Counter dining Michelin starred restaurant in East London and new entry for the 2021 Guide

Behind, headed by Chef Andy Beynon, is a restaurant that offered a tasting menu at a cost of around £42 per person in a communal, counter dining setting. Despite the 10-day lockdown and reduced capacity of only 18 covers, the restaurant managed to impress with its use of fresh and high-quality ingredients. The seafood is sourced from reputable suppliers such as Fin and Flanders and James Knight. The standout dishes included the smoked pike and trout roe mousse, the Scottish crab with white garlic sauce and gazpacho, and the Sicilian lemon curd with hazelnut crumb and cocoa. A very good value for money and somewhat unique option in London.

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Fresh water pike was used to make a smoked pike and trout roe mousse on bottom from Loire valley, with Nori, pea shoot and new season peas. This had a lovely crunch of the fuelle de brick and a very pleasing bite and strong opening to the meal. Mussel muffin and tartare of sea purslane (a sea vegetable), shell fish butter with reduced crab stock and shell fish butter had a lovely richness & good sense of the ocean in this offering.

Oyster Carlingford Ireland buttermilk with horseradish, chive oil, skin of cucumber foam & oyster juices was enjoyed by my guest and I was very impressed with the head chef personally asking me at the counter how I would like a replacement for opting away from oysters – this was an especially nice touch which I greatly appreciated. The alternate produced was a grilled cucumber, oyster leaf, oyster taco with gentleman’s relish and buttermilk. Although there was pickle here, perhaps a bit more could have been added, but it was impressive to have this designed and made on the spot.

Scottish crab, steamed white, white garlic sauce, gazpacho with Ajo blanco (a popular Spanish cold soup of the dish’s listed ingredients), ground almonds, honeymoon melon, cucumber and red gooseberry with sea aster leaf; the dish was very fresh with sharpness contained within sauce. On the side was sardine on toast on sea lettuce with a smooth sardine paste. Additionally, crab bisque in a little cup with tarragon was pleasant (but only a very small hint of tarragon). I felt the whole dish here was over quickly and the white crab was quite small as an offering, but a good bite nevertheless.

Roasted Hake was next with beurre Blanc, shellfish juice and clam from Dorset, with sherry & fino vinegar. This held good hake with a pleasant beurre blanc that was well balanced. Pomme purée with dehydrated capers had a gorgeous smokiness but was also a little starchy in texture. The beignet using fish scales held only fair flavour.

The pre-dessert was a panacotta with sour apple foam from green apples, spiced rhubarb cordial and star anise. This was pleasant with was a fresh and very gentle kick of aniseed from the star anise. Sicilian lemon curd, hazelnut crumb and cocoa came with a three herb sorbet (tarragon, lemon verbena & basil) and was an outstanding dish. Finally, petit fours of strawberry, creme fraiche and raspberry finished off the meal well.

I enjoyed this meal and there is no doubt the lunch menu offers extremely good value for money. A couple of elements could perhaps be tweaked, but overall it is an original and personable experience here.

Food Grade: 77%