LDNReview
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Caravel
Included In
As you stroll down the Regent’s Canal and approach Caravel’s maroon barge-cum-restaurant, you might feel like it’s unlike other noteworthy boats in London’s history. There’s nothing high octane or 007ish about it—the gadgetry here extends to the kitchen whipping up an impossibly smooth chicken liver pâté. Nor is it anyway provocative; not like a tobacco-stained fascist on a flotilla. Caravel is a different kind of boat. It’s a bistro-ish restaurant that’s just as likely to serve jelly as it is a generous bowl of crab tagliatelle, and soon it will anchor itself as London’s most sought after date spot, platonic, romantic or otherwise.
Like us, you might get this feeling the moment you peer through a porthole and see a narrow(boat) dining room of flickering warmth inside. Caravel likes a candle. In the windows, on your table, above the kitchen. It is surely London’s most alluring floating fire hazard. This golden hue also gives the fun and unfussy food a kind of ethereal beauty. Has anyone ever proposed to a caviar-topped rösti or a crème anglaise-drenched caramelised banana tart before? Probably not. But this is a restaurant where dessert and more deserve your declarations of love.
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photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Caravel’s menu, like its space, is compact. The flavours mix British and European and the starters, mains, and puddings don’t extend beyond a dozen or so options. Between four people it’s dangerously easy to lean back, do your best Tony Soprano impression, and say that you’ll ‘have the menu’. We’d recommend holding a Haribo-ish rum and coke old fashioned in your hand when you do this or, if you’re going for something a little more Carmela, a glass of crisp crémant. Given that cocktails are priced at £8.50 and the most expensive main—a pressed lamb dish that combines tender pulled meat with a crunchy, almost deep-fried exterior—is £21, everything that’s good about Caravel extends to its value.
With ten or so tables, refreshingly fair pricing (including wine), and delicious food that has no interest in pretension, don’t be surprised if Caravel becomes your first choice when you’re looking to woo someone. You’re sitting on a candlelit boat, drinking fizz and eating a duck-shaped croquette, after all. Combined these elements make for something memorable. But, even if Caravel wasn’t on a boat, this would still be a special restaurant. Because when has being serenaded ever required bells and whistles? All you really need is jelly and cream.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Potato Rösti, Sour Cream & Caviar
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Prawn Toast
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Chicken Liver Pâté
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Mussels, Fried Potatoes & Velouté
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Pressed Lamb, Courgette & Green Sauce
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Blood Orange Jelly, Créme Diplomat & Honeycomb
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch