Dining Out on the 53 rd Floor

We ventured out into docklands at the weekend, somewhere which is not on our radar. About the only other time was to cheer for my Willowy girls in the London Marathon, as they wove their way round the sky scrappers. This time it was for dinner, a quick leap on the Jubilee Line and we were at Canary Wharf. Now where to go? Thank good ness for Google Maps, it directed us over a foot bridge to The Wardian, on the Isle of Dogs! It was a bit of land surrounded by the river Thames on three sides, it was marsh land and grazing land, land that flooded. Records show it as far back as 1448. It was only in more recent times that it became part of the Dock Lands, in the 1800’s with the building of the West India Docks and then the East India Docks.

During World War Two, the docks were heavily bombed but it was shipping containers that became its downfall. However in the 1980’s the London Docklands Development Corporation began to redevelop the whole are into what it has become today. An area of East London that employs over 93,000 people, in Banks, Offices, Shops and restaurants. It is well served by all forms of transport as well as being a residential community.

And so it was that somehow or other we were going to have dinner in a new residential tower block.

We live in a large block of flats, apartments and penthouses, on the 6 th and 7 th floors, and we have a lift which for the most part is on slow side, therefore, a bit of a revelation to enter a lift that zoomed up to the 53 rd floor in less time than it takes ours to dawdle up 6.

The Wardian describes itself as a residence like no other. Amid the skyscrapers and waterways of Canary Wharf, an immersive sanctuary is revealed. Two iconic towers offer the rare stillness of nature in the heart of the bustling metropolis. ( I suppose that is the Sales Pitch).

So, up on the 53 rd floor we were greeted by a concierge and a barman, cocktail given and out onto the wrap around terrace and Oh ,what views, maybe I could live in a penthouse on the 53 rd floor, but then again, maybe not. Every couple of minutes one could hear a train, be it a real train as in the London Overground, or C2C or Thames Link or the Underground as in the Jubilee Lone, or even the Docklands Light Railway and this is the one that truly trundles between such interesting named places such as Mudchute, Island Gardens, Poplar, or Pontoon Dock, or perhaps one of the River boats and River Taxis that chug up and down from Westminster to Greenwich.

But, we were here to eat dinner, an almost private dinner party, we were just twenty lucky guests all sat at tables of 2.

The chef who was apparently hired to entice us to eat and to buy a flat ! But no one even showed us a brochure. Disappointed? No not really. Alyn Williams was the chef, formerly of the Westbury where he held a Michelin Star for 8 years.