Restaurants

Vowels. They’re quite useful. I mean, where would we be without them? Up SHT CRK without a PDDL, that’s where.

There is a figure bandied around that twenty-five million pounds has been spent on DSTRKT – a grand two fingered salute in these straitened times when the global economy is regarded as FCKD.

The wilful vowel drop and cocksure misspelling is an attempt at a kind of NYC chic, the logo also forming the D of the Cyrillic alphabet, hinting at some of the Bulgarian ownership. No vowels. C becomes K. A new type of “kool”.

We’re looking at a behemoth of an operation that encompasses a restaurant and self styled “decadent and chic” club, the operators having form with Nick House of Brompton Brands, who brought us Whisky Mist, Mahiki and the Brompton Club. Their ambition is to be among London’s nightlife “crown jewels”. Joey Essex from The Only Way Is Essex lists it as one of his favourite places because they only let “cool people” in. Target demographic distilled.

Georgi Yanev is the man installed as Executive Chef, most recently at the Bazaar restaurant of José Andrés in Beverly Hills, a pal of Ferran Adrià. This entry on the CV hints at some whizz bang pop kinda cooking. Cheffy, showy, adorned with foam and frills, Andrés offered his own homage to mate Ferran by re-creating the canapé of an olive that is not an olive: liquefied olive essence whose translucent membrane explodes as you pop it into your mouth. We see a glimmer of this kind of playfulness from Georgi with our first mouthful later on.

A gin Martini is ordered but isn’t served teeth janglingly cold enough (the Martini bar has been raised high in London), and we’re not asked our gin weapon of choice. Salted tortilla chips are brought as a nibble. The subterranean room smells damp. An inauspicious opener.

A glass of Ruinart Champagne brings out the posher bar snack, deep fried olives stuffed with spicy pork, with a great Aïoli hopping with lots of garlic – far better, now we’re motoring.

We’re crooned on the sound system by Michael Bublé, his version of  ”Always on my Mind”, which turns the stomach a tad. Annie Lennox “Walking on Broken Glass” is next to pipe up. She’s not done though, and struts back onto the speaker with “Why?”. I begin to ask the same question. Appropriate for an All Bar One but not here. Not “decadent”. Not “chic”. It’s a devastating hat-trick of songs which raise the hackles and brings to mind Romford not W1.

Time to eat:

London Fog – A reinvention of  a dish called ‘Dragon’s Breath’ at Bazaar, a dehydrated strawberry is brought to the table, dipped in liquid nitrogen, then offered immediately. Smoke billows from your mouth and if you’re lucky, your nostrils too. Woah, and we’re off… (£7)

Blinis with Bulgarian Osietra Caviar – Yeah,  it’s a blini, but it’s flattered by still being warm and having a zippy slick of lemon créme fraîche. (£7)

Tuna with Soy Air - The pendulum may well have shifted away from using the term ‘air’ on our fanciest menus, and it will be met with howls of derision by some. Beautiful pieces of rosy red tuna impaled on sticks are peeking out from an unattractive looking spume of soy flavoured foam. A little pretentious, the tuna deserved better. (£10)

Grilled Flatbread Salad, Macadamia nut pesto – A dish that needed no explanation of tricksy cooking techniques, the bread adorned with fresh goat’s cheese, excellent pesto, sweet peppers and tomatoes. (£8.50)

Seared Scottish Scallops – Pumpkin sauce and saffron the other players, these were fine little scallops, their delicate sauce perfectly balanced. (£8.50)

Seared Wild Sea bass – No fireworks, just a well cooked bit of fish. Confit baby fennel, capers and chives. (£14)

Halibut poached in olive oil, vanilla potato espuma – An ambitious combination of flavours, we’re not convinced on this showing that vanilla is chuffed to be cavorting with potatoes,  but this is another riff on an Adrià dish at El Bulli, so who are we to question the master of experimentation? Some of that weird black garlic in the mix too. (£15)

Devon Crab Cakes - Two pucks of sweet crabmeat, crisped in all the right places and lifted by a refreshing yoghurt and dill sauce. Looks cute, eats cute. (£12)

Scottish Rib-eye - A fine piece of beef is seasoned right to the point, sea-salted to perfection. Bold seasoning. (£18)

Lamb Cutlets – We reckon the lamb cutlets at Roka are the dog’s cahoonas, and these aren’t a million miles off. Cooked to juicy pinkness, with a smoky aubergine and piquillo pepper purée. (£10)

Wild Mushrooms with 63c Egg – Most surprising dish of the night, a modest looking collection of wild mushrooms and herbs arrives in a cocotte, the egg stirred into the mix. Cooked sous vide at the magical 63c, both yolk and white achieve a compelling rich texture. Mint does the magic and lifts everything. (£8)

WINE LIST:

There’s a showy glass cabinet displaying some iconic wines and throwing Moves Like Jagger all around as you enter the bar. They make a big play on the fact they stock the world’s most expensive rosé from Château d’Esclans (£277), but you’d be better off wading into a bottle of Kung Fu Riesling (£44) from the quirky American winemaker Charles Smith, or The Velvet Devil Merlot (£44) from the same chap. There’s a clanger of a typo on the Château Lafite-Rothschild 1983 placing it at £200. It’s an £800-1000 bottle of wine from a wine merchant, so worth dropping two hundred notes to drink a wine you may never taste again. You may get away with it. Or maybe not. A wine list that needs to be kept in check by choosing from Argentina, Chile or the South of France, and you’ll stay under £35 a bottle.

The club next door entertains packs of braying bankers spraying cash on large format Champagnes, ice buckets set up to receive magnums of Grey Goose, just as you’ll find at Whisky Mist. You might see David Guetta play here. This is where the real cash will be made. A Methusalem (six litres) of Armand de Brignac, is on the bar list and favoured by Jay-Z. £28,000. Bling.

DSTRKT is a club at heart and this is where the real cash will be made, and while some of the food is VRY GD, the idea of dining next to Joey Essex is pretty SHCKNG.

DSTRKT

9 Rupert Street, W1D 6DG

Arkady Novikov. Russian Big Dog and owner of over forty restaurants in Russia. Two restaurants in one behemoth of a site off Berkeley Square is how he has announced himself with his first opening outside of Russia – he’s not messing around. The Asian restaurant occupies the front of the building, a hefty 130 covers, while the Italian restaurant sprawls behind even larger.

We tried the Asian restaurant where Head Chef Jeff Styler has been installed, carrying solid experience from the Mandarin Oriental group, Roka in London, and a period in Japan honing his sushi and tempura skills.

The room looks like the love child of Hakkasan and Zuma, with a nod to Roka, all melded into one. Shamelessly derivative but not a bad place to start when it comes to restaurant design. Somehow they  manage to pull it off without appearing like a a sham imitation with zero class.

A sprawling display of seafood on ice sits in front of an open kitchen in view behind glass, around twenty chefs furiously wokking and chopping – it’s an impressive sight. “Look at our size, ye mighty, and despair”, is the unspoken refrain.

Cutesy baby bok choi are brought out unbidden, served with a couple of punchy palate sharpening chilli sauces – an elegant and measured start.

The menu is intimidatingly large, the kind that leaves you umming and ahhing for an age before a decisive waiter will help you choose by pointing out their favourites. We found service to be unerringly sweet and smiley, particularly our tirelessly enthusiastic Portuguese waiter Tiago, who endured our hesistancy and faffing over the sprawling menu with grace and patience. It’s pricey, there’s no hiding the fact, but hey this is Mayfair and if you feel squeamish about the prices, then you really should have known better.

We start by plundering the dim sum menu, a great place to gauge the quality of a machine like Novikov with such lofty ambition.

Har Gau and Coriander and Shrimp dim sum – Teeny tiny, and probably the most expensive in London at £6 a pop for four pieces. Very decent though.

Foie Gras and Beef Dumpling – Prepared in the ‘Pot Sticker’ style, the edges crimped and fried on one side. Heavy, clunky and no better for playing games with foie – oozing, watery grey matter seeping out of a dumpling somehow ruins the romance.

“New Style Sashimi” – A wow dish. Thin slivers of sea bass perked up with a tricksy little dressing of yuzu and soy – £15. Crab, avocado and cucumber salad sounds plodding, but again the transforming power of yuzu lifts everything, an intense citrussy charge cutting through rich crab and creamy avocado. Bangin’.

Maki Roll of Prawn Tempura and Avocado - These puppies rest on a slick of sticky sweet soy – wonderful. Would never get tiresome – if someone else is paying.

Braised Pork Belly – Lacquered with a spicy sweet and sour glaze, the paupers option on the menu at £12. Wobbly nuggets of pig, always a good thing.

Sushi Platter - Nothing less than sparklingly perfect, buttery textured tuna, salmon and scallop. The usual temptations at a gaff like this are there, Black Cod, Wagyu Beef, Dover Sole, but we swerve these and content ourselves with some juicy spicy barbecued lamb cutlets (£27) and a side of excellently cooked French beans with a pine nut and Szechuan peppercorn sauce. Silken tofu with Enoki mushrooms is a decadent little side order.

Stir-Fried Duck – The only low point, scrag ends of duck looking forlorn, tasting no better than a cheap Chinatown effort – not acceptable at these enthusiastic prices.

The wine list is solid and wide-ranging, put together by Danilo Zilli, and the team is strong – I recognised several sommelier faces from previous London gaffs. Piemonte and Tuscany is particularly extensive. There’s a commendable long list of Franciacorta, the Italian sparkling from Lombardy that is Champagne in all but name. There are Sakes proudly displayed on ice alongside one wall of the kitchen, a tiny detail, but one that hints promisingly that the are giving a genuine ‘fig’ about the drinks offering.

Desserts are a reminder of where the main event is on the menu, and it ain’t the puddings. Green Tea Brûlée comes out with a textural personality problem, thinking it’s a panna cotta,  complete with requisite “wobble”. Caramelised Apple is a decent impersonation of the apple on a Tarte Tatin without the pastry and pleasant enough.

As a Flash Harry restaurant it’s perfect, and has the necessary bling factor to pull a few Nobu regulars across the road now and again, including those of questionable reputation. There is a startling botox count inside amongst the laydees, there are lads tables of middle-aged Russians, and the bar at the entrance can barely hide its ‘pick up joint’ aura. Doormen at the entrance with clip-boards are hulkish, intimidating, and short on patience – it’s a genuinely unwelcoming welcome. Front of house inside more than make up for the frosty first exchange.

Out of towners will love the buzz in here on a Friday night, enjoying the bright lights of London as the music volume leaps up every hour and the lights dim, but for Londoners there is simply no reason to spend huge wedges here, rather than at  Zuma, Nobu, or Hakkasan – these venues all have that indefinable “sizzle” that keeps them hip, in the clutches of the zeitgeist, and singing a siren’s song to snare the ‘A’ listers.

Novikov won’t hit the high ‘Celeb’ count of London’s most coveted restaurants, but everyone inside won’t care – they’ll be spending far too much money to worry about that.

Novikov, 50a Berkeley Street, W1J 8HA

***A version of this review appears in the April issue of Flavour London magazine here:

Bitten & Written appears as  a regular restaurant news page on p48 of the current issue here:

You can ascertain everything about a restaurant just by glancing at their wine list. That’s my ballsy opinion on wine. Everything. If I can’t carry you with me on this “everything” journey, then let’s just say everything you need to know about the aspirations of the kitchen, the aura of the place, attitude of the owners, ambitions of the restaurant – it’s a magical worm hole that drives right to the heart of the whole shebang, a crucial indicator, a window into the soul of the gig.

One moment distilled my extreme knee-jerk restaurant analysis, a realisation that I had seen one of the bravest lists ever. Looking at the Noma list online in February 2010, two months before being named the world’s best by the San Pellegrino “World’s 50 Best”, I was delighted and shocked to see their almost fascist focus. It was almost exclusively grower Champagne, Burgundy, Germany, Piemonte, Austria, bit of Northern Rhône – that was it. No Bordeaux, no New World. These more fragrant, delicate wines were deemed to be a finer foil for their food. I knew it would be my kind of restaurant. The driving force and confidence of the sommelier Pontus Eloffson showed a swagger I liked.

Luke Wilson and Cameron Emirali have brought their modest looking operation to Soho, where fifty restaurants seem to be opening every day. Or something like that. Luke is ex-wine trade, having sold wine to restaurants for a fair few years for Liberty Wines, a merchant of considerable note with a big presence in London restuarants. I’ve known Luke for some time, one of the politest wine reps you could come across. He knows his shit too. Cameron’s longest recent stint was at the brilliant Wapping Project, having grown up in Australia. This double-act is starting from a good place.

The wine list at 10 Greek Street starts sparking with gems from the kick-off, real treats, utter value from the first moment. Pieropan Soave “La Rocca” £31? Try £56 at the River Café. Same vintage. Mount Difficulty “Roaring Meg” Pinot Gris £18.50? Yours for £30 at The Providores.  Plantagenet “Omrah” Pinot Noir for £22? Enjoy it at The Wapping Project for £32. Luke slaps a few rotating three bottle specials on too, most recently Clos du Marquis 1985 for a mere £50 – we love this kind of silliness.

This is a wine list that will engender genuine loyalty from diners and a knowing wine trade. It bitch slaps anything else in Soho.

Oh the food? Yeah, well that happens to be bloody good too. Cameron serves up the kind of food you want to eat every day. There are pies and grills, terrines and rillettes, fondants and apple pudding:

Char-grilled Brecon Leg of Lamb – Cooked to medium-rare pink perfection, this rosy hued piece of meat is accompanied by a piquant puck of anchovy mayonnaise. Sunday Roast evocative. Duck Fat potatoes alongside, so good they deserve their own entry below.

Duck Fat Potatoes – Side dish that needs special mention. Macho sized halves of Désirée potato, roasted then finished off in the pan for extra crunch. I’d eat these on their own as a bar snack and be pretty happy about it.

Skate & New Potato Terrine – Subtle and pretty looking dish, a neat slab of gleaming white, maybe lacking a grind of salt. No matter, there’s some salt on the table for DIY seasoning, from Murray River, Australia.

Langoustines & Saffron Aïoli – Perky fresh langoustines, dense and proper saffron aïoli for dipping. Those potatoes would enjoy a dip in that aïoli too.

Wild Mushroom Risotto – Perfectly cooked risotto, with the funk of white truffle oil running through it. Job done.

Chocolate Fondant & Pistachio Ice-Cream – Oozing in all the right places, the fondant pulls it off. That’s all that matters, right?

The space looks unremarkable until you get to the open kitchen, which is where all the action happens. White tiled throughout with more than a whiff of St John-esque monochrome, the fit-out is no nonsense.  Nifty swivelling bar stools, the blast of heat from the kitchen, and Cameron engaging with diners as he cooks, all mean this is the place to sit. Take six friends and you’ve practically got your own private chef’s table, as there’ll be no room for anyone else. Sweet.

Fay Maschler of the Evening Standard was dining on one of our visits. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Expect her review this week.

This is the kind of place worth bowling into for the wine list alone. With Cameron pulling the strings in the kitchen, it becomes a three times a week kinda thing. It’s a great addition for Soho.

One look at that wine list told me that we were singing from the same page. Quality, value, chosen with care, love. It told me everything I needed to know.

10 Greek Street, W1D 4DH

Jeremy. Dear Jeremy. Darling Jeremy. The biggest transfer of the season is that of Jeremy Lee from Blueprint Café to Quo Vadis, the dining equivalent of a big money Premier League switch. He has pedigree, caché, and is a game changer of the highest order. Sam and Eddie Hart have pulled off a massive coup, convincing him to cross the water and leave his beloved Thameside view behind, luring him with a stake in the business as well as transforming the kitchen. He brings his own infectious brand of bonhomie and joie de vivre to what was already a handsome stage of a dining room, if missing  a certain “something” – Enter stage left, Jeremy Lee.

A loyal servant to behemoth London restaurant group D&D for sixteen years at Blueprint, it always felt like he deserved a more accessible, central location where his confident yet modest brand of unwaveringly British cooking could be enjoyed by a new audience. Welcoming him to Soho feels so right, his flamboyance fitting right in with echoes of Soho’s most Bohemian excesses. It’s as if it was always meant to be.

The food has been transformed instantly by Jeremy’s arrival, and a cutely constructed menu takes you by the hand and leads you box by box, to a free-styling world of possibilities, traditional menu format jettisoned. There’s a sense of playfulness and freedom. Ooh look the smoked eel sandwich, oh wait there’s a pie option in the left hand box, hang on there are small bites up in the top left. Choose what looks good, set your own pace, chill out – the implicit message.

With this ethos in mind, dining alone and not having a main course feels absolutely normal while sitting in the main restaurant, something that would have jarred previously. I was also here mainly for that eel sandwich:

Smoked Eel & Horseradish Sandwich – A star from Jeremy’s Blueprint days since time immemorial, this beauty gets a dedicated box all to itself on the menu, and rightly so. Grilled sourdough encasing dense, deeply smoky, meaty chunks of eel. There’s a holy marriage within of creamed horseradish, dijon mustard and a smear of butter. Visceral and utterly satisfying. A quick hour pickle of red onions on the side cuts through that eel and cleanses between mouthfuls. Two, three a week? This would never bore.

Baked Salsify & Parmesan –  A dish I first had cooked for me at Italo Deli by a certain Tom Adams of Pitt Cue Co., learnt from Jeremy when he put in a stint at Blueprint. Delicate batons of salsify wrapped and baked in a delicate filo-esque, Feuille de Brick pastry, two cigar like creations dusted with parmesan. A slight crunch, a cheesy hit, then earthy salsify – a great first few mouthfuls with a glass of wine, perfect if ordered at the bar.

Squid, Fennel, Puntarella – Delicate dish, playing a subtle balance between sweet curls of grilled squid, bitter green kick of puntarella, and the anise of fennel. Squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil. Simplicity artfully arranged, a great palate wakener.

Campari, Blood Orange & Pomegranate Sorbet – Yeah, so if  a Negroni wanted to be a dessert, it would probably want to be this one. No gin, but all the other flavours are pressing the same buttons. Thrillingly cleansing, bitterness of Campari having a great time with the sweetness of Pomegranate (delusions of vermouth), and the unmistakeable zing of blood orange. Frozen shot of gin to pour over and you’d be sorted.

Glancing at the rest of the menu we see Leg of Middlewhite Pork, Beans & Green Sauce, another dish encountered at Blueprint Café some time ago – it was quite brilliant then, and will be so here. There is plenty there to tempt for another visit, Salt Mallard, Pickled Prunes & Watercress clamouring for attention, a daily pie today being Pheasant, Duck & Mallard - he loves a good pie, does Jeremy.

The wine list has been dragged up by its bootstraps, offering far more value than previously, and looking far less intimidating for the inexperienced. Sam Hart mentioned they have reduced their margins on the list ever so slightly, an important psychological shift for some bottles, making the funky Spanish blend of Treixadura and Albariño £28 rather than £32 a bottle – the £30 mental barrier popped. By the glass at £4.90 it made for good lunchtime drinking, perky acidity with no shortage of texture. They’ve kept the admirable two English glasses of fizz too, Gusbourne and Jenkyn Place.

Jeremy’s coruscating enthusiasm for the sheer joy of good food, good wine, good company, makes him exactly the right character to have landed in this iconic restaurant. Quo Vadis is playing in the Big Dogs league again, inspirational and totally relevant.

Soho now echos to the gentle cooings of “dahhhling” this and “dahhhling” that, coming from the kitchen on Dean Street. Jeremy, we’re so glad you’ve joined us in W1, darling…

Quo Vadis, Dean Street, W1

www.quovadissoho.co.uk

From the ashes of a metal trailer on the blustery Southbank beside The Thames, Pitt Cue will emerge to send smoke signals from a bricks ‘n’ mortar building in Soho.

Four frenzied months of serving pulled pork, beef brisket, wings and Pickle Backs garnered plenty of praise over the summer of 2011 (I was helping out, it was a blast), and now Tom Adams and Jamie Berger have joined forces with Richard “Hawksmoor” Turner and Simon Anderson to make a temporary gig permanent, a whisker away from Carnaby Street W1.

What to expect? Pitt Cue ratcheted up a gear. A proper kitchen gives Tom Adams the chance to hone techniques he learnt over the summer while attending the American Royal BBQ competition in Kansas, the biggest BBQ competition in the USA. Pulled pork, beef brisket, and ribs as before, and this time we have the oft requested pulled pork buns, made with the pillowy buns of Miller’s bakery in Hoxton.

Pickles play a bigger role, of note some wicked Crispy Pickled Shiitake, alongside fennel, kohlrabi, daikon and red onion – this  is pickling with a lot of love thrown at it.

Mac, Oxtail ‘n’ Cheese is a decadent new addition, to go alongside slaw, beans, and the odd smoked ham hock here and there.

The basement space is teeny, tiny, yet perfectly formed. Take-away buns will be in operation from 12-6pm, and a whole cascade of Bourbon and Rye cocktails –  Big Mac ‘n’ Rye, Whiskey Sours, Bourbon Hot Toddy, Manhattans, will be made with care in the upstairs space.

Pitt Cue are back – we’ve missed you…

1 Newburgh St, Soho W1

**Opening mid-January**

www.pittcue.co.uk

***Check out the in-depth interview with Tom Adams on the Hot Dinners site.***

There ain’t no end to the current slew of London restaurant openings, no respite from wave after wave of big new arrivals. Recent arrivals have seen the Big Dogs of The Wolseley, Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, launch their latest grand project The Delaunay, all powerful Grand Master Richard Caring bringing steak restaurant 34 to the Caprice Holdings stable, and Russian oligarch Arkady Novikov opening a behemoth of a restaurant (two in one space) in Flash Harry Mayfair – London has never seen action like it.

I was asked recently to list five of my favourite restaurants of the last year for the Top Table website. On the day they asked, these were the ones floating my boat…

KOYA - www.koya.co.uk - Lip slurping excellence in the heart of Soho. Udon soup like we’ve never seen before in London, with noodles made on site, chefs Junya and Shuko deliver bowl after bowl of Udon joy. The simple Kake  is a shimmering, cleansing broth of startling clarity, a smoky dashi to pull you back from the brink – henceforth known as the “Udon Cleanse”. Daily specials board always tempts, and you may find deep fried prawn heads, fried tofu with mustard green sauce, or crispy fried lemon sole. Quietly brilliant, always rammed.

DUCK SOUP – www.ducksoupsoho.co.uk - The latest BYO to hit London, yet here you’re invited to Bring Your Own vinyl for the record player in the corner. Head Chef Julian Biggs keeps things simple, pumping out wonderful Fritto Misto with huge chunks of grey mullet, squid, scallop, and the most devilishly silky and seductive saffron mayonnaise. Lamb cutlets are shockingly simple, in the best possible way – no accoutrements needed. Excellently sourced cheese such as Tête de Moine (monks head) is shaved off in addictive curls, to accompany a shape-shifting wine list driven by the “natural” and “biodynamic” craze sweeping the capital right now. Open throughout the day, this is a great casual option in Soho with a heart.

TSURU SUSHI – www.tsuru-sushi.co.uk - Sushi on the hoof has taken  great leaps in the City at this tightly run small group of restaurants, headed by the tireless Emma Reynolds in her quest to bring decent sushi and Katsu curry to London. Breaded cutlet of chicken thigh or pork is a favourite Katsu for us, and chicken Kara-age is perhaps the best fried chicken in town. Oh, the sushi is pristine too. Japanese style scotch egg has been an inspired addition. Decent wines and proper sake and beers complete the excellent team line-up. Tsuru Ramen will launch next year, where we’ll be treated to noodles and a wobbling broth inspired by pig’s trotters.

MANSON – www.mansonrestaurant.co.uk - In a Fulham backwater, chef Alan Stewart is on a mission to shake up the Sloanes and give ‘em Rock Star cooking for a relative pittance. Still fizzing from his time at Michelin bedecked Launceston Place, he has an unnerving and almost fanatical eye for sourcing produce within a stone’s throw, growing much of his produce on his own allotments. Venison Tartare is one of the dishes of the year, served with pickled girolles, celeriac and cobnuts. His vision and focus is almost scary.

THE LAWN BISTRO – www.thelawnbistro.co.uk - Chicken liver and foie gras parfait. Worth trekking to Wimbledon for this dish alone. Sordid texture, like silk and lace, an exercise in decadence. Head Chef and owner Ollie Couillaud shames all the chain restaurants in the area (painfully plentiful in Wimbledon Village) by delivering a bustling, breezy brasserie that is happy for you to come in for Croque Monsieur and Big Chips for lunch, or blow the bloody doors off with a Côte de Boeuf and perfect béarnaise. Braised Ox Cheeks “à la Bourguignonne”, rendered fork tender by eight hours carousing with red wine, transports the soul to Burundy. He’s an impish, cheeky chappy too.

This list appears on the Top Table website:

That Dog in the picture? Just a friendly resident of a restaurant in East London: Half Dog, half Wolf…

Big Dog.  Stalwart. Old School. Maverick. Guru. Ground-breaker. David Eyre merits all of these tags and maybe a few more. He’s been grooving to his own tune for so long, at the top of his game, that it’s almost as if we’ve forgotten about what it means to be a “stayer” in the restaurant game. Caught up in the thrill of the new, the hot, the zeitgeist and the breathless pace of London restaurant openings, we could perhaps do ourselves a favour by taking a moment to survey the scene. Who has stayed the course? Who is still consistently brilliant? Who do we still want to visit after ten years of their opening? There are a handful. Moro in Exmouth Market, Sam and Sam Clark quietly going about their business after fourteen years. Jeremy Lee at Blueprint Café still delights twenty years later. The Square is set to celebrate twenty years this month, and still inspires a little joyous skip as you walk inside. Then there is the The Eagle pub in Farringdon – which David just happened to have opened himself in 1991 with Michael Belben, and is noted for leading the charge of the “Gastropub”, the first pub in the land offering food of restaurant quality in a pub environment.

We were invited to preview a celebration of the ten year anniversary of Eyre Brothers, which David opened with his brother Robert. For one month the menu will feature the Greatest Hits of the menu over the last decade. We cracked straight into it, after a rather good glass of Cava:

Almeijoas á Bulhão Pato – Clams, garlic, lemon, fresh coriander. Delicate first course kicks things off. Sweet little clams, with the real joy being the resulting garlicky, lemony, clam infused broth at the bottom. Mopping up territory, and freshly made bread does the job admirably. WINE: Quinta de Azevedo, Vinho Verde, 2010, Portugal – Zippy, spritzy, lemon scented Portuguese white with exhilarating acidity. Like a squeeze of lemon juice over the clams, a perfect foil.

Alentejo style Fat Pork and Lean Beef – Homely, comforting, an enveloping arm round the shoulder of a dish. Slowly braised with garlic, bay, pimentão and white wine, this is beautiful peasant food of the highest order, packing flavour in spades.  Melting nuggets of pork, tender beef, and another dish yielding a wicked liquor that required more warm bread. A “lick the plate clean” dish. WINE: Monte da Peceguina, Alentejo, 2010, Portugal – A plump, juicy little number, characteristic of the fleshy wines of Alentejo. Much warmer than the Douro, the tannins are softer and sweeter than the sturdy reds further north. Strawberry scented and utterly charming.

Salt Cod Brandada & Roast Pimentos de Piquillo -  A white puck of meaty cod, a dazzling pure white, singing with the zip of fresh garlic. No sight of the promised egg, but the sweet roasted Pimentos pepper and cherry tomatoes are balanced well against salty capers and black olives. Simple, subtle, classic. WINE: Naia, Verdejo, 2010, Rueda, Spain – Lusher than many Verdejo, this doesn’t posess the shrill acidity and vegetal twang of some, instead carrying things off with a stone fruit core, a touch of apricot, great texture.

Caldeirada Portuguese Seafood Stew –  Brimming with prawns, clams, mussels, gilthead bream and monkfish, a festival of fish. A groaning bowl of seafood, juicy nuggets to hook out at every turn. Another dish yielding juices at the bottom of the bowl begging to be mopped up. WINE: Luis Pato, Vinhas Velhas, Beiras, 2010, Portugal – Luis Pato makes very fine whites in Bairrada, and this blend of the Bical, Cerceal and Sercialhino grapes is a proper wine. A whisper of good French oak marks this out as classy winemaking, stylistically having more in common with Burgundy than many Portuguese whites. Subtle smoky aromas, roasted nuts, fabulous weight and texture. We liked this one a lot.

Grilled Loin Chop of Acorn-fed Ibèrico Pork – A quivering pork chop of succulent beauty, rosy pink within, slight char, this is a Champions League pork chop. Sitting atop a flattering backdrop of subtly seasoned white planchada beans with just enough rosemary running through. Ibèrico chop centre stage and running away with the plaudits. The memory of this dish reverberates still. WINE: Decenio Reserva, Rioja, 1999, Spain – Old vine Tempranillo here from family winery Bodegas Las Orcas in the Alavesa region of Rioja, this is classic Rioja with a cheeky bit of age on it. Earthy and savoury, touch of sweet spice, delicate structure. The Ibèrico chop had fun with this wine.

Tarta de Santiago – Galician almond and orange tart, made with zero flour. Another simple dish done well. Almond flour soaked in the juice of oranges. Get me a slice for breakfast while you’re at it. WINE: Moscatel, Bodega de Sarria, Navarra, 2010, Spain – Liquid apricots and peaches, what’s not to like?

David sat and chatted to the table towards the end of the meal, straight from the kitchen, eyes blazing, enthusing about what he loves most about food and cooking. The Pintxo bars of San Sebastián in Spain feature highly on his list of destinations. The nerveless simplicity in his dishes is summed up by a line he utters early on when talking about ingredients: “The detail is in the shopping.”

As David talked I was struck by the thought that he looked like the actor Richard Burton. Not a bad look. Think tousled hair, piercing blue eyes, a restless energy.

There’s a bar you can sit at and indulge in just a few tapas dishes and a couple of beers if you like. Staff are sweet and know their stuff.

A restaurant so off the radar, so little talked about, is a refreshing antidote to a climate in London that sees new joints chewed up and spat out within weeks of opening, the restless pack trampling over one another to reach the next new opening.

Slip down a few gears, turn off into a quiet street off Old Street, sit down at the bar. You’ll feel like you’ve stumbled across the hottest new opening nobody told you about.

Eyre Brothers 10th Anniversary Menu is available throughout November, £38 per person, £60 with matching wines.

Eyre Brothers

70 Leonard St

EC2A 4QX

If you’re really clever, really rich, or really talented in any field, you don’t need to shout about it. You do your thing quietly, confidently, and don’t need to impress your brilliance on everyone you meet – excellence will reap its own reward. Cigalon is just such a restaurant.

Taking its name from the French for “cricket”, the chirping insect found in warmer climes, this particular little grasshopper wannabe finds itself on Chancery Lane, plum in the middle of the land of law courts and lawyers – you’ll see a bewigged chap now and then scurrying down an alleyway to a building where he’ll say things like “M’lud”. Or something like that.

The Gascon family of restaurants is the pedigree here, which includes Club Gascon, Comptoir Gascon and Le Cercle, and Head Chef Julien Carlon and the rest of the staff have all been through the ranks there.

Soothing pastels and the most gorgeous central island of booths that wrap themselves around each other, each one offering an enclave of seclusion, create a stunning first impression. Chuck in a couple of olive trees and you’re seduced into feeling that yes, you really are in a Provençal idyll. The addition of indoor trees could easily come across as gauche and a bit naff, but the effect is measured and subtle.

The exceptional black olive tapenade that is presented as the first morsel, sets the tone. A depth charge of flavour, the distilled essence of black olive, kicking off eager anticipation, salivatory switches flicked to “go”. Excellent, bouncy bread, a cute touch of being toasted on one side, completes a joyful first few mouthfuls.

We crack on:

Niçoise Salad – ordered to test the kitchen, the simplicity of the dish offering no hiding place for a slack brigade. What we receive is a supermodel of a Niçoise. Glorious oozing egg, flashes of red from sweet roasted cherry tomatoes, intense salted anchovy, and the finest tinned pale tuna. Or is it? We’re told that the tuna is a confit in olive oil, prepared in-house – beyond the call of duty and an utterly brilliant touch. £6.50 of Niçoise perfection.

King Scallops and Poutargue Risotto - Scallops that have had just a whisper of heat from the pan, the dense sweetness requiring little more. Poutargue is the French Bottarga, dried mullet roe shavings, and injects soothing risotto and scallop with a salty slap of the sea.

Line caught Salt Cod in Vegetable Broth - reads like an anodyne bore-draw football fixture, but what arrives is an exercise in balance and precision. Pearly white flakes of fish, nestling in a broth of delicacy, the joyful addition of a seriously garlicky aïoli adding spark. Looked so simple, yet over delivered at every step.

Fillet of Hake on Camargue Black Rice – Another deft piece of cooking, meaty fish with crisp skin sitting on dense jet-black rice, the plate given a shock of colour with a shellfish bisque and two prawns. The sweetness and depth of flavour of the prawns was a palate juddering surprise, the bisque carrying a kick from the anise of Pernot.

Bagna Cauda with Crudités - More often seen in its home of Piemonte, Italy, but also found in Nice, the Bagna Cauda is dense and pungent, a hot blend of anchovy, garlic and butter, ready to receive crunchy vegetables for dipping.

Bay leaf Creme Brûlée – A delicate twist on a classic, crunchy in the right places, creamy in all the others, completing a seamless afternoon.

Downstairs the Baranis bar reveals a gravel lined Petanque alley, where you can throw a few balls around, drink Pastis, and explore a wine list led by Provençal and Corsican bottles, overseen by enthusiastic bar manager Yohann Bodier.

There is a measured poise to everything going on here, from the genuinely warm and unaffected welcome from manager Yann Osouf, ex-Wolseley, to the controlled pace of the dishes coming from the kitchen. The comforting sense is that these guys have been doing things too well, for too long, to screw things up. Two visits here saw expectations exceeded on our return.

The Set Menu at £19.50 for two, and £24.50 for three courses is as fine a set menu option as you’ll find in London, and has all the panache, quality and attention to detail of the A la carte.

Cigalon is very clever, very talented and very slick – it just doesn’t need to shout about it.

**A version of this review appeared in the October issue of Flavour London magazine. Bitten & Written appears as a regular restaurant news page on p45 of the current issue.