Strangers' Dining Room
Event venue · Westminster ·
Classic dining room with attentive service and regional dishes
Information
Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom Get directions
Classic dining room with attentive service and regional dishes
Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom Get directions
"A dining room within the parliamentary estate that was among the spaces reopened to MPs over the summer despite many other parliamentary bars having complied with initial lockdown rules and closed in March. It had been treated under a loophole as a "workplace canteen," which previously allowed it and its staff exemptions from the 10pm coronavirus curfew and certain mask-wearing requirements. After public scrutiny and reports of unequal treatment, the government reversed course and confirmed that alcohol will not be sold after 10pm anywhere on the parliamentary estate; the episode has been cited as illustrating perceived double standards and the curfew’s mainly symbolic role." - James Hansen
"Classified as a "workplace canteen," this dining room initially closed under the March lockdown but was among the parliamentary bars that reopened to MPs over the summer. Because of that classification it has been exempted from the 10pm coronavirus curfew and from new mask rules for staff, a decision reported by The Times that critics say exploits a loophole. The exemption has fed a wider sense of double standards around pandemic restrictions — even prompting sarcastic suggestions that such venues might soon be offering eye tests — and added to arguments that the curfew is largely symbolic and was not modelled for clear epidemiological or economic benefit to hospitality businesses." - James Hansen
"Unless chummy with Lord Puttnam, or Baroness Young of Old Scone, The Peers’ Dining Room at the House of Lords is off limits for much of the year. During quiet times and for limited periods, however, its old doors are opened to the public. The dining room is red and gold, with white linen tablecloths perfectly ironed, where attentive waiters know who everyone is before anyone has said a word. The food is classic, with an earnest the nod to regionality. In 2017, such dishes as Lincolnshire parsnip velouté preceded Cornish John Dory with black garlic puree, celeriac, and seaweed gel; scallops with smoked avocado scallop ceviche, oyster jelly, sea vegetables, and pickled melon, was a complex pretext to Herefordshire beef with dripping potatoes and salt baked turnip. Three courses usually costs about £45 and the wine list is formidable and less expensive than supposed. These lords know what’s what (although they normally eat at Shepherd’s.)" - Josh Barrie
"A high‑priced, formal dining experience inside the House of Commons that, for one critic, fails to justify its cost: three courses at around £180 produced mediocre, banquet-style cooking. The menu is overwritten and several dishes disappoint—crab with crème fraîche (and pineapple) is loose and floppy, mains arrive with over-reduced, Marmitey sauces and poorly trimmed vegetables—leading to a conclusion that the food resembles ring‑road hotel banqueting fare rather than cutting-edge cuisine." - George Reynolds
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Obi I.
Kate K.
Neil S.
Alan S.
Tal “Te” L.
Jack D.
Oheneba PapaKow B.
