Opening night at Bacchanalia, Mayfair

Opening night at Bacchanalia, Mayfair

• Monday 28 November 2022

Thanks to a very good Instagram marketing campaign, I have been excitedly waiting for this place to open for months, so as soon as the email dropped in my inbox, I made a booking for opening night. 

Bacchanalia, located just on the corner of Berekley Square and Mount Street is a Greek/Italian fusion restaurant and Richard Carings newest culinary venture.

I'm very glad to have been although in short, I'm not sure I'll be be in a rush go back the same way I have been with some of the other restaurants nearby.

The restaurant design looked amazing in the photos, with huge sculptures and a Sistine Chapel-style ceiling but in reality, it seemed a little.. faker than I'd have hoped. I was also a bit sad that they weren't able to accommodate my request for a table on the main floor because 'there were lots of press coming in' who they needed those tables for.

The bar downstairs was great, as was the atmosphere so we spent some time there before heading up to our table on the balcony floor which had a much quieter vibe. The design was strangely familiar to the set up at Annabel's, another of Carings places but the cocktails were very unique so I'd definitely come back for those.

I ordered a MAENAD which was gin based with raspberry and eucalyptus, and very rich and creamy thanks to the addition of white chocolate, Greek yoghurt & egg white. We also had to try the KARPOUZI just because of the description. Basically, sold to us as somewhere between and Aperol Spritz and a greek salad, this one was created with watermelon, and feta infused vodka.

Food and drinks were just a little bit more expensive than the other places which I think was a little unnecessary, but we did enjoy everything.

When it came to food, we decided on a classic burrata, a steak tartare with a nduja twist and my favourite, unsurprisingly, was the octopus. I love octopus and this was I exception, paired with some Greek pulses. 

On to the mains, we had a plate of pasta that whilst good - it's hard to go wrong with truffle - was pretty average and decided against a proper 

main dish and dessert, unheard of for me. Nothing really took my fancy, apart from the tirimasu dessert, although I didn't fancy taking a £35 risk on that.

So, in conclusion, I'd most definitely pop back for a drink. The sparkling bar, and the cocktail list impressed but in terms for the food I think it was just a little too expensive to get excited about again.