Tag Archives: clerkenwell restaurant

Morgan M Barbican

5 Feb

Last Thursday I had one of those days. You know, the kind where everything that possibly can seems to go wrong. Last time this happened, I was late for work, spilled a juice that I had just spent 10 minutes making all over the floor and when I bent down to wipe it up, the button popped off my dress.

My camera slipped out of my gym locker on Thursday morning and smashed on the floor. Attempting to hold onto my flimsy towel, I clamoured over various trainers and gym bags to collect the pieces from opposite sides of the room while toned ladies with towels on their heads stared. Luckily I was going past the Camera Exhange on my way to a meeting and picked up a new lens. But not only did I fix my broken lens later in the day, the new one wasn’t working properly when I went to my dinner that evening.

Which brings me onto dinner. I was at Morgan M Barbican with a few fellow bloggers to experience the 6 course winter tasting menu, complete with matching wines. Morgan M, for those of you who don’t know, is famous for his Islington outpost, which is currently closed for refurbishment. His French cooking is revered and his new venue in Clerkenwell has had the Islington regulars flocking.

Thursday evening was bitterly cold and I was so happy to be greeted by a warm and friendly French host who took my coat and proceeded to offer me a glass of peach and champagne. We wandered down to our table, which was situated in the Kitchen Gallery with uninterrupted views of the chefs, including Morgan himself at work.

I glanced at the menu and was excited about what was to come. The pre starter, cream of ‘Mojette’ beans with lemon confit and pesto arrived at the table. A delicate artwork of carefully constructed foods was drowned as the waiter poured a white bean sauce on top. Upon first spoonful I was in awe, beautiful soft and silky velouté with tender white beans, zesty lemon confit and rich garlicky pesto. As I placed my spoon in my practically clean bowl, the excitement about what was to come was high.

The starter arrived and the rich green colour of the pasta was offset beautifully by the Jerusalem artichoke soubise. It was a thing of beauty. I tucked in and was delighted with the subtle hint of tarragon, the crayfish and lobster delicate and not too rich – it didn’t take me long to finish my dish. The Chateau Clement-Termes 2010 wine that accompanied my starter was rather easy to sip back. A fellow blogger quite rightly pointed out that it tasted of fruit salads. I couldn’t agree more – I closed my eyes and was transported back to summer camp where I would raid the tuck shop for penny sweets and sit with friends on the grassy bank to eat them all before the afternoon session commenced.

The pre main dishes were next and we were treated to seared fillet of wild sea bass, carrot and ginger risotto in a lemon and saffron broth. The fish skin was crispy and perfectly seasoned, the flesh so tender I could have shouted for joy. The risotto had just the right crunch with a subtle hint of ginger and tang of lemon.

By the time the main course arrived, I was getting anxious. Not only was my camera not working properly and I had to manually zoom in dark light (argh!), I also had to leave to meet my boyfriend at a gig he had planned to take me to a while ago at Heaven. Don’t ask. So by the time the mains arrived, I had a few minutes to enjoy the dish before having to dash off and leave my desserts to my fellow diners. Lucky them.

The main in question was pot roasted fillet of Iken Valley venison with farci of hare and quince puree and sauce grand veneur. Why don’t restaurants serve food this beautiful anymore? I almost didn’t want to cut into my plate of food for fear that I would destroy an art work that had been so carefully and meticulously constructed. The venison was pink and tender, the farci of hare extremely rich and gamey. A few around the table thought that perhaps it was a little overpowering and I can see why they thought it but I loved every mouthful.

Extremely sad that I wouldn’t be tasting the vanilla rice pudding with orange tuille and passion fruit soufflé with passion fruit sorbet and crème anglaise that I was so looking forward to, I reluctantly fled from the table and ran to the tube. There is no way that I’m letting that pudding get away. I will be back. And next time, I’ll make sure that I don’t’ have to head off to a gay nightclub afterwards.

Morgan M Barbican
50 Long Lane
London
EC1A 9EJ

Morgan M Barbican on Urbanspoon

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The Zetter Townhouse

8 Jul

I really like Clerkenwell. If I could (and realistically I can’t) choose where I bought my first property, Clerkenwell would be high up the list. I don’t think you’d hear too many people saying that but I would for the following reasons. It is one of the only areas of London that you can get a feel for ye olde London with the cobbled streets, pokey alleyways and age old buildings whilst being amidst some excellent modern architecture. And over the last few years there have been some truly fantastic restaurants popping up. Many are situated around the historic Smithfield meat Market, where they source their meat, which guarantees good quality. I became familiar with the area after my dad took me to Smiths of Smithfield for my 18th birthday. My boyfriend and I then ran a club night for a year, appropriately titled ‘Beef Boogie On’ at a pub underneath the meat Market. Clerkenwell is famous for St John, Hix Oyster & Chop House, Vinoteca, The Modern Pantry and Fabric nightclub, where I have spent many an evening on the tiles.

Newer establishments include Bistro du Vin and North Road. But the newest takes the form of a hotel and bar, The Zetter Townhouse. It is the newest sibling of The Zetter, which is situated a stones throw in front. I was invited to try the cocktails and bar food so thought I’d take my boyfriend for a treat on his birthday. I had seen pictures and snuck a glance from the toilet window at The Modern Pantry so knew to expect quirky decor and lots of taxidermy. I wasn’t disappointed upon entering. The furniture is all mismatched and one chair had a back made of an old potato sack. You could barely see the rich red wall paper behind the paintings and picture frames that lined the whole wall. Old books grace the bookcases and the staff wear excellent old work wear uniforms. I was surprised that the bar wasn’t busier for a Wednesday evening, especially in a very office oriented area. But the bar is dark and cosy and perhaps more suited to a cold evening.

We browsed the cocktail menu and chose the Twinkle and Les Fleurs du Mal to start us off. The Twinkle was a very delicate cocktail made with Wyborowa vodka, elderflower cordial & Perrie Jouet champagne.

The Les Fleurs du Mal tasted too much of absinthe for my liking. I find it a very over powering flavour and as I really don’t like aniseed, it’s not for me. It did look pretty though.

I expected the cocktails to be great as Tony Conigliaro from 69 Colebrook Row heads up the bar. I knew that they wouldn’t be run of the mill rubbish and they weren’t. All house cocktails are priced at £8.50, which I think it pretty reasonable for the quality and the surroundings.

After finishing our drinks, we were then moved to a table better equipped for eating and shown the bar menu. At this point I wasn’t expecting what we ordered to be great – I rarely have good bar food. But we chose quite a few dishes and hoped for the best. After all, the menu didn’t look like your usual bar menu. The dishes were also quite reasonably priced – between £4 – £10 each.

The squid was delicious – very tender and not a hint of chewiness, something I find inexcusable. Whitebait was just good old delicious whitebait but lacked a dollop of mayonnaise. We borrowed some from the deep fried olives stuffed with anchovies, which were also delicious. I’ve never heard of deep frying olives before but with the saltiness of the anchovies it really worked.

The road beans & lovage pesto risotto had a great texture but neither of us like celery and we couldn’t get past this taste – so this dish wasn’t a resounding success for us.

We ordered another two cocktails during the meal, The Flintlock and the Koln Martini. Both were practically pure alcohol, delicious but very strong. We sipped and then decided that we had been defeated. Drinking at The Zetter Townhouse is just as much about the experience as the drinks – they go to great lengths to retain authenticity. The waitress brought a little tincture bottle to the table, squeezed the pipette and squeezed a drop into The Flintlock. There is probably no need for this but it added to the experience and I enjoyed it.

We polished off most of the dishes and I have to say that I was very impressed with the quality of food, it is definitely restaurant standard. It’s not the place to go if you’re expecting a big meal to yourself as all of the plates are small but sharing small plates is something that I really enjoy. I never used to though, oh no. I used to think that restaurants used small plates as an excuse to charge the same price for a smaller portion. But those were the days where La Tasca was popular and generally proper restaurants hadn’t caught on. But if the food is to a high standard, I’m happy.

We were extremely full but still managed to fit in pudding. The only options were the ‘cake of the day’, which was a pineapple upside down cake, and a plate of chocolate truffles. But despite the savoury dishes being fantastic, I was pretty disappointed with the cake. It was dry, cold and had a pretty random dollop of crème fraiche on the side. I didn’t polish it off, which is unusual for me. But then are people really expecting great desserts in a bar? My boyfriend is allergic to pineapple so opted for the chocolate truffles, which were very delicious and probably the better option. I would have thought that the standard would be consistent throughout. I imagine those into their desserts have been a bit disappointed. But the dodgy dessert would definitely not deter me from going back for more cocktails and grub. Don’t shout at me for wishing the (somewhat nonexistent) summer away but I look forward to a few cosy drunken winter evenings at The Zetter Townhouse.

The Zetter Townhouse
49-50 St. Johns Square
London
EC1V 4JJ

020 7324 4545

The Zetter Townhouse on Urbanspoon

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Bistro du Vin

13 Apr

Last week I was invited to the opening of the first stand alone restaurant by the Hotel du Vin group, Bistro du Vin in Clerkenwell. The event was superb and the great food left a lasting memory. All around the open plan kitchen were plates of oysters, scallops, lobster, crab, razor clams, asparagus, steak… the list goes on. Not to mention the private dining room that was turned into a cheese room for the evening. They’re still trying to get rid of the smell, apparently.

So I was delighted to be invited to dine at the restaurant with a few fellow bloggers on Monday evening, Ms Gourmet Chick and Rocket & Squash.

I arrived and was greeted with a Bistro du Vin signature Marmalade Martini (£10). The vodka, produced by Chase Distillery was done so exclusively for the restaurant launch. Sixty bottles were provided for the opening and I hear that they have nearly all gone!

After a quick get to know you chat, we walked past the impressive meat aging room and were shown to our candlelit table, which set the relaxed mood for the evening. The restaurant is very impressive. Low lighting, candlelit tables spaced nicely apart so you’re not dining on top of the guests on the tables next to you. There is also a fantastic open plan kitchen, armed with clever induction hobs, a Josper grill and a range of impressive gadgets. During service, all cooking takes place in this very kitchen and even though I wasn’t sat too far away from the chefs, I didn’t notice any uncouth behaviour (or swearing) and it looked like a very organised operation.

The Hotel du Vin group sources the best quality local and seasonal produce wherever possible, except for ingredients such as the Siscilian lemon (of course). The food is then cooked simply without fuss, leaving the flavours of the good quality produce to shine. The back of the menu even acts as a fact sheet for the producers and is aptly titled ‘think homegrown & local.’

I ordered the English asparagus with sauce ravigote (£7.95) to start, partly because I love asparagus so much and it has just come into season but also because I knew that I had fillet steak, chips, pudding and cheese to come. As I expected, the asparagus was tender and delicious. One of my fellow diners, Rocket & Squash hit it on the nose when he guessed it was from Evesham, his home town. I’m afraid I didn’t start taking pictures until the main arrived – the lighting was dim but I spied Ms Gourmet Chick running her plate over to the kitchen light to get a quick snap so I followed suit when my main arrived.

The Hot Roasted Shells came recommended, but as I had eaten my body weight in shellfish at the launch, I opted for the Bone in fillet 300g Belton Galloway steak with pepperorn sauce (£35) and pomme frites (£3.50). I asked for the steak medium-rare but the edges of the steak were closer to medium. But, as I got nearer the bone the meat became incredibly juicy and tender. If I wasn’t in such lovely surroundings I might have even picked the bone up at the end and attempted to get every last shred of meat off it, if you know what I mean. The portion of pomme frites was larger than expected. This is definitely not a complaint, just an observation. I ate the whole cone but it would easily have been enough to share between two.

Bistro du Vin also operates a ‘by the glass’ dispensing system where customers are able to top up a swipe card and try a range of rare and vintage wines. A great way to try before committing to a bottle.

The dessert menu arrived and it was refreshing to see that there were a few reworked classics on there such as rice pudding and profiteroles. I opted for the latter as I love them and haven’t had them in years. I was overjoyed when the plate was placed in front of me. It contained three scoops of vanilla ice cream with a slice of choux pastry on the top and bottom of each one. A little pot of Valhrona chocolate was poured on top and I was in my element. The plate was scraped.

I also couldn’t resist getting a picture of Ms Gourmet Chick’s delicious looking Rice Pudding.

One part of the evening that I thought was really great was the service. The Hotel du Vin group are known for their high staff retention rate and for hiring staff with skill and fantastic personalities. This really showed. The delightful chap that served us a fantastic range of cheese at the end of the meal was very knowledgeable and I learned that all of the waiting staff are given the opportunity to pursue an area that they are interested in. The cheese chap (his name escapes me but he was from Switzerland) had shown an interest in cheese so the management sent him on a cheese course and he now provides diners with the cheese trolley at the end of the evening. I was in awe of his enthusiasm and he was incredibly excited about an orange goats cheese that we had on our board. His excitement rubbed off and I’m happy to be able to tell people that I’ve eaten orange goats cheese – his words, not mine!

I can imagine dining at Bistro du Vin for any occasion. A romantic dinner for two, a family Sunday lunch, a birthday or even a celebration dinner with friends. I love the location, I love the food, I love the atmosphere. Thumbs up from me.

Bistro du Vin
40 St John Street
London
EC1 4DL
020 7490 9230

Bistro du Vin on Urbanspoon

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The Modern Pantry

3 Apr

My mum loves coming down to London to visit every once in a while so I thought it would be nice to treat her to lunch at The Modern Pantry on Mother’s Day. After all, this is the day to pamper her and show her just how grateful you are that she has put up with your endless tantrums over the years.

Anna Hansen has gained a lot of column inches recently, especially after her recent pop up Pantry at Meza in Soho, so as she was at the forefront of my mind, I decided to book a table at her full-time restaurant, The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell.

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The graceful historic Georgian Townhouses and laid back atmosphere of Clerkenwell was a refreshing change to the horific crowds in central London that we had endured the day before – tempers frayed. In better moods, we arrived at The Modern Pantry and were shown to our table in the light and airy upstairs dining room.

We were given the menu and I was surprised (pleasantly) to see that the three course meal was £23.50 and only a mere £11.75 for the mother. We had a sneaky peak at the menu online a few days before and I was excited to try Anna Hansen’s signature fusion dishes.

Three delightful sounding starters graced the menu and we were told that you get a small plate of all three if you opt for the three courses. We did and the starters came our way. First was the Salmon Sashimi with Truffled Yuzu Soy dressing. The Salmon melted in the mouth and was complimented very well by the bright green popping Fish Roe and the delightful subtle Truffle dressing.

We had to wait another 10 minutes for the second dish of Chorizo and Water Chestnut sticky Rice balls with Tahini Moromi Miso Cream – I couldn’t make out the water Chestnut or the Chorizo, nonetheless it was a fabulous couple of mouthfuls. The Tahini however really shone out.

I think our third starter was forgotten about – plates were taken away and a fresh set of cutlery brought over. We had to remind the waiter 15 or so minutes later that we were still waiting for our third starter of Feta, Okra, Currant and Coriander fritters with sweet Tomato Yoghurt. He apologised and it was quickly delivered to the table. The consistency of the fritter was similar to that of a bhaji – the Tomato Yoghurt on the top was delicious with a sweetness from the Tomato but with a tang from the Yoghurt. I couldn’t get a strong taste of the currants but the texture really came through, delicious.

Before we arrived at the restaurant, I had been saying that I didn’t want a roast dinner but seeing the Sage and Garlic marinated loin of Pork with Green Pepper relish on the menu, I couldn’t resist. Just the right portion size, the Potatoes were fluffy and oily rich, the Pork tender and the roast veg well seasoned. The only criticism was that the gravy proportion wasn’t quite right – I would have liked a bit more.

My mum opted for the pain fried South Coast Pollack with Garlic and Curry Leaf Potato Gratin, pickled Butternut Squash, Daikon and Enoki salad with a Green Chilli dressing and boy was this a good dish. She was very happy that she was getting to eat something ‘a bit different’ and the flavours on this plate worked really well. The pickled butternut squash and enoki mushrooms were a delight.

We were treated to a Shiso Granita before the dessert. Shiso is a herb from the Mint family and was bitter sweet with an aftertaste similar to Grapefruit. A great little palette cleanser.

The Chocolate Mousse cake with Blackcurrant and Liquorice sorbet with Lychee compote arrived and it was no small plate. Already feeling full, I struggled to eat the whole plate (which is not like me at all) and in the end it defeated me. The Blackberry and Liquorice sorbet was a wonder – firstly getting the strong Liquorice flavour, followed by a more subtle Blackberry. The Lychee compote was less of a compote and more like macerated Lychee slices. The Chocolate Mousse cake was the highlight for me, rich, sweet and light. It reminded me of a Chocolate Fondant – warm and almost gooey in the middle.

Despite slighly shoddy service, we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and walked out with smiles on our faces. We also both felt extremely full but very relaxed. That’s what The Modern Pantry will do to you and I can’t wait to revisit with my boyfriend to show him the delights.

The Modern Pantry
48 St. John’s Square
London EC1V 4JJ
020 7553 9210

Modern Pantry on Urbanspoon

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