http://www.thecutbar.com/

A trip to the Cut Bar at the Young Vic Theatre reminded my fellow reviewer and me why the Caesar Salad Search is such a good challenge. London is not short of restaurants with stonking good food. But we want more than that. We want restaurants that care about EVERYTHING they put on the table, and if they can’t nail everyone’s favourite classic salad, then they’re not trying hard enough.

And that, unfortunately, is what happened here. The Young Vic is clearly a great destination for cultural high jinks, and the Cut Bar is not just a convenient way to get some carbs on board before the show. It serves some properly tasty fare. We devoured our sweet and spicy pulled pork, cheddar and bacon burger, and chorizo themed sides.

But the Caesar salad! Oh, the disappointment. It started so well, with a generous portion well presented. But it came with the wrong lettuce - a forgivable sin, but harbinger of more let downs to come. It was well covered in the dressing, but it was such a bland concoction that all it really added was some wet. The croutons were so crunchy as to make you worry about your teeth. There was zero anchovy taste, despite promises to the contrary on the menu. And the clumps of parmesan, whilst initially welcome, became plain hard work.

We put our forks down with a sigh. So much promise so spectacularly dashed. Sure, the Cut Bar does some things well, but its inability to take care, attention and pride in its Caesar salad sees it fail on our scale.

The score has to be a flat 3/10. The search for London’s best Caesar salad continues.