Darwin

If you only go to take pictures, then it’s five stars. If you’re going to eat on the other hand, it’s a two.
From my knowledge about Charles Darwin and his theories on survival of the fittest, he would not be proud of this establishment. Darwin, as a restaurant needs to completely re-​market themselves.
French fries, hamburgers and unsustainable food is the basis of this. Oh and the yelling when speaking to your waiter/​waitress because the acoustics are horrible.

My friends and I popped into Darwin to see if they could do deserts. We had heard that the Sky Gardens had a little cake café at the top but when we went the café was not open. So on the off chance we asked if there was space in Darwin.
There was at the bar. It was a little awkward as we were split up by a column at the bar and therefore the group got two different servers.
We ordered drinks and deserts. Both were amazing. Each a little different with their own twist.
The view is not as impressive as the other parts of the sky garden as it is up in the rafters. You do get a breathtaking sunlight as the sun set.
We’ll worth just for the food and drinks though

I like it in the Darwin restaurant. I think it’s an added bonus eating there whilst looking out over London and the fabulous Skygarden. Because it’s located at the top of the garden, you kind of feel like you’re immersed in the jungle as you’re at level with the trees which is cool!
I was feeling terrible that day however I still enjoyed the meal! I had smoked salmon to start and the chicken with peas and potatoes for mains. I thought that it was quite nice although I’m not a big pea fan! I liked the ambience of the restaurant and the waiting staff were lovely!
As it was mine and my boyfriend’s 6 month anniversary, the waiting staff brought in a little dessert for us at the end of our meal which was nice of them! Overall, a very pleasant experience. You can still get the good views of London, even though you aren’t right by the window but also you feel like you’re up in the trees which I liked.

Thoroughly enjoy the fish and chips. The server is very friendly attentive and helpful throughout the meal. I would come back again:)

What a great place! This has got to be one of my favourite rooftop views in London! I organised a ladies breakfast on Saturday morning & it was such a lovely start to the weekend! The sky garden has 360 views of the city and you can see for absolute miles in any direction! We opted for the ultimate breakfast consisting of a continental buffet which was regularly filled with fresh hot bakery items, as well as fruits and yoghurts, a selection of spreads and tea & coffee! All the hot breakfasts were presented beautifully and we’re just delicious! Staff were very helpful but didn’t hover around you asking you if you were okay every 5 minutes! It was relaxed and we didn’t feel rushed as you would normally in this sort of venue as booking allocations are restricted to two hours! This is something I would definitely recommend to anyone living in London and a great place to fake friends and family who may be visiting! It is extremely affordable as well as there are different breakfast «options» you can choose from! A great place all in all!

My final meal before having to leave London. Treated my friend who let me stay at her place to Sunday brunch.
This was my only chance to get into Sky Garden. I had only found out about Sky Garden the night before, so of course the free tickets were impossible, especially given that this particular week’s weather was amazing.
So I booked a 2pm brunch despite having to catch a flight departing from Heathrow at 6pm.
Service was great. They let us take a seat 15 minutes early. They were attentive the entire time, although I’ve been to places that clear your plate as soon as you stand up.
The buffet was amazing. Two types of smoked fish, mackerel, cured pork and beef, cheeses, broccolini, potato salad, other salads, quinoa.
Smoothies, including a blueberry and kale smoothie.
Bloody Mary bar, featuring standard, beef and Virgin Marys. Your choice of garnishes, in addition to additional hot sauce and horseradish. They didn’t have Chinese chili nor oyster Marys as promised though.
For the mains, I selected roast sirloin with Yorkshire pudding. The sirloin with gravy was definitely taken from a good piece of beef. However, I opted for rare, so cutting my sirloin was a bit difficult with the provided knife. The potato, broccoli and mashed carrots were spot on, but the Yorkshire pudding tasted and looked overcooked.
My friend’s fish and chips looked like the same batter as the Yorkshire pudding, so that was unfortunate.
However, the dessert buffet made up for it. The donuts looked amazing and the banoffee pie in a mason jar was well balanced and delicious. There were also oatmeal cookie bars, brownies and panna cotta. Unfortunately, I was so full (as expected) so I couldn’t enjoy all the desserts in their entirety, but the samples I had were exceptional.
Despite the mains being lackluster, the overall experience and the rest of the food were top notch. And during brunch, it seems to be a better choice over the other restaurant. The fact that it’s a good way to get into Sky Garden last minute and enjoy the view from your table (most of the tables are against the window), this place is definitely worth its price, moreso for a special occasion.

Brought my partner here for his birthday. Made a reservation and they placed us at the window where it was facing the city. It was beautiful.
The food was delicious. We had the chicken salad and the chicken liver with bread to start, followed by the lamb and trout for mains. Chocolate brownie at the end for dessert. Generous portions and reasonably priced.
It’s great for special occasions, we enjoyed ourselves very much and I would definitely bring visitors here.

You don’t climb to the top of the Walkie Talkie because they have the best food town. It’s for the view! And, wow! What a view it is! Now, on to the food…
We came for breakfast, to start a very special day in a very special way.
(Hey! That rhymed!)
Anyhoo, we each had the buffet plus a hot meal. Everybody left happy and full! The food was quite good, and the service was excellent!
It is not the cheapest place in town, but it is well worth going at least once.

My little sister and my flatmate’s birthdays are on the same date, so to celebrate their milestone (they turned 30 this year!) I decided to treat them to a special girls dinner in the Sky Garden. The Sky Garden is at the top of the ‘walkie talkie’ building (aka 20 Fenchurch) in the City of London, and so has great views on all sides.
We started with drinks in Sky Bar — the 2 storey space with all those views and a bar in the middle. The drinks menu was very interesting and the cocktails for both the bar and the 2 restaurants had been highly recommended.
We tried the Papi Chulo (Zacapa rum and chilli), Members Club (Bulleit Bourbon), Winter Garden (Tanqueray gin and kaffir lime) and Fire Place (Zubrowka and apple). The Members Club cocktail had a hidden chocolate coin at the bottom of its spherical ice block and we all enjoyed the ‘interesting’ twists to the cocktails!
After drinks we explored some more of the garden area before heading to dinner. There are 2 restaurants to choose from in the Sky Garden — Fenchuch and Darwin. As it was a last minute booking we had to go for dinner at Darwin brasserie, which is the cheaper/​less posh of the two, but was still great!
As we entered we were hit by the noise — there was very buzzy atmosphere and the restaurant was full on a Wednesday night, with a mixture of groups and couples. Top tip — tables for couples are around the outside of the room nearest to the windows — perfect for date night!
The Darwin menu is concise but full of tempting goodies! We started with the kale and pumpkin salad — full of interesting flavours and textures; the Dorset crab; the smoked salmon and beetroot — a classic combination; and the peppered beef carpaccio — with goat cheese and rocket. We all enjoyed every bite of the starters and obviously had to share them out so everyone could enjoy (and Instagram!)
For the main course we weren’t as adventurous. Birthday girl #1 went for the braised lamb shank and the rest of us plumped for the confit duck. The duck was a very full meal, as it came with beans, a great gravy and sausage!
You might have thought that we would be full by then — but hey it was a special occasion so of course we made room for dessert! We tried the honeycomb cheesecake, the mint chocolate marquise with mint choc chip icecream and the pineapple carpaccio — the dehydrated pineapple slices were a revelation!
We finished the meal with a celebratory glass of champagne and rolled downstairs to our Über!
I’d definitely recommend the Sky Garden and Darwin for special occasions like this — the other restaurant, Fenchurch even does a tasting menu with wine pairing if you need to up the wow factor!
You can of course visit the Sky Garden without booking into the restaurants — however pre booked tickets are useful. If you book to eat and want to go around the garden and enjoy the views, then make sure you leave time.
They say to allow 15 minutes for airport style security checks at the entrance and then another 15 minutes before your restaurant booking. If you are having a drink at the Sky bar you might want longer — but note that the tables by the window tend to be reserved, so booking for the bar is advised for large groups or if you want those window tables

I would skip the restaurant and just get a drink at the Sky Garden bar. The view is amazing at Darwin even on a rainy day, the food is good but the service was horrible. Our waiter forgot about us as the evening went on.

Great breakfast this morning at Darwin’s Porridge Bar! Lovely heart-​warming banana and manuka honey porridge with amazing smoothies and a killer view. Neat.

Came here for brunch just before Christmas. The view is spectacular and hits you straightaway. I could’ve spent 30mins checking it out as we had a beautifully clear day. So on to the actual restaurant. We were a big group… about 10 of us, so we were only able to choose from a limited menu which to be honest didn’t offer enough hot meal choices & I think we all ended up going for the full English. Luckily the full English breakfast was tasty and we were having it with champagne. eating & drinking like queens! The service was attentive, though they spilt a drink over one of the group’s coat but they were so apologetic and insisted on picking up the dry cleaning bill.
Definitely will come back with the fam.

cssk. Sunday brunch at the walkie talkie building, over. cssk.
Spectacular views over London are provided along with a substantial cold buffet.
And I’d be very happy to leave it right there.
Unfortunately, included in the price is also a main course after the buffet which is completely unnecessary. Because it’s £38 per person you feel obliged. Consequently you end up going down the lift 5kg heavier than you went in which is a worry for the creaking steel cables.
Also included in the price is a far too jaunty ‘personal waiter’ who can’t wait to tell you how the whole thing works (always a nightmare. «have you been to a Harvester before?»), what his name is and how happy he is to be serving you. All very nice if you’re American and demand large helpings of mock sincerity with your service — I suspect most of the people there fell into this category — but less appreciated if you’re a cynical grumpy Londoner who just wants you to give him his plate and get lost.
The buffet itself was decent standard. Good tasting and textured cured meats nicely presented rather than just wanged onto the tray in a desperate attempt to keep up with the hungry hoards.
Salads that don’t scrimp on the good stuff like asparagus and artichoke, and don’t try and hoodwink with lashings of cheap mayo. Good quality stuff and lots of choice. Tasty breads to go with it and tempting puddings to look forward to after chomping your way through the totally unnecessary main.
I had a pan fried bream as my main in a vain bid to seem healthy. It was nicely done. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. The roast lunch was also good. I know this because I polished off half the boy’s and the missus’s as they were completely unable to get through it after the excesses of the buffet.
We hung around to watch London light up at dusk which was delightful even if you’ve lived here all your life. And to be fair, jaunty staff were happy for the boy to tip up to the buffet twice more for a double dip into the puddings.
The whole thing was on my aunt and the day felt rather special because of that and the setting. If they could squeeze out the touristy trappings of the restaurant I’d be more than happy to go back again. It feels glam and it’s nice to visit the City on a Sunday. And even if it stays unashamedly touristy, I’d say it’s worth a trip to tick it off the list.

Delicious food, friendly staff, beautiful view. The food was £16.50 but after having drink, starter and some dessert, the bill was around £45 for each person

Let’s do brunch with a view.
On Sundays Darwin brasserie does an impressive brunch for £38. It sounds a big expensive, but you are getting A LOT of food for that price.
Start with the buffet with ham, salads, cheese, bread, then choose a main from their menu (it goes from traditional breakfast meals to full sunday roast).
I tried the egg benedict with crab (a nice twist, although not the best eggs I tried) and I had a glimpse at the beef roast, which featured a HUGE slice of meat.
If you’re still hungry you can then help yourself to the sweets buffet (donuts, cheesecake, brownie).
Main feature of the brunch for me was the smoothie and bloody mary bar. It’s included in the price and you can get as many as you want.
Also there’s a nice view

Not great food in a beautiful setting. Isn’t that always the case?
Well its definitely true for Darwin Brassiere which is located on the 36^th of the walkie talkie tower.
We ordered the salmon and duck leg with triple fried chips and steamed spinach. Everything was incredibly bland tasting and not cooked very well. My duck was particularly dry.
Service was also quite slow but expected in such a touristy setting.
If you’re looking to check out the great views of London head to the Sky Lounge for some cocktails instead of wasting your money here. We didn’t even manage to do that as London has been so foggy lately :(.

The infamous walkie talkie building — after all the bad press after melting the paint off cars. It is truly a beautiful space where you can go up for free or enjoy a drink or a meal at one of the restaurants. Definitely a place for a special occasion or a place to bring visitors. I’d recommend getting to the place an hour ahead of your dinner reservation to enjoy a drink at the bar and stroll around the gardens. It’s nice to experience it both in daylight and after the sun sets.
Places like this I automatically assume the food portions will be quite small and probably not too good and I have to say both times dining at the Darwin restaurant I was quite pleased with my meals. I do like that they give you an option of a 500ml carafe if you don’t want to order a full bottle of wine.
Surprisingly the food portions were quite huge and almost a bit too much if you also order a starter. I order the lamb shank which was a replacement item from the menu and it was HUGE and cooked extremely well.
Service was good and overall had a great dining experience.

Restaurant at the top of a building in a major city. Smells like an opportunity to gouge tourists of their travel money. This restaurant does not do this. Great food at decent prices. Friendly service. We had the sea bream and rump of lamb. Everything was cooked well and was delicious. Strongly recommend

The 5,4,3,2,1 evolution…
5 — No, it isn’t a 5 star and if you read on you’ll see why they didn’t quite make it for me.
4 — It is definitely 4 stars. Easy & hassle free entry to the venue even though every tourist & their mum are downstairs waiting to get into the Sky Garden.
Service was flawless, courteous (not overly friendly) and prompt. All the things I like.
The views were actually better than the other high rise competitors in the area, in my opinion. The ambiance is a cool vibe & those who know how to dress for this type of venue will like it… more on that below.
There is live music in the gardens & it was good too.
Food. Very nice. You will forget it later but of the 3 mains we had the only issue was the totally inedible, erm, coleslaw? The burger was nice, the chips better than nice. Fish cake, light, flaky & well seasoned. Risotto, creamy and a good portion too! The prices are as expected, at least for the very pricey starters. The mains were actually more reasonable. The drinks were on point albeit a bit pricey at £11.50 for cocktails but there are other options.
3 — They turn tables, so while you’re enjoying the lovely vibe & proper background music; keep in mind you will be asked (gently) to vacate after your 2hrs are up. I like that, it ensures you do not invite your friends who have no concept of time.
2 — Attire. Even if you have not been here, the location and promo of this place makes it clear how you should be dressed. Shame on folks rocking up with their grimiest attire & actually shame on the venue for allowing this. It will inevitable become something it was not meant to be over time.
1 — My 1^st visit but I will return.
Well done!

I didn’t have a reservation (opening week), but the woman in the lobby made an exception and I was seated promptly
I had the smoked haddock, tenderstem broccoli, and wine for lunch. Everything was drenched in butter, but service made up for it.
50USD for lunch