A packed Tuesday night at Bambi
So is this a bar, a restaurant or a club?
Bambi is that very modern London mix of all of the above, although what form it'll manifest depends mostly on the time of day you visit. Certainly the later you come, there's a greater chance of finding someone manning the DJ booth at the back. And later on in the evenings, at the weekend, they clear the tables away to make a dancefloor that's open till 1am.
Hasn't this been open for a while?
It's true that Bambi first opened its doors two years ago. The man behind it is James Dye, the co-owner of Frank's Cafe and The Camberwell Arms. In the intervening years, James also opened another place you might have heard of, One Club Row.
Now his attentions have come back to Bambi, which last month closed for a major refurb. They knocked through to the space behind, which has allowed them to radically improve the dining (and DJ space). Now there's a separate DJ booth, with its own counter dining, along with a mezzanine gallery, which has given them almost twice the room they had before.
The view from our seat up at the DJ booth counter
Where is it?
You'll find Bambi in London Fields, about a five-minute walk from the London Fields station and just around the corner from Broadway Market.
Where's a good place to meet friends for drinks first?
There is a large separate bar here, but if you need somewhere else to meet, there's always Mare Street Market, which is next door, or the nearby tap room at Forest Road Brewing Co.
And where should we sit?
If there's just two of you, or you're a solo diner, then the easiest recommendation is where we sat. There are eight seats up at the DJ booth, which gives you something fun to watch while you're eating. We happened to be at Bambi for their relaunch party, so we got to see a procession of DJs taking over the booth over the course of the evening.
Looking down from the mezzanine to the new dining room and DJ counter space
Isn't there a new chef, too?
Yes, along with the expansion, the restaurant also has a new head chef in the kitchen. Jamie Thorneycroft used to be head chef at Lagom, the former residency at Hackney Church Brewing Co that had a stellar reputation for both its burgers and Sunday roasts. Here at Bambi, he's changed up the kitchen and added a charcoal grill, so you'll see that reflected in the new menu.
Here's what we had to give you an idea:
Whipped ricotta with hot honey (£6.50) - perfect for dragging some of their lovely sourdough through.
Trout tostadas with a miso dressing (£3.50 each)
Peri Peri prawns (£16) a must-have, not least for that amazing black garlic aioli.
Picanha with cowboy butter (£26) - chef Jamie's already making full use of his charcoal grill, to great effect.
Room for dessert?
There were just two on offer, and as we didn't much fancy a blood orange sorbet, we opted for the Basque cheesecake. Although we would like to make a plea at this point for London restaurants to move beyond this as a dessert. It's literally on every menu right now.
Basque cheesecake with blackberry compote (£12)
What about drinks?
This is London Fields, so you pretty much know the drill. The list is low-intervention and they're more than happy to get you trying something new and interesting by the glass. Almost everything on the list was available by the 125ml glass and carafe, with a decent skin-contact and chilled red section too. As for the cocktails, the list is a mix of seasonal specials, classics and margaritas. Our favourite was the rhubarb cosmopolitan (£14)
Left to right: Mezcal margarita (£14) and rhubarb cosmo (£13)
Overall thoughts:
Having seen the before pictures, but only having visited after the refurb, we can still see that Bambi 2.0 is a big improvement. There's so much more space, and the new rear section of the dining room is a slightly more elegant dining area than the front section, and probably more geared to couples than groups. While this has obviously been a popular place to come and enjoy a late-night dance or drink, it feels like they've got the space and chef that make this a more rounded proposition.
The place was absolutely heaving on a mid-week evening, and we've seen videos of what it looks like when they push the tables back at the weekend. If you're after a fun night out in Hackney but you also want to eat and drink well, there's probably no place better than Bambi right now.
More about Bambi
Where is it? 1 Westgate St, London E8 3RL
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @bambi_e8
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Bambi. Prices correct at time of publication.
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