Review on Rabot 1745

Hotel Chocolat founders, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris opened Rabot 1745 in November 2013, a unique restaurant serving exclusive cocoa cuisine using the culinary traditions of both the West Indies and Britain. Spread over several floors in Borough Market, one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, the restaurant is named after the company's cocoa plantation in St Lucia, which has a similar restaurant called Boucan.

Combining a shop, cocktail bar and restaurant the interiors have been created by Thomas Moore Design to replica an old West Indian cacao plantation house. Highly polished ironwood felled by hurricanes from the St Lucia plantation have been used for the bespoke furniture, screens and sculptures and there's large windows and an open air terrace to take in the hubbub of the historic market below.

Heading up the kitchen is Jon Bentham who joins the restaurant from St Lucia having previously worked for esteemed chefs Stephen Bull and Gary Rhodes, as well as contributing to the training of Tom Kerridge when he was starting out. So expect the likes of potted brown shrimp in spiced cacao butter, cacao Creole chutney and salted crisp bread or cacao marinated beef and beetroot carpaccio with roast walnuts, green beans and grilled onions with cacao pesto amongst the starters. Main courses offer dishes in the shape of rare seared cacao-marinated tuna, warm spiced aubergine salad, green beans, coriander and cacao pulp yoghurt or nine hour braised lamb shoulder, cacao balsamic glaze, new season pea puree and cacao garlic mash. Close the show with white chocolate and cinnamon spiced biscuit cheesecake, cherries and kirsch, cacao pulp sauce or passion fruit and rum bavarois with Supermilk-coconut macaroons.

Service is warm and professional, there's a carefully compiled wine list that complements the food and the inventive cocktail list is well crafted.

Rabot 1745 is also featured in: Hardens

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Cuisine

Modern European

Chef

Jon Bentham

Restaurant Opening Times

Breakfast: 8.00 - 11.30am Tue-Fri (9.00am - 12.00pm Sat Brunch)
Lunch: 12.00 - 3.00pm Tue-Sat (1.00 - 5.00pm Tue-Sat Afternoon Tea)
Dinner: 5.00 - 10.00pm Tue-Sat

Accepted credit cards

Visa, Master Card, American Express

Online Booking Availability for Rabot 1745

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Facilities at Rabot 1745

  • Alfresco dining
  • Disabled access
  • Private dining room
  • Private parties

Address

Rabot 1745
2-4 Bedale Street
Borough Market
South East London
SE1 9AL

Nearest tube station: London Bridge

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Rabot 1745 Sample Menu

SAMPLE MENU

STARTERS
Goat's Cheese, Caramelised Fig
& Sourdough £8
Goat's cheese, two ways: rolled in toasted pumpkin
seed and in salted cacao crumb. Both whipped
super-smooth with delicate, lychee-like cacao
pulp. Borough sourdough for crunch. Caramelised
fig, butternut squash purée and onion-cacao
marmalade for contrast. A lighter starter. (V)
Seafood Beignet £8
Subtly spiced, Market-fresh fish and white chocolate
mash in a cacao-panko crumb. Purées: pumpkin,
beetroot with cocoa butter. Crispy potato tuile.
Utter comfort.
Winter Mushroom Sauté £9
Market mushrooms sautéed with cocoa butter
and roasted garlic. Caramelised salsify and chestnut.
Celeriac purée with a hint of cocoa butter. Deep,
creamy, umami. (VE, N*)
Hereford Beef Yorkshire Pudding £9
A starter that boasts a roast. Yorkshire pudding
on a velvety cacao and red wine reduction, filled
with white chocolate mash. 24-hour cacao nib
marinated Hereford flank beef is seared rare for
exceptional flavour. (A)
Salmon Fondant with Pistachio &
Cucumber £9
Scottish salmon marinated in lychee-like cacao
pulp and lime. Cool-cooked, melts away like butter.
Pistachio and salted cacao crumb. Dairy-free cacao
nib and coconut yoghurt. Cold-infused cucumber.
Zesty, refreshing, unexpected. (N)
Assiette of Cacao £6
Chocolate balsamic reduction,
cacao pesto, nib butter, freshly
baked sourdough. (V, N)
Pulled Pork Piton £8
The Pitons are two astonishingly
symmetrical sea mountains in Saint
Lucia. Rising above a rainforest canopy
of foliage, they overlook our island hideaway
and cocoa plantation. Here our
pulled pork Piton-style is slow-cooked
and tender in apple and potato with a
crisp breadcrumb and cacao nib coating.
The Rabot Winter Warmer £8
Creamy butternut squash soup,
smoothed with cocoa butter. Puff pastry
wreath peppered with cacao nibs.
Blanched Japanese artichoke and heritage
carrots, tossed in cacao-herb oil.
Just what the season ordered. (VE)
Seared King Scallops,
Celeriac Purée £11
English West Coast king scallops direct
from our angler partner at the Market.
Flash-seared with crunchy, intense cacao
nibs. Light, comforting celeriac purée
smoothed with cocoa butter. (SF)
Sharing Platter £24
Pulled Pork Piton, Salmon Fondant,
Goat's Cheese & Caramelised Fig. (N)

MAINS
Cornish Sea Bream £19
Roasted Cornish sea bream marinated in
lychee-like cacao pulp. Maldon sea salt cuts
through roasted, lightly mashed butternut
squash and parsnips. Served with a deep,
rich cacao-seafood bisque. (SF, A)
Salt Marsh Lamb £25
Loin served rare, as the chef recommends.
Marinated for 24 hours in cacao nibs and
topped with a pistachio-herb crust. Served
with velvety reduced stock and chocolate
demi-glace. Chestnut, candied and puréed.
Delicate cauliflower purée. (A*,N)
Beet Wellington £15
Beet not beef. Borough beetroot marinated
in cacao nibs, pomegranate molasses and
apple. Baked with a mushroom, spinach and
cacao nib duxelle in puff pastry. Market baby
vegetables and cashew sour cream. (VE, N)
Saint Lucian-style Hake £18
Our homage to the tamarind, an
unapologetically zingy Caribbean fruit.
Succulent Cornish hake with a fresh herb
and cacao nib crust. Swaggering tamarind,
coconut and cacao sauce packs a punch.
Subtle cacao pulp-braised aubergine.
'Inside-out' Aubergine Curry £16
Delicately spiced aubergine with coconut
yoghurt and sundried tomato concasse.
Crowned with market vegetables punctuated
with carta di musica: amazingly thin, crisp
sheets of unleavened bread. A towering
tribute. (V, VE)
- Add chicken £6
- Add monkfish £10
Hereford Beef Chateaubriand:
Cacao Pièce De Résistance £66
For two to share (or one to reminisce
about). Medium-rare, grass-fed prime
beef, 24-hour marinated in cacao nibs.
Mac and cheese with braised, shredded
featherblade. Bone marrow. Chunky chips.
Served with a 70% dark ganache and
our chef's secret-recipe plantation sauce.
If you're going to do it, do it right. (A)
- Perfect with a bottle of our vintage
red: Chateau Chocolat, £35
Vegetarian Trilogy £21
Beet Wellington, 'Inside-out' Aubergine
Curry, Winter Mushroom Sauté. Why
choose? Borough beetroot with a
mushroom, spinach and cacao duxelle in
puff pastry. Spiced aubergine with coconut
yoghurt in a sundried tomato concasse.
Market mushrooms sautéed with cocoa
butter and roasted garlic. A veritable
vegetarian feast. (VE, N*)
12-hour Marinated 'Bois Bandé'
Chicken £17
Bois Bandé (pronounced 'bwah bonday')
or 'bush magic' rum has been loved
for centuries by the local communities
around our cocoa estate. A riot of spice
and sweetness, with notes of cinnamon,
star anise and nutmeg and one special
ingredient – the bark of tropical tree
Richeria grandis. Works so well with
chicken and sweet potato. (A)
Seafood Cacao Bouillabaisse £18
We spend hours making the silken
broth for our much-loved bouillabaisse.
It bubbles slowly, brimming with cacao nibs,
fresh tomatoes, herbs and fennel. We spike
it with cayenne and saffron before adding
the freshest fish and shellfish. We use only
line-caught, sustainable fish, never farmed.
(SF, A)
Slow-cooked Hereford Beef £21
Applewood-smoked featherblade,
marinated in cacao nibs for 24 hours,
then slow-cooked. Deep, rich glaze of
beef stock, red wine, 70% dark and
balsamic. Cacao-mushroom dumpling.
Speaks to wilderness and log cabins. (A)
- Up your game: add our white
chocolate mash (V) £4.50
Mac & Cheese £15
London's best mac and cheese? You decide.
A national treasure in the Caribbean, for
ours we heighten the flavour with a hint
of mushroom in creamy, melted mature
Cheddar. So moreish, you'll want to eat
the bowl – which you can, it's puff pastry
kneaded with cacao nibs. Served with a
whirl of smoked paprika coleslaw. (V)
- Take it to another level:
add pulled Hereford beef
infused with cacao (A) £5
The King of Burgers £15
Aged Cheddar, triple-cooked chips,
cacao Creole chutney, 70% ganache.
It took us a long time to create our
signature burger. We settled on chopped
rump steak, with only a smattering
of other ingredients and side of our
melting 70% dark chocolate ganache.
We think we've nailed it. (A*)
- Add bacon £1.50

SIDES
White Chocolate Mash
Shouldn't work, but it does. Addictive. (V)
Winter Greens
Shredded Brussels sprouts and
green beans. (V*)
Caribbean Sweet Potato
With cacao barbecue sauce. (V, VE)
Sautéed Market Spinach
With cacao nib butter. (V)
Thick-cut Chips
With cacao ketchup. (V, VE)
Borough Vegetables
Roasted roots with cacao honey. (V)
All £4.50

SALADS
Avocado, Tomato &
Zesty Lime £7 / £12
Spiced lime-cacao dressing, red onions,
cherry tomatoes. (V, VE)
Superfood Seeded Salad £7 / 12
Earthy, crunchy, packed full of the
good things – quinoa, cacao nibs,
saffron-poached fennel, pumpkin seeds,
pistachios, cranberries. Moreishly good.
Sensational when teamed with our
secret-recipe orange tahini dressing.
Fly solo or order as a table sharer.
(V, VE)
Cacao Caesar £12
With roast sweet potato, soft-boiled egg, cacao
nib croutons.
- Add cacao crust chicken breast £6
- Add cacao pulp marinated monkfish £10

DESSERTS
BAFTA Light White Raspberry
& Blueberry Crémeux £10
As served at the legendary British Academy
Film Awards dinner. Honduras Mayan
Red 65% Supermilk mousse, white
chocolate blueberry and raspberry
crémeux, seed granola.
Supermilk: our revolutionary chocolate
genre. Robust cocoa depth, creamy milk,
less sugar than a typical dark.
Black Forest Gateau £9
More tasting journey than gateau. Sour
cherry sorbet, chocolate sponge, black
cherry crémeux, whole kirsch-soaked
cherry and dark chocolate crème anglaise.
Two spoons? (A, N)
Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding £11
Small but mighty. Trio of bold yet balanced
sponges: malty, deep, not too sweet.
Pumpkin and almond for crunch. Orange
for contrast. Cocoa whip for lightness.
Served with a shot of Salted Caramel Vodka
Liqueur, to warm you to your toes. (A, V, N)
Molten Chocolate Lava £9
Your cake runneth over with intense 70%
dark. Served with a sesame and Nigella seed
tuile and house cocoa nib ice cream,
gently infused over 24 hours. (V)
- Make it tipsy. Its perfect match:
La Hechicera rum, 50ml £6
Crumbly Pear Tartlet £9
A triple-layer threat. Grated coconut and
almond frangipane. Poached pear with a hint
of dark chocolate. Classic crumble topping
lifted with dense pear coulis. Cinnamon ice
cream. Only things missing? Dairy and wheat.
(VE, N)
Chocolat Cream Liqueur Crémeux £9
Our own Chocolat Cream Liqueur
creates a luxuriant crémeux with a tingle
of warmth. Salted caramel chocolate
brownie. Redcurrant sorbet and Chantilly.
Clementine two ways: gel and crème. (A, N)
Trio of Island Sorbets £7
Our pièce de refreshment. Delicate cacao
pulp, gently juicy guava, caramelised and
roasted pineapple. Ground cocoa nibs,
for crunch. (VE)
Mousse Seduction £10
Trio of smooth, intense mousse quenelles:
65% Supermilk, 70% dark, 90% dark.
Beautifully crisp sablé, nibbly pumpkin seed
crumble, sticky caramelised Nigella and
sesame seeds. Lose yourself. (V, N)
- Make it tipsy. Its perfect match:
Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum,
50ml £6

Restaurant menus often vary from day to day, so the above should be treated as examples of what to expect in terms of cuisine and price.

Rabot 1745 Christmas Menu

Restaurant menus often vary from day to day, so the above should be treated as examples of what to expect in terms of cuisine and price.

Images of Rabot 1745

Virtual Tour of Rabot 1745