Another week, another new opening this time in the cool area of Shoreditch. Interestingly I couldn't get a booking via email but there was still one online. And the restaurant wasn't completely full either on this Friday night. Strange.
Nonetheless it's a well oiled machine with good service from a variety of staff who are pleasant and banter too.
The location in Shoreditch proper was a nice change as it seems few open here with soft discounts.
- Noir de bigorre ham £6 - nicely cured and quite tasty similar to jamon. Texture was soft and not very chewy at all (unlike jamon);
- Cherrystone clam, Sichuan oil, coriander £9 - let's be honest, it was delicious. But £9 for one clam (at full price)?;
- Oyster flamed £3.7 - a delicious oyster with a tiny amount of wood smoke with a little crispy something I couldn't place;
- Wild bass, lardo, burnt kohlrabi, savoury £12.6 - excellent sashimi topped with the radish in a soy vinegar sauce;
- Smoked eel & foie gras chawanmushi £13.4 - slices of eel positioned under some crackling topping an excellent and different chawanmushi with very distinct foie gras flavour to it. Really good;
- Vegetable plate £14 - this was a big surprise with the plate having non-standard vegetables such as beans, artichoke, peppers and onions. Really good;
- Brill, carabineros, purple basil £24 - I was hoping for full carabineros but could only be satisfied with tiny slices on top of fish. It was good but for £24 was a bit disappointing;
- Tamworth, rowanberry vinegar, garum £28 - when it was served I thought it was undercooked. The pork was so pink. The texture was definitely of cooked pork and seemed to be slices off a whole cooked portion rather than cooking eat slice individually directly on the heat. The flavour was pure pork. It was incredible. Likely the best pork of my life;
- Hispi cabbage, pork fat, xo £5 - burnt cabbage with fat and xo sauce adding lots of flavour;
- Salt caramel & East India sherry tart, cardamom icecream £8 - a very sweet and soft tart slice but the star was the (melting too fast) icecream rich in cardamom spice;
- Green Sichuan pepper pannacotta, sweet cicely icecream, strawberry £6 - the pannacotta had a clear Sichuan flavour to it without any of the heat or numbingness. It was unique and delicious. I don't really know what cicely is and have just read it is chervil/myrrh - not sure what the flavour was particularly;
- Rhum baba, smoked pineapple, black treacle, yogurt sorbet £7 - a taffy cake soaked in strong rum that could have used an ignite. Still good.
This was a very good meal indeeed. The raw seafoods and woodfired dishes all that excellent flavours and cooking techniques. Some just seem too overpriced particularly the clams (including the identically priced razorclams). The beef looked particularly excellent and should have taken advantage of that discount too (although my stomach could not have fit any more).