The words gourmet and bus don't usually go together. Whenever I think of the word bus, I immediately think of that year I did an internship and got the bus to work along with about 100 other city workers all crammed on at 8am counting down until they could leave again.
However what if I told you that didn't have to be the case?
In London there is a plethora of dining options. Anything you can think of and it probably exists. Which is why sometimes its good to try a dining "experience" to shake things up a bit from the standard restaurant. We've already seen dining in the dark, dining naked (yes really) but dining on a bus? And a luxury bus at that?
Bustonome started life Paris and recently opened up shop or should I say bus, here in London just this summer. The concept is simple really, gourmet French dining whilst touring the sites of London.
The black and gold custom bus has a huge glass panoramic roof and sides on the top deck where the dinning takes place and on the bottom level is where the food preparation takes place. There are 38 seats, either in 2s, 4s or theres an 8 seater for a party. Naturally as the bus moves the seats are nailed down so book ahead if you want the 8 seater as there is only one.
Bustonome caters for lunch, dinner and afternoon tea. I opted for dinner which works well for after work as it starts at 7pm. Dinner is a 6 course meal and you can choose wine pairing if you like. Naturally that was what we went for.
However as well as food and drink, there is an interactive map included in the menu, along with a sort of pen like device which when you touch each landmark, it will tell you a description and history lesson about each. The audio can also be configured to multiple languages too. As well as being surprisingly high tech, I was also pleased there was no annoying bus driver over the tannoy meaning you could dip in and out of the tour as you pleased.
The menu changes every 6-8 weeks so what I had will likely be different to what you will have if you decide to book, however I can tell you this; the food was excellent. It surpassed my expectations and was of such a high quality I was really impressed.
So let me tell you more. First up was the artichoke carpaccio with hazelnuts and then came prawn with butternut and samphire.
Both were delicious and incredibly fresh. You can go downstairs and watch the chef cook all the dishes. And yes I said cook. They cook onsite with their industrial size ovens.
The middle course was lemon sole fish and chips which I can tell you is a lot fancier than the fish and chips you'll find in an east end chippy.
Bustonome takes you round London's most famous sites. London Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Natural History Museum and even past Harrods which looks beautiful this time of year.
The journey of the trip takes roughly 2:45 hours although of course it is traffic dependent. I've never fancied one of those normal touristy bus tours because I just know you'll get stopped in traffic, yet on Bustonome I was too busy chatting and drinking wine to notice if we did get stuck or not.
Talking of wine, each table as custom made wine holders so your glasses stay firmly in place as the bus moves. Hats off to the waiters though, they do not have any kind of holder, but just pure skill at staying on their feet all night.
Breast of duck with beer sauce was for the main course. Again, it was beautifully cooked which really does show off the skill of the chef who is cooking under unusual circumstances.
Then finally dessert time. First a cheese course and then a deconstructed lemon pie, which I normally do roll my eyes a little at anything deconstructed as it sounds so pretentious, however it actually really was so so good! I could have eaten another bowl full without question.
We departed back at Embankment coach bays just before 10pm and I didn't really want to get off! It was such a fun and unique experience, I highly recommend it for something a little different than the usual restaurant. They also do private hire too, which I'm trying to convince my work to hire for their Christmas team lunch.
Bustonome departs from Embankment Coach bay 7 days a week, for lunch, dinner and afternoon tea.
This sounds like so much fun! And the food sounds fantastic!
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