I'm someone who is forever changing my mind between whether I love winter or not. Walking to work in the morning when its barely above freezing, and I'm wearing a midi dress and courts is not exactly my favourite thing to do, yet when I get to sit with a hot chocolate, a hot water bottle and warming comfort food, I begin to like this season. Forgetting the first, the latter is what I want to talk about, as I've got the perfect winter terrace for you to head to this winter for all your warming comforts; The Churchill Bar's Winter Terrace
The Churchill Bar's Winter Terrace is located The Hyatt Regency hotel on Portman Square, not far from Oxford Circus. The bar has an inside, but its the terrace that you'll want to book a table at. Covered under a canopy, with heated lamps to make sure you'll keep toastie, it just the cutest looking terrace in central London. It almost has a vintage London theme, with Victorian clocks, oil lamps and a exposed brick walls with a chalk board of the days specials, It's a small terrace, but it adds the cosy feel.
Every table comes with blankets and throws, and if you are particularly cold, you can even get a hot water bottle.
Even Mr Churchill had one.
The menu is a mix of their normal menu and their new winter menu. I do think it might have been nice to separate the two out, as the winter menu gets lost in amongst the rest if the items. However taking a look you can see some classic winter warmers like fondue and croque monsieur.
Whilst we waited for our food, we got a round of drinks in. Helen went for the Time Out. A mixture of London N1 mint infused gin, italicus rosolio di bergamotto which is a type of whisky and some homage citrus punch make for a sweet and very stylish drink, and it even comes with a little chocolate truffle as decoration.
I opted for the Normandy Tipple, a short drink made with Boulard Calvados and Williams Pere liquor, chestnut spread, pear puree and chocolate bitters. A sweet yet rich drink from the chestnut and chocolate, it was very drinkable but isn't a light and easy drink, it's more of a slow sipper.
The showstopper though is the fondue. When it arrived we all did a little gasp and immediately stopped what we were doing. Smoked applewood cheddar and bacon fondue with potatoes and bread for dipping. Now if it wasn't clear from this blog already, I adore cheese. It is honestly my favourite food of all time (I might be sat here with some cheese and bread as I type this...) yet I've had some bad fondues in my time. If the cheese is poor quality, it just becomes bland and sickly. I didn't have a great one at Tom's Kitchen last year, yet this one get's my seal of approval. I think the bacon really helped give it some more depth and stopped it becoming too sickly too soon (all fondue eventually gets too much). My only critique was that the bread was a little on the dry side, which was a shame.
I'm a complete carnivore and always go for the meat options, but Helen loves a bit of veggie and so we went for the Artichoke, feta and pine nut croquettes as well. To be fair, for something without meat, they were rather good. I mean I'm not a huge fan of artichoke to begin with, but Helen loved them, so for any veggies or just someone wanting something less meaty or cheesy then I'd choose theses.
Finally it was the Croque Monsieur. Helen didn't know what it was, so basically I described it as posh cheese on toast to her. Well let's be real here... it sort of is when you think about it. Cheesy, ham toastie goodness. What more could you ask for?
Well alright then, another drink to wash it down with.
The Churchill Bar's Winter Terrace is really one of the prettiest and gone all out winter pop ups I've seen so far. From the decor, to the food and the staff are really lovely and welcoming, it's a great place to go for lunch at a weekend or maybe for a light bite after Christmas shopping on Oxford Street. Or to be honest you'll probably want more like a stiff drink after battling down Oxford Street!
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