Vivacious: the bar at Boiler and Co
(Picture: Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)The after-work bar is not, traditionally speaking, a place that you would readily associate with culinary excellence. No one ever piled into an All Bar One to ask about the specials. And I always remember that one of the more grimly fascinating features of the beloved, swirly-carpeted local near my first magazine job were the pies that dripped off the plate like Dali clocks.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that, as I walked towards Boiler & Co — a new all-day bar and kitchen from Anguilla-born chef Kerth Gumbs, set in the base of a Bankside office complex amid Prets, Leons and Itsus — I did not hold much hope. Throw in the fact that the apparent main draw was a tasting menu riven with edible flowers and puffs of dry ice and, well, it was a reservation that lurked in my diary like jury duty.
