It’s (finally) summer in the city, and a post work cocktail has never been more tempting.
If you’re after the perfect evening spot with gorgeous views and a mouth-watering menu, look no further than Arcade-X, Battersea Power Station’s newest summer pop-up taking over the historic Coaling Jetty.
As soon as we stepped in, you could feel the Thursday evening energy – summer tunes were setting the scene and the drinks were flowing. It was busy enough to create a fun atmosphere, but we easily got a table overlooking the river and secured our first drink of the night – a delicious margarita. Refreshing and balanced, it delivered a nice kick and set us up well for the main event – the food.
Arcade X boasts four delicious food vendors, delivering a mix of cuisines guaranteed to satisfy every craving. We started off at Solis, serving up empanadas and hot bocadillos Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng, the chef-partners behind TĀ TĀ Eatery. My guest and I shared a succulent steak sandwich which was deliciously juicy and tender, and paired perfectly with their crispy fries – not one to be missed.
My guest and I were lucky enough to visit on a beautiful Thursday evening with picturesque blue skies and riverside views making for the perfect backdrop.
Still with plenty of room left, we then ventured to Bao, which unsurprisingly serves just that – a range of bao buns and a few special extras. I’m not usually a fan of Bao buns but these were perfect, with a soft pillowy bun and flavour bomb fillings. We tried the classic Pork Bao with braised pork, peanut powder, fermented greens and coriander. The peanut worked perfectly and I was left immediately wanting another. I just wish they were bigger! The star of the show however was the Prawn Shia Song, a deep-fried hot dog bao with prawn, carrot, celery, mayo and coriander. The sweetness of the bao really contrasted well with the creaminess of the filling and made for an amazing combination. I wish we had tried the fried chicken too but I’ll have to save that one for next time.
Another margarita down the hatch and we decided we could just about manage some sushi from Sushi Kamon. This was another winner, and the perfect light bite to finish off our culinary journey. We went for the classic salmon sushi roll, which came with cooked salmon around the outside.
This got a 10/10 from my guest and I was also a big fan, although my personal favourite was the okonomiyaki stick, a pancake-like treat with Japanese HP sauce, red ginger, katsuobushi and aonori - indulgent and divine.
We stayed for one more cocktail whilst watching the sunset and had to practically roll ourselves out to catch our bus. It was a lovely evening of delicious food and drink paired perfectly with a chill summer ambience. Although we opted for margaritas and palomas (tequila is always on the cards), they have great wine and beer options and some frozen cocktails too.
For anyone looking to organise a work drinks, a first date or a birthday treat, I couldn’t recommend it more highly. The food isn’t cheap so the hearty selection that we tried might set you back a bit, but everything tasted so good you won’t feel too hard done by.
Written by Lily Cotton
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