Picture of Bermondsey Bar And Kitchen, SE1 3UD

Historical version 2 of Bermondsey Bar And Kitchen, SE1 3UD (view current version)

  • 020 7407 6079
  • 40 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UD (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • @Donnellys
  • Mon-Wed: 9am-11:30pm (food 10am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm); Thu-Fri: 9am-1pm (food 10am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm); Sat: 10am-1am (food 10am-4pm, 6pm-10pm); Sun: 10am-10pm (food 10am-5pm)

Cafe, bar, and restaurant in Bermondsey, near the southern entrance to London Bridge Station. It doesn't accept cash, only cards.

Described on its website as being located "in a former underground car park", it does indeed have a utilitarian look, with brickwork walls painted in a "distressed" style, an unfinished floor, and ducting stretching across the ceiling. Stylised "bare bulb" lighting hints that some or all of this is a refit rather than the original features.

Rectangular tables are arranged in tightly-packed long rows, each ready-laid with water glasses and cutlery and separated from its neighbour by just an inch or so. Seats are low-backed and comfortably padded in brown pleather. An open kitchen sits behind a sturdily-built wooden bar/service counter along one wall.

The menu is branded as "Donnelly's at Bermondsey Bar & Kitchen" and the website describes said Donnelly's presence as a "residency", but according to a member of staff in April 2019 the chef has no current intention to move on elsewhere.

Kake visited on a Monday morning in April 2019. There were about a dozen customers when I arrived around 10:45am, spread around the large space, and there was no problem finding me a table by the window. No music was playing, but there was plenty of conversation, amplified by the somewhat echoey space.

Scrambled eggs with grilled tomato and sriracha on sourdough toast (£6.50) photo was nicely-presented, topped with sprigs of watercress for extra colour. The toast was somewhat inconsistently toasted, being well-browned at one end and only gently warmed at the other, but the bread had a good flavour and crumb. The tomato had a nice char from the grill. The eggs themselves were also good; soft and not at all dry, with a well-judged amount of sriracha.

Earl Grey tea (£3) was good quality, with a pronounced floral scent, and served in a generously-sized pot which stayed warm.

Service was helpful but a little slow at times. A 12.5% service charge was auto-added to the bill.

Accessibility: A couple of steps to get in at both entrances, and another step to each toilet.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, April 2019. Opening hours taken from the Bermondsey Bar & Kitchen website, April 2019.
OS X co-ord: 533171 OS Y co-ord: 179897 (Latitude: 51.501816 Longitude: -0.081121)
This is version 2 (as of 2019-05-25 06:32:26). View current version. List all versions.