Lunch on the Bustronome Voyage Gourmand in London

*AD – this experience was gifted to our family for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.

I had no idea that you could eat food while traveling on a bus in London, until Robin and I attended the Grinchmas afternoon tea bus last year. It turns out, there are a ton of these sort of tour a bus around London while having a full experience. The Bustronome experience takes you all around iconic landmarks in London, while serving very fancy looking French food! There is a four course lunch option as well as a six course dinner option, depending on what time of day you end up going.

The bus itself is very sleek. Everyone is seated in the top of the bus, which has a clear glass roof. This gives a very good view of London as you drive around! The top doesn’t open up, however there is lighting and an air conditioner unit, so it won’t get too dark or too hot in this area. There are also speakers playing music. On the table in front of you, there is a sort of plastic shell, that can hold your glasses perfectly. This shell lights up too, which provides a lot for the vibes. I really thought the hanging water cup was very fun, as it slotted in so perfectly, which is not only needed for traveling around London but also looks very sleek. We went on the four course lunch, and had a few cheeky cocktails or glasses of wine with it.

Before we get into the food, it’s worth mentioning that though this is a bus tour of London, there isn’t a tour guide as such. Instead, you can scan a QR code to open a map on your phone. This map will follow where you are and give you information on the specific sites that you are passing, if you want to learn more about them. The real focus of this tour, however, is beautiful sites and beautiful food.

Bread with Butter and Roasted Aubergine Salad

Once we got on the Bustronome bus and made our ways to our seat, a little bread and butter was brought out to us. The bread was sourdough, and the butter was salty and well seasoned. This did feel sort of random, but it was nice to have something to eat while we waited for everyone to get settled and the bus to start moving around. Then, we got our starter.

I am not sure why I expected the salad to be warm when it was brought over – I guess it was the word “roasted” that made me think this would be a hot salad. It was not, which was fine! The aubergine was cooked very well, the skin wasn’t in anyway tough. I really enjoyed the tahini sauce and bits of pomegranate on top. There was plenty of lamb lettuce and spring onions as well. It was a very easy starter course to eat.

Pan Seared Salmon

I am not a big fish eater, but I do eat fish when it’s served to me. The pan seared salmon was served with a potato veloute, which was absolutely fantastic. There were also roasted leeks that were the perfect bite. The salmon itself was well cooked, with a nice crispy skin. The meat flaked apart! I did have a pinhair bone in my salmon, but that happens from time to time.

Rack of Lamb

The rack of lamb served at Bustronome, was the course I was most looking forward too, and it came out looking fantastic. There was also sweet potato puree and the lamb was covered in blueberry sauce. My lamb was actually quite fatty, but apart from the fat layer, the flavors were fantastic. The berry sauce was a good touch, though I do wish the dish was more on the hot side, as this one was kind of room temperature.

Mango Pannacotta and Cupcake

The mango Pannacotta on the Bustronome was absolutely fantastic. Very creamy, with a bright mango puree. There was also chunks of mango, and a crumble that reminded me of crushed biscuits, to give it some texture. We also got a cupcake customised to the event we were attending, which had a lovely buttercream frosting and was a rich chocolate flavor.

All in all, the food looked fancy and felt fancy! Dann did comment that he felt it was a case of making food look fancier than it might have been, but we both did enjoy the meal. I also had a sex on the beach cocktail, which was very refreshing, and we had a few glasses of white wine, which the servers kept coming. All of the staff were friendly, and the bus adventure was very fun!

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!