Sea Containers, Southbank

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that Stew and I enjoyed a date night last Friday, at Sea Containers restaurant, located on the edge of the Thames at Mondrian hotel. Designed under the creative direction of Tom Dixon, Sea Containers is a beautiful space, with an open kitchen boasting a wood-fired oven, and a large stainless steel bar in the centre of the room, creating a buzzy atmosphere.The menu brings together American and British cuisines for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a stunning view across the Thames and Southbank. The menu is designed in a unique way, with all dishes on the left hand side being starters and all dishes on the right hand side being mains. It's then split into field (vegetarian dishes), sea (fish dishes) and land (meat dishes). Many of the meat mains are designed to be shared between 2-3 people, but being the seafood addicts that we are, we decide to stick to fish for the majority of our tasting experience.To start we shared the Padron Peppers, Crab on Sourdough Toast and Ceviche Tacos. The crab is served with avocado and jalapeños, and was possibly our favourite dish of the evening - a fantastic mix of creamy avocado, fresh crab and spicy jalapeño. The ceviche tacos are served bitesize with a delicious coriander salsa, and the padron peppers are always a top choice. To accompany our starters, I couldn't resist choosing the St. John Fizz cocktail - consisting of whiskey, Kamm & Sons, passion fruit, Campari and lemon. An unusual choice for me, but it was really delicious. So much so that it didn't take long to finish!For mains we decided to share a couple of fish dishes - Poached Hake, served with hispi cabbage and curried cauliflower purée, and the Roasted John Dory, served with Jerusalem artichoke, potato cake and Brussel sprouts. The John Dory was by far the winner of the combo, with the potato cake being dauphinoise potatoes and the Brussel sprouts were made in a maple syrup glaze. Delicious!When choosing sides it was a difficult choice between the Mac & Cheese and Creamy Mash Potato, but as the John Dory was served with a potato cake and the poached Hake was served with a cauliflower purée, we decided on the Mac n Cheese. (Plus our lovely Italian waiter, Filippo, recommended it). We also chose the Heritage Beetroot Salad, which featured a lovely array of colourful heirloom beetroot pieces, and fave a freshness to the meal. To finish we shared a dessert, and Stew let me pick. I don't tend to go for desserts that are too rich or chocolately, instead I prefer something more fruity. However, I made a bad choice on this occasion. We tried the Pecan & Orange Swiss Roll, served with a mulled wine sorbet. I thought it sounded festive and was intrigued by the mulled wine sorbet, but it just didn't work for us. The orange of the Swiss roll was overpowering and the mulled wine sorbet didn't work unfortunately. Mulled wine should definitely be kept hot! However, this didn't spoil our evening. It was a fantastic night of great food and wine!Sea Containers: 4/5

• Fantastic atmosphere
• Incredible views across the Thames, looking out at St Paul's Cathedral
• Delicious food
• Attentive waiters
• Quite expensive, perfect for a special occasion