Stepping into the 18th century

10th August 2010, 11:12am

The Bathhouse, located in London’s Bishopsgate Yard, has recently undergone a major overhaul. Stepping into the 19th century, Maria Bracken visited the hidden gem to see what the establishment has to offer.

The historic building goes back years and years. Dating back to the late 1800s, The Bathhouse is a converted Turkish bath house but in May last year, was rescued from years of neglect. Partners Tava O'Halloran and Daniel Wright saw this "beautiful building" and grabbed it with both hands.

"We were looking for a venue for eight months," explains O'Halloran. "Daniel spotted this place and after visiting it I knew I wanted it. How ever much this would cost, I was determined to make it work."

And this is exactly what they did. It originally launched in May last year as a club which O'Halloran said "really kicked off". The club attracted many accolades including being named in the Urban Junkies Top Five Best New Bars of 009. But there was still something missing, says O'Halloran, who previously ran the 3333 club in Old Street and has been working in the industry for five years.

So the team worked around the clock to create a candlelit dining space and alfresco, seating up to 80 guests, offering simple British modern cuisine. "The restaurant is now my main priority," says O'Halloran. "I thought to myself, we have a kitchen, why not have a restaurant."

"The experience of the Bathhouse starts the minute guests walk down the stairs into the restaurant," she says. "I want all types of customers to come in, whether it be for a special occasion, a date, or a girly catch up. I also want it to be somewhere where I would want to go."

O'Halloran says they are not breaking boundaries, they are just looking to give guests an enjoyable experience: "I don't want obnoxious waiters, I don't want pretentious menus, I want it to be a nice welcoming environment offering good homely food."

Portion control is also very important, she says. "I want everyone to walk away having enough food. I think it is rude to walk away hungry from any restaurant and still feel hungry. I think people expect a Heston experience but that isn't what we are all about here. We are not a gastropub but at the same time we're not fine dining, we are somewhere in the middle."

Starters on the menu include smoked mackerel pate on sourdough bread with rocket salad and cured beetroot (£5.50), Gloucester old spot ham hock & pistachio terrine with a caper dressing & red onion and parsley salad (£6.00) and poached duck's egg with asparagus and crispy bacon sprinkles (£6.50).

Mains include a homemade burger served on a freshly made brioche bun with all the trimmings, maple & walnut coleslaw and Maris Piper hand cut chips (£13.50) and The Bathhouse sausage (produced by the Franconian sausage co.) with colcannon mash, onion rings and the chef's own gravy (£12.50).

Other treats include rack of Barnbury Herdwick lamb with minted crushed pink fir potatoes, fresh spring vegetables & red wine gravy (£17.50), 10oz blue short horn rib eye steak with peppercorn, béarnaise or Chimichurri sauce, and cut chips and dressed baby leaves (£18.50), and Gloucester old spot roasted belly of pork, chorizo & butterbean cassoulet with apple crisps and crackling sprinkles (£16.50), which O'Halloran says is the top seller so far on the menu.

A small selection of pizzas is also on offer which she says will be dropped from the restaurant menu in a couple of weeks and will be kept on the bar menu to maintain that "warm, casual feel".

"We make everything from scratch," she says. "Everything is British, organic and free range. Even though it's an expensive way to go, I would never do it any other way. I was brought up as a child to eat organic so it's the only way I know."

Vegetables are grown on Secrett's Farm in Surrey, the meat is hand reared in the Lake District and the fish is either line caught or ethically sourced just off the British coast. The team are also about to introduce a summer menu, which O'Halloran describes as "light and crispy with lots of summer greens, fresh fish and mouth watering cuts of meat".

Pairing wines with foods is also important to the whole dining experience, she says, but without being too pretentious. "Yes we do pair wines and food but it's only a suggestion. I don't want to force anything on people, for instance if someone orders the lamb we don't instantly suggest a wine. If diners want advice and suggestions we are all very prepared for it."

O'Halloran stresses the significance of front of house staff. "Our staff members are the back bone of the Bathhouse. We have a wonderful team who will go above and beyond for this place."

It's not only the staff that makes this place so special, believes O'Halloran. She says it's the design elements that help create that 'special experience'. Features include Turkish tiling, hand crafted wallpaper, original marble stairs, Victorian skeletons, Mary and Jesus on the bar and deep velvet drapes.

Other unique features include the sealed wax stamped menus and the bronze animal ornaments on each table which O'Halloran says creates a feeling of decadence and opulence.

So how did you approach this project, I asked O'Halloran, who was fully responsible for the design features. "I felt so overwhelmed and felt a huge amount of pressure to get it right. I spent a huge amount of time standing back and looking at the space, changing my mind again and again. Then when I looked at what the building had been in the past, I got a vision of the design I was after. We then painted, plastered day and night until it was done.

"I took all of my inspiration from inside the four walls of The Bathhouse as well as looking at old drawings, photographs and written accounts of experience from the Turkish Bath days."

Looking ahead, a new restaurant manager, Jimmy Tardy, will be joining the team. Tardy has over 10 years of experience working in some of the best establishments including the Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoreditch and the newly launched Proud Cabaret, also in London. The team are also looking to open a new venue in London later this year. So as O'Halloran says, watch this space.