What We're Eating This Week: Confit Lamb, Fried Halloumi & Pumpkin Pie
Folie
The French Riviera has come to Soho and, honestly, that’s precisely the kind of vibe we’re craving amid this crappy weather. Prominently located on the north-eastern corner of Golden Square, Folie is the brainchild of Guilleme Depoix. This may be his first restaurant of his own but with experience at Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin starred Plaza Athénée in Paris, the Boundary in Shoreditch and Notting Hill’s fashionable Casa Cruz, we knew it would be worth sussing out. But we didn’t know just how stylish it would seem inside. Designed by Studio KO, there is a distinctly Seventies aesthetic, modernized and accented by lots of gleaming gold so that you feel unquestionably at home – but in such a lustrous one that it slows down your actions to suit the sleek, somewhat nonchalant ambiance.
Christophe Marleix’s food is fresh and unfussy, whilst also managing to provide the comforting flavours of a holiday: creamy burratina with the bite of corn and pomegranate, and a sparkling sea bream crudo with lemon and avocado, for example. The headline item is the confit lamb shoulder, which is designed to share and wafts to your table in a cloud of garlic. If you’d prefer to sample more of the menu then opt for the seared red mullet, which comes with a punchy jug of Bouillabaisse sauce on the side, or the silken veal paillard, doused in butter, sage and capers. Regardless, don’t forget to order the baby new potatoes on the side – they’re sautéed in basil salt and will disappear in record time. To finish, the sorbet is dainty and palate-cleansing but you really ought to acquaint yourself with a Tart Parisienne if you haven’t already. Slinky, plush, warming and a veritable port in the current storms, Folie is set to become Soho’s most trusted new hangout, especially when it opens for breakfast in the new year – you could spend the entire day here. And very happily, too.
37 Golden Square, London, W1F 9LB; folie.london
Manteca
Elsewhere in Soho, a ragingly popular residency at 10 Heddon Street is quite rightly turning into a permanent establishment just five minutes away, on Great Marlborough Street. Manteca is the joint venture of Chris Leach (formerly of Kitty Fisher’s, Pitt Cue and Petersham Nurseries) and David Carter (Smokestak), whose two primary passions are pasta and ‘nose to tail’ dining. That means using whole animals from small, independent producers and putting serious effort into utilising every cut of meat in their cooking, which they deem Italian “with a British accent.”
Think home-made mortadella sausage as a starting snack, the pig also getting used for chops, cured meat, Lardo, stock, ragu and who knows what else so that the meat, bones, skin, fat, trotters and even tail are made the most of. The pasta menu changes constantly but make a beeline for the famous sweetcorn ravioli, some brown crab cacio e pepe, or anything including the word ragu. Meats are fire-cooked, aperitifs practically mandatory and the playlist will set you at ease after a long day at work. This is comfort food in the extreme, but shows that culinary succour needn’t only come from stodge.
58-59 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7JY; mantecarestaurant.co.uk
Dominique Ansel Bakery
If you’re keen to dip your toe into this year’s Thanksgiving celebrations then look to Dominique Ansel who, incidentally, is about to add a second UK branch to his Belgravia bakery. The Frenchman made his name in New York with that infamous Cronut (trademarked, thank you very much) and now he serves confections of every sort to sweet-toothed Londoners.
One such is his pumpkin pie, which is a souped-up custard tart in a startlingly tangerine shade of orange. The thick gingersnap crust encases such a smooth filling that it’s a bit of a challenge to slice, but well worth it for the warming winter spices and happy dollops of cream on top. Available by the slice or, indeed, in full, it’s impressively light, providing a nice little taster of something sweet (by far preferable to the sickly Pumpkin Spiced Lattes that are still ubiquitously being pedalled by overly keen coffee shops).
Until Friday 29th November
17-21 Elizabeth Street, London, SW1W 9RP; dominiqueansellondon.com/
Bubala
Don’t be put off by the fact that Bubala is a vegetarian restaurant. Just don’t. Because carnivores and pescatarians alike will get to the end of their meal here without having noticed the lack of meat and fish. And that’s not because there is so much to choose from (there is) or because the flavours sing out at you so loudly (we’re talking full-sized choirs) but because the textures that chef Helen Graham gets into her plates are so varied and satisfying and, well, meaty. Those things considered, you get a meal that you will be talking about for weeks.
Graham hails from The Palomar and Barbary, bringing that Middle-Eastern style of food to Shoreditch in bright and airy restaurant designed to feel like a Modern Tel Aviv café. Bare wood is highlighted by flashes of green, from the tiles along the bar to the pot plants dotted about the floor. Start with one of the flatbreads to be mopped up with hummus (served with burnt butter and pine nuts) or the pumpkin tirshy, which is velvety yet substantial, warmed by rose harissa, cumin and coriander, with the tang of preserved lemon. Fried aubergines come caramelised and covered in a sort of spicy pesto, cabbage is blackened in pomegranate juice and topped with tahini and hazelnuts, and the true star is the halloumi (or sometimes anglum, which is similar): you will struggle to believe it’s cheese and not a juicy chicken breast – fried until golden and crispy, then covered in black seed honey, it will make you gurgle with delight.
65 Commercial Street, London, E1 6BD; bubala.co.uk
Le Bab, Rovi, Holborn Dining Room & More
You still have time to make the most of British Game Week, which runs until Sunday. In support of the British Game Alliance’s ‘Eat Wild’ campaign, a load of restaurants across the country have put special items on their menus, so you have more chances than ever to sample some good quality game and see if it takes your fancy. Our favourites are at Le Bab (the gourmet kebab restaurant run by Le Gavroche alumni) who are doing crispy fried partridge legs, a pheasant shawarma (pictured) and grouse adana; Yotam Ottolenghi’s Fitzrovia outpost, Rovi, has crispy mallard with rye pancakes and a beetroot and apple sauce; The Holborn Dining Room’s Callum Franklin, known for his epic pies, is doing a game one and putting pheasant fennel sausages on his breakfast menu; and Rabbit in Chelsea has partridge popcorn with spiced apple sauce.
Elsewhere across the country, there will also be celebratory menus at the Daniel Thwaites group, which has locations in Beverley, Blackburn, Keswick, Cirencester and more. For full details, visit the website.
Until 1st December
Various locations; britishgamealliance.co.uk
BOOK AHEAD: Tanqueray Townhouse
With any number of gins to choose from these days, Tanqueray Ten remains one of the most reliable – when you just want a crisp, zingy, balanced gin and tonic, this stalwart will always see you right. And if you agree, then you’ll be pleased to hear about December’s Tanqueray Townhouse, which offers 10 whole days of gin-based festivities. From 6th– 11th December, the rather grand Bloomsbury House will host a range of rooms each providing immersive experiences, with nightly performances throughout the venue by Magic Circle artists.
The Lounge Bar will be serving G&Ts garnished with Tanqueray’s signature slice of red grapefruit (along with some fancier inventions); The Secret Bar tests your reaction to scented vials of the gin’s ingredients to see what your brainwaves prefer (yes, really); and The Aura Room uses facial recognition to deduce your ideal cocktail. If it all sounds a bit much, The Library will have the history of the gin and, hey, you can always just head back to the Lounge for a Negroni.
Ticket cost £12. For further details and to book, visit tanqueraytownhouse.com
2-3 Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1A 2RL
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