What We're Eating: Fish & Chips, Sweetcorn Ravioli & Praline Pastries
Fish & Chips @ Kerridge’s Bar & Grill
This September, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill in the Corinthia London hotel enjoys its first birthday. That’s one year since the vaulted dining room got a sultry makeover and the chef behind the world’s first two Michelin-starred pub set up shop in the capital, introducing London to the most stonking fish and chips (with not one, not two, but three sauces on the side) and a lobster omelette that will fill you up for a week. Birthday month sees a six-course tasting menu of ‘Classics’ from across Kerridge’s various sites, including the risotto made out of mushrooms from The Coach and a salt cod Scotch egg with chorizo and red pepper sauce from The Hand and Flowers, both in Marlow. There is also a new set menu available on Sundays, which includes one of the sweet soufflés that remain firmly on the Bar & Grill’s normal menu, and of which Kerridge and his team are, rightly, rather proud; with a new flavour each month, these precariously towering desserts are always given bits of crunch on top and surprising but ingenious ice creams or sorbets on the side. Plus sauce. This month's celebratory variation is good old strawberry, with a delicate milk ice cream and rose-scented coulis. Go on, treat yourself.
No. 10 Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5AE; kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk
Paris Brest @ Claridge’s
And if your sweet tooth is simply too impatient to entertain a savoury course first, then another landmark London hotel can assist: for one week only, famed Parisian pâtissier Yann Couvreur has taken over the equally famous pastry kitchen at Claridge’s to offer diners in The Foyer and Reading Room a special selection of ‘Elevenses’ pastries that will cause a veritable buckle in the knees. Top pick is his signature, the Paris Brest, which consists of bagel-shaped choux pastry sandwiching a praline cream. His ridiculously pillowy version comes bursting with filling and studded with hazelnut in some other-worldly incarnation of a Ferrero Rocher. It is quite literally the taste of which dreams are made. Also available are a crunchy yet delicately flavoured fig and walnut tart, a dark chocolate and tonka bean éclair, and a zingy lime and shiso tart for those who need something a little snappier. All can be eaten in or taken away, and if you like what you try then you’ll be pleased to hear that, in addition to his eponymous establishment in the 10th arrondissement, Couvreur will be opening in Mayfair later this year.
Until 11thSeptember. For afternoon tea bookings, contact dining@claridges.co.uk
Claridge’s, Brook Street, London, W1K 4HR; claridges.co.uk
Albouze Bruno Tomatoes @ Rob Roy Cameron’s Crispin Takeover
Another time-sensitive tip for you is happening over in Spitalfields. You may or may not have experienced Rob Roy Cameron’s food at Gazelle, a sadly short-lived restaurant on Albermarle Street, but the Botswana-born, South Africa-raised chef counts the near-mythical El Bulli on his CV, plus stints at Roux at The Landau and Michael Caines’ Abode. His food is out there but not totally weird. Dainty but not prim. It’s curious, and it’s delicious. So his two-week pop-up at Crispin is welcome news. He is serving small plates inspired by his travels in Spain, Mexico and Scandinavia, including Albouze Bruno tomatoes with foraged seaweed (pictured), baked white beet with yuba, shaved macadamia and coffee, squid with a smoked broth and preserved strawberry, and Iberico pluma (the Wagyu steak of pork) with grilled onion and chichilo sauce. Dishes start at £8 but you can ask for one of everything for £29.50 per head.
Until 14thSeptember, Tuesday – Saturday. For dinner reservations, contact bookings@crispinlondon.co.uk
White’s Row, Spitalfields, London, E1 7NF; crispinlondon.com
Sweetcorn Ravioli @ 10 Heddon Street
Now that it has been so broadly accepted that pasta is not just there to be enjoyed but positively basked in, news of an opening such as 10 Heddon Street ought to be shouted from the rooftops. The venue used to house Magpie but is now being used as a sort of test space by its owners. Currently in residence for a six-month stint are Chris Leach (formerly of Kitty Fisher’s, Pitt Cue and Petersham Nurseries) and David Carter (of Smokestak) doing what they deem Italian-inspired food with a British accent. The really interesting bit is their commitment to ‘nose to tail’ dining and thus using whole animals from their producers, cooking with them every which way. Like the pigs, which don’t just turn into straightforward chops but into home-cured meats, pancetta, Lardo, their bones into stock, the fat and skin into ragus and salami, etc. So start off with a spritz and a plate of mortadella, to get into the right spirit. To follow, said pasta is a delight: it comes perfectly al dente and with delicious fillings and toppings like the spicy pig tail ragu (rich, warming and layered with flavour) and the sweetcorn ravioli (gentler, obviously, but still able to hold its own amid the punchier dishes). If you’re lucky, you’ll nab what we are convinced is the greatest game season fusion ever conceived: a special (made in highly limited quantities) of two ravioli – one filled with grouse, the other with bread sauce, and covered in chanterelle mushrooms, blackberries and gravy. No doubt about it: these guys are proper.
10 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BX; 10heddonst.co.uk
Camarones Fritos @ Sabor
And about 20 steps away is Sabor. It’s not particularly new but certainly young, opening in January 2018 and bagging a Michelin star the same year thanks to star chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s astounding food and business partner José Etura’s fabulously genial welcome. There is El Asador upstairs and The Counter on the ground floor, plus a bar area boasting a newly extended menu, making it high time you experienced this buzzing little den. Now that Autumn has put paid to the post-work beer-on-a-street-corner vibe, head inside and order a sherry, or a vermouth, or any one of the wines, and nibble away at some tapas. The camarones fritos are particularly moreish (an Andalucian delicacy of tiny prawns fried until crispy and served with a fried egg plonked gleefully on top) and the baby artichokes with black garlic alioli are tender and earthy. Carnivores will enjoy the Catalonian blood sausage and, indeed, the Basque-style milk-fed lamb skewers (pintxo moruno) which are marinated in spices and then chargrilled. If you’re still eyeing up what’s going on over where the chefs are then bonus: at lunchtime Monday – Thursday, you can order any dish from The Counter menu whilst sitting at the bar for a quick, easy and markedly superior lunch.
35-37 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BR; saborrestaurants.co.uk
A Taste Of Everything @ Le Caprice *
Famous photographs of very, very famous men and women line the monochrome walls of Le Caprice, the legendary art-deco restaurant behind the Ritz Hotel in St. James. Needless to say they’ve probably all popped in at one time or another (Le Caprice earned its reputation as the go-to celebrity haunt of the Eighties) and splashed out on a magnum of Krug or two. That’s not to suggest that you need A-list funds to dine here, though. In truth, you just need at least one friend/famished enemy and exactly £35, which will land you one of their new ‘Taste of Caprice’ sharing platters, topped with menu mainstays like steak tartare, crispy duck & watermelon salad and tuna ceviche. Be warned: the low price will probably convince you to spend more on drinks, which will probably convince you to opt for the supplementary caviar and champagne, which will probably convince you to bring packed lunches into work for the foreseeable future. But it’ll be worth it.
20 Arlington St, St. James's, London SW1A 1RJ, le-caprice.co.uk
Jamón Jamón @ Aqua Nueva
Bigas Luna’s 1992 Spanish-language film Jamón Jamón, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, is the kind of eccentric cult classic that never quite makes it to the top of your wildly competitive watch list.
But maybe Aqua Nueva will finally convince you. On the 27th September, the modern Spanish restaurant is screening the film in a private dining room and providing an eight-course set menu to go alongside it. The dishes and drinks, designed by Head Chef Yahir Gonzalez, playfully (and deliciously) correspond with scenes in the film.
The menu includes beef short rib and DIY tacos (no, that doesn’t count as a spoiler, calm down) as well as alcoholic amuse-bouches and a host of other surprises inspired by a film that truly loves its food. You will too.
Takes place the 27th September, priced at £70pp. Tickets will include a welcome drink and wine pairing. Tickets can be purchased at billetto.co.uk
Aqua Nueva, 5th Floor, 240 Regent Street, London, aquanueva.co.uk/
* Le Caprice, Aqua Nueva words by Nick Pope
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