Address: 15 The Pavement, London, Clapham SW4 0HY
Telephone: 020 7622 4165
We had heard so much about this restaurant that we really wanted to try it but you need to be determined as booking is tough. We decided to celebrate and event – a friend leaving his job for pastures new and so this was booked a long time in advance. This is a small restaurant spilling out onto the pavement (in two ways). There is a narrow bar that opens to a small set of tables and an open kitchen. The waiters are helpful when you catch their eye but it is loud so for a conversation you need to lean into the table. It’s also a bit dark, so apologies for the photographs.
To reduce the decision making we went for the tasting menu. There are four main courses (snacks, sea, land and dessert) and an optional cheese course. It is all too long to explain in any detail. Snacks come in the form of olives, eel and crispy anchovy but of special note is the smoked bone marrow butter and soughdough which comes hot in a little hessian bag.
The sea was skate in a dashi sauce with lemon and smoked eel with black garlic and onions. The descriptions are much better than this! We were really impressed by this course both were really different and even though we are not great fans of skate we finished every bit.
The land course was blackface lamb rump, smoked aubergine, pressed shoulder and miso. In this case whether it had a black face or not didn’t seem relevant and we were glad that they didn’t give it a name as well. But it was delicious.
At the dessert course we had choices – we chose apricot kernel panna cotta with green almonds and salted caramel with malted barley ice cream. The salted caramel was lovely.
We did enjoy the meal and the company. If it is an intimate dinner for two then go somewhere else. To impress a first date then this is definitely the place to go. Lots going on and lots to discuss. The bill was large – the tasting menu is £45.00. For four people the whole bill came to £313.30 including a couple of bottles of more expensive wine, an extra cheese course for three of us and 12.5% service charge …. so this is definitely somewhere special for a celebration.
EATINBRIXTON 