I was tasked with choosing a restaurant that met several criteria. Firstly it had to serve excellent food worthy of entertaining a special client; have a good choice of menu options and it had to be reasonably handy for a mad dash to Waterloo for some of our party. And Addendum in the Apex Hotel on Seething Lane was my choice. I’d been aware of Addendum but had not visited before. I can’t honestly remember where I heard of it but as I have Square Meal’s new restaurant openings as my browser homepage, it could well have been there. I’d read that the menu was a touch carnivorous and hoped that it met with everyone’s tastes. In fact C turned out to be vegetarian (well, piscatorian) which I am ashamed I was unaware of and I had a little panic that Addendum’s meaty-licious menu (S’s word, not mine!) would frighten him off. But after a quick phone call they assured me they’d changed their menu to be less deconstructed caveman and more varied. Phew! As it turned out, it was a fine choice; they met all the criteria and some.
The menu was succinct but I quite like that in a lunch menu. As long as you like what’s on offer it might help making the choosing easier. I could have ummed and aahed over the Neal Street Restaurant menu yesterday for ages, and I was in danger of being thrown off the table before we’d eaten.
We were treated to an amuse bouche of a rather wonderful wild mushroom soup in a little coffee cup, very intense and a tasty little seasonal opener.
I then went totally meaty-licious and opted for the special starter of rabbit and foie gras terrine (it’s that ingredient again!) followed by a rare fillet of beef with yet more foie gras (I didn’t realise that as they didn’t mention it on the menu) on top of a thin, crunchy rösti. 
The rabbit and foie gras concoction was a perfect exponent of a moist terrine. And very pretty to look at! The steak was perfectly cooked, but I would have liked some more vegetables (how very un-meaty-licious of me!)
S went totally vegetarian (I blame his new cohabitee!) and choose the terrine of white carrot and pea puree followed by ultra-light semolina gnocchi with pumpkin puree and a rather impressive looking Parmesan foam. Our American E had the carrot and beef and C did find some vegelicious or fishy-licious choices and selected a wonderful seasonal chestnut soup which came in a little jug and another rather splendid looking foam followed by I think the fillet of sole.
We picked two desserts to share between us - white chocolate & fennel cylindrical tower with orange curd and the ginger crème caramel with a salad of pear, lime & ginger and coconut sorbet.
The desserts were very good and not too heavy, special mention should be to the little cubes of gingerbread and the ginger crème caramel especially as the latter looked so alien!
The petit fours were pretty good as well, I liked the ultra-thin blackcurrant wafers and C seemed rather partial to the mini mince pies.
I really liked this restaurant, the food was very good, the presentation was quite stunning, the décor looked very fresh and the lighting was optimum for taking photographs for your blog! (possibly not a great concern for all diners!) I even liked the way they balanced the knives on their blades when laying the table setting. The service was just perfect, highly efficient but not oppressive. We didn’t have a long time to eat today and they ensured we got through our meal without feeling rushed. I would definitely go back there again.
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