Hot Dinners rarely – if ever - say no to anything involving champagne, so we were pretty happy to be invited to the launch of Searcy’s new champagne bar at Paddington station.
Set in the glassed-off section next to the Yo! Sushi conveyor belt, the latest fizz bar is a smaller version of their offering at Westfield - a white leather banquette oasis in the middle of a sea of commuters.
Quite aside from the fact that there’s practically nowhere around Paddington to go for a nice drink – with the exception of The Frontline Club – we’d expect this bar to do well. The staff were, to a person, incredibly friendly and helpful, as well as knowledgeable about their food and drink. We also liked that in addition to all the grand marques champagnes there’s a vintage 2006 Rose from gold medal-winning Kentish vineyard Hush Heath available by the glass for a fairly reasonable £13.
The food offering is pared down, but well thought out. We tried some cracking charcuterie from Trealy Farm – the chorizo was really very, very good as was the cheese on offer – particularly the Grana Padano which was a perfect, salty accompaniment to all that champagne.
The Paddington champagne bar opening marks the start of a busy year for Searcy’s – they’re planning at least two more openings in London that they’d tell us about. So you can expect one of their champagne bars at One New Change this Spring and there’ll also be another one opening at the new Westfield in Stratford.
