf crunch the Magdalen engulfs you like that warm cozy welcoming local pub you know you can't have because you live in London.

Warm walls in deepest goulash line the handsome old boozer, now a fully functioning restaurant. The front bar hosts sofas for hopeful walk up and could possibly function as a working local pub, if mine smelt as nice as this though I'd never leave. The back room and the upstairs are table filled. White paper cloth and excellent lighting brighten the space.

My guest started with a superb cauliflower soup. Admittedly it had more butter and cream pumped through it than strictly necessary but that worked wonders for both richness and texture... Nutty ribsticking goodness, the surface studded with roast garlic and tiny florets of cauli rested on a thick slick of autumnal comfort.

I went for a dish of fried calves brain with a mustardy, egg mayonaisey gribeche as much because I've never seen it on a menu before. It was challenging, more for the concept than the texture or flavour. Barely discernable lobes came as three breadcrumb fried patties, had it not been for the menu I might have been eating a subtly flavoured soft cheese, foie gras-like in texture. A little bland and pappy, the herby mayonnaise gave it a necessary bite, but I could have done with smaller patties, and a higher concentration of breadcrumb. The voice in my head proved a slight distraction, like having someone remind you about stillborn chicken embryos mid boiled egg.

Mains were mostly meaty, other than a student standby potato and cheese pie in a puff pastry, saved from sanctimoniousness by deleriously good Ardrahan cheese oozing healthily through and a side salad of refreshingly different dandilion.

I flatly refused to share any of my beef cheek. Braised for what tasted like days in a girolle and onion reduction, sweet and tender meaty puck nestled in a smooth Jerusalem artichoke puree. The only complaint was on the texture, the meat fell apart when you showed it a fork and the whole thing, delicious as it tasted, was smoother than Justin Beiber's PR machine.

By now flushed with an excellent house red and coming close to satiation. Quince crumble, a pear and almond tart and other desserts were sadly a little too wintry to tempt. They do however have some excellent salted caramel chocolates that slid down perfectly with coffee.

Overall, Magdalen is a great example of the perfect local restaurant. Friendly service, faultless cooking of good ingredients and the feel good equivalent of a laugh with a great mate, it's certainly somewhere I'll be back to again and again.

Food was very good and I can strongly recommend the calvados and apple juice apéritif.

The staff were friendly and were both polite and discrete when I managed to spill wine over the table - the waiter came over with a warm smile and covered it with a napkin then we carried on with our meal.

Perfect for a quiet dinner and a chat.

Very nice, but not very memorable place. I have to say the food an service were very good, but it was lacking something unique. As a matter of fact, before writing this review, I'd actually forgotten about the place. :-o

Should you be in the area or have the opportunity to go, you will not be disappointed with the quality of the food or service. I had a simple, but fresh green salad to start with a very nice vinaigrette, and tender, flavourful rabbit for my main. The sherry aperitif and wine with dinner were spot on. Our waiter, though a little slow, complimented the experience.

It's just that there are so many nice, French-ish restaurants in London, I was hoping for something a little bit different with this one.