Aster

Nice place and subtle but pleasant decor. Scallops starter was good, Seafood linguine main was good. The gold ball (pictured) although looked very good was not my favourite, although apparently one of their popular desserts. It is basically a golden dark chocolate ball with a thick chocolate mouse and hazelnut praline ice cream in it, although I could hardly get the hazelnut flavour coming through. The cocktails were ok as well, they could've been stronger in my opinion. Service was good though, and I was offered a complementary dessert as wasn't happy with my original choice.

After a certain time upstairs is closed, which was quite disappointing as I envisioned something else. However the service here was amazing, out group moved 3 times until we had comfortable seating. The staff were helpful and extremely nice. The dishes were delicious and presented beautifully, u wish I had taken more pictures.

We went for the Soul Sundays with a 3 course lunch and Sunday roast. Lovely looking restaurant close to VIctoria Station with a Nordic/French cuisine with the added bonus of great live Soul Music (5/5) on Sundays. Started with a Aster pork roll, aquavit mustard which is a tasty sausage roll cut into 4 parts and a Roast beetroot, goat’s curd, orange salad which was pleasant. For mains my partner had the Meatballs with lingonberry jam but opted for roast potatoes instead of mash. While I had the Roast sirloin of beef served with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, chantenay carrots and gravy. My roast had to be returned as it was well done and I asked for medium rare. It was replaced and was flavourful. Finally my Carrot cake, cream cheese, orange which was a deconstructed version was on par.

Located amongst the new restaurants that have sprung up in and around the Nova development in Victoria, Aster offers Scandinavian dishes in a typically sleek space that’s become a hallmark of D&D group’s recent vintages. There’s a buzzy bar downstairs, with the upper floor set aside for the more sedate diners. Food wise, we had a sea bass ceviche, cured salmon, and mussels as starters. The mussels were outstanding - as good as any we’ve tried in London. The mains were partridge cooked ever so slightly pink (so not to everyone’s taste) and a saddle of venison - both were good without being outstanding. The most interesting course was desserts - a deconstructed cheesecake that was beyond the server’s valiant attempt to describe it; and a dark chocolate tart served with lingonberry gel drawn like ... blood vessels I suppose.