After a crap day at work, I arrive on time for our 8:30 reservation at The Clerkenwell. We wait a few minutes as our table isn't quite ready. There's a bar, but no place to sit at it - you just have to sort of hang around in the hallway by the toilets. We decline a drink and idly peruse the menus.
We bring our menus with us when we get seated. We've left the wine list at the bar but it arrives promptly when requested. The staff kindly leave us alone while I have a good cathartic cry. I pull myself together and we order. After a long wait suddenly everything appears nearly at once: tap water, amuse, wine, bread. The staff are alternately attentive and absent. Nicely spaced courses.
The space itself is beautiful and (with the exception of the odd rendition of "Happy Birthday") quiet enough to have an intimate conversation without being so quiet as to inspire a feeling that everyone will notice if you, say, happen to clang your knife against the plate. We agree that we would definitely return, and it would make a nice business lunch location.
The Clerkenwell, 69-73 St John St, London, EC1M 4AN
Date: 9 September 2008
Wine: Solabal Rioja (2005). Pleasant without being overpowering. Goes with nearly everything we order.
On the table: my favourite, salt and pepper wells. The pepper isn't quite ground enough, though.
Water: tap water brought quickly when requested. Arrives with lemon slices in a pitcher just for our table, which I think is a nice touch
Bread: Warm from the oven, more slices than we care to eat in a basket. It's crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside, just as it should be. White bread is a little bland for my taste, especially when there's no butter (even though the bread plates have butter knives).
Amuse: a surprise from the chef! Not sure if this happens for everyone, or if it's to make up for the long-ish (but not bad at all) wait to order the wine. It's a creamy soup with a basil oil on top. I ask a bunch of times and can never understand the name, but it's delicious.
Apps:
- Salad of crab and avocado, chilled gaspacho. Meg loves this. I don't even like the ingredients, but even I agree that it's quite good. It's a log of crab salad on top of sushi-style avocado slices in a log, in a bowl of gaspacho. Meg tries to take a picture but it comes out terribly.
- Beignet of courgette flower, provencal vegetables and buffalo mozzarella.
They appear to have stuffed some delicious mixed veg into the flower of the courgette (zucchini) before dipping in a light batter and frying. There's a fan of mozzarella and surprise tomatos (grr) next to it. A strange combination, but it works. I think it would have been more successful if they'd used just the flower part - not the stem - and put both the mozz and veg inside. Perhaps 2 flowers on a plate? Still, quite good.
- Crisp confit pork belly, fricassée of coco beans and new season garlic.
Meg likes when there's bacon for dinner, so this was an easy sell for her. I only had one bite so don't remember much about this, but I do remember thinking it was good. - Seared salmon, crushed new potatoes, watercress and beurre rouge.
Um, yum! I had forgotten the potatoes were "crushed" so wasn't really expecting the pile of mash but it was so good. Actually I don't think they really did make mash, I'm pretty sure it was just crushed potatoes with maybe a little salt. On the plate is the buerre rouge sauce, and a lightly herb-y green sauce as well. The salmon is perfectly done, flaky and moist, and well seasoned.
The ricotta gives the cheesecake a nice grainy-ness. Lemon flavor is not too strong. Pine nuts, and especially the raisins, feel a bit added-on. It goes nicely with the Tokaji dessert wine, though.
Damage: £145 inclusive, which sounds crazy until you consider that the dessert wine set us back £40 alone.
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