Forget the London Eye, the best place to enjoy London skyscape is Oblix Restaurant in the Shard. Not only do you get phenomenal views (see the magic below) you can drink alcohol out of a rocket ship. What more could you want in life?
I booked Oblix last minute as my Mother In Law was going out of town and we wanted a nice dinner together. Because I booked it so late, we were only able to get at 6:30 reservation in the lounge. They still serve the full menu, so it’s not a huge issue, but I will say, I snuck over to the restaurant side and I think the sunset is nicer.
Sunset view from the lounge
Oblix at The Shard is an American style restaurant without being a diner. It’s actually exactly what you would expect from a high end chain in the US. Attentive servers, mac and cheese and a vast choice of interesting cocktails. However, it’s not well signed. The entrance is to the right of the Shagri-La hotel lobby (n.b avoid having a drink at the Shangri-La before hand. It takes forever, is expensive and doesn’t taste good) and you will have to have your bag screened for security.
Kiss The Rainbow glowing cocktail
After taking the quickest elevator in the world, we were met with a dark, minimalist concrete hallway. Upon entering the Oblix lounge, I noticed the average age of the patrons was fairly high, but that could have been because we were eating during the grandparents sitting.
The menu was fish heavy, but I didn’t mind. For a starter I had the crispy chili squid which was tasty, but didn’t come with a dip. My MIL had the Caesar salad to start (with dressing on the side) and I dipped the squid into her spare dressing and it was surprisingly good.
My main was the salmon with salsa serde. The salmon was ok. Nothing too special, and I feel like salmon is hard to mess up. The salsa verde came on the side and was actually pesto and way better than I thought it would be with the salmon (I had very low expectations).
The best dish we had was the side of mac and cheese. At any American restaurant, always order this. If there is one thing Americans do exceptionally well, and that is able to cross the pond, it’s mac and cheese.
I saw a woman walking around with a graffiti cup and decided I wanted to drink whatever was in that so I pointed at her when ordering. Turns out it was called a Crossfire Hurricane and absolutely delicious (ask your server about the stories behind the cocktails).
I wasn’t about to go to a restaurant that served drinks in rocket ships and not order that either, so we finished with more drinks and waited for the sunset while they made our dessert. Side note: The drinks aren’t as expensive as you would expect for a bar with this view (£12.50 each).
The Forgotten Cosmonaut
Dessert was the chocolate brownie Sunday and it was really good as well as huge. Easily big enough for 3 people to share. I avoided the New York cheesecake because it’s baked and in my humble opinion, only no-bake cheesecake is the real deal.
All in our dinner was three hours. We waited a really long time for our main (close to an hour) but in the end, we had such an amazing view of the sunset, so we didn’t mind. Had it been a typically horrible London day, we may not have been so forgiving.
What to wear: The website and hold message say the dress is ‘smart’ and ask that you not wear sports clothes or beach wear. So if you plan on going for a quick dip in the Thames beforehand, you’re out of luck.
Oblix
Level 32
The Shard
31 St. Thomas Street
London SE1 9RY
020 7268 6700
