Rabbit, Chelsea

RABBIT

Rabbit*

172 KINGS ROAD

CHELSEA, 

LONDON

SW3 4UP

020 375 00172

INFO@RABBIT-RESTAURANT.COM

* Best viewed on a PC

SN: We have promised ourselves to keep our comments briefer but it's going to be hard with this one.  Rabbit is a restaurant which is about English produce and quality service.  It's a popular place in one of London's high powered shopping areas and manages to keep a feeling of quality personal attention at your table despite the busy environment.  Decor is quirkily garden-orientated with some marvellous humour - though the stuffed Buzzard loitering over our table was nearly as disconcerting as the Boar's head at Paesan.....

The restaurant centres it's food sourcing on the Nutbourne Farm and Vineyard in West Sussex run by three brothers - the Gladwins.  There's much to be commended in their no nonsense approach and soft sell of the obvious - if it's not had far to travel it's likely to be very fresh.  Comparable restaurants we've been to are less adventurous - or perhaps they'd say extravagant with the flavours - and more generous in some portion sizes.  Rabbit has a sister restaurant, The Shed near Notting Hill Gate tube.

Apple Spice: Sipsmith's Vodka, Spiced Apple, Vanilla, Lemon & soda

Magically our spiced vodka cocktails arrived in short order in glass wellingtons.  There is a subtle humour at Rabbit - centred on the garden and it's produce.  Most places over do this kind of thing - the corrugated iron over the upstairs kitchen area took me back to my families garden.  It will appeal to many.

L: Marmite and Mushroom eclair
R: Brown Crab Bomb, Lemon, Dulce

SN: The Amuse bouche are a tad overpriced at first glance but pack a mighty punch - and that's one thing for which I commend the place.  When a flavour is meant to concentrate the mind on the matter in hand it does so with arresting immediacy.  Mine was a brown crab meat bomb - and it didn't so much tease the palate as demand attention.  I'll leave a description of the bread board to our dough correspondent...

Rabbit Wild Yeast Bread, Shallot Butter

LM: I think the picture tells the story of the bread board - rustic but incredibly well done. The bread was clearly fresh out of the oven and a short but vicious fight ensured before we divvied it up. Shallot butter was light and creamy - perfect compliment to the bread.

SN: Dishes at Rabbit arrive as they are cooked and are big enough to share in most cases.  It is not always easy to imagine how the dishes might work together and we tend to address each separately which may be a mistake but makes our job here easier.

We started with Nutty Brut bubbles from the farm and then went onto Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Vieilles Vines, Burgundy, 2012 and finished with a glass each of Pedro Ximenez, Emilio Lustao with our puddings.  Happy choices all.

Turnips, Carrots, Red Cabbage, Chestnuts, Tahini, Cranberries

LM: This was a gorgeous Christmassy salad (yes, I know it's early, but the decorations were up and they were serving mulled wine in the pub across the road) - lovely mix of textures and a real flavour twist from the tahini. I'll definitely be trying some of those flavours at home.

Black Summer Truffle, Wild Mushroom Ragu, Celeriac, Sage Oil

One of the highlights of the meal for me - I don't know if SN will agree but it was so packed with flavour it was bordering on meaty, and not in a negative way - smooth as silk celeriac mash topped with rich mushroom ragout and deep fried (I think) bay leaves. It was rich enough it probably could have done as a main course on its own and one of the best vegetarian dishes I've eaten this year. SN: yes a massive buzz when I tasted this - you don't need meat dishes when there's hearty quality like this.

Grilled leek, yoghurt, cobnuts, honey, dandelion and wood sorrel

Finally from the vegetarian options, a lovely light leek dish - which probably suffered from following the mushroom ragu but was still delicious. We tried dandelion at Paesan and it works equally well here, cutting through the yoghurt sauce. I don't recall having any cobnuts but we were several drinks in by this point! SN: I had a cobnut :-)

Rabbit ravioli, bone marrow, yellow chanterelles and lovage pesto

SN The rabbit ravioli would have been a winner if there had been more of it - rabbit is not an expensive ingredient yet £9.50 for two ravioli parcels struck me as parsimonious.  That said the flavours were tremendous and there must have been a good deal of preparation involved too.  But had we been sharing it would not have been sufficient.

The Duck liver was a greater delight and the use of chives as a green vegetable rather than a garnish was inspired  I can't commend this dish enough - the liver was beautifully cooked

Duck liver, raddichio, chives (and lots of them), Nutbourne bacon, sultanas and mustard

We paused a while after these delightful dishes - enjoyed the ambience, the garden memories and the decor

SN: There were three puddings from which to choose - we both went for favourite tastes.  I chose the Maple Syrup pudding - sweeter by about a half than treacle pud but so much more delicate and fragrant. The portion size here was just right.  and the richness admirably cut by the buttermilk.  We swapped a morsel from these delightful dishes and I can confirm the candied artichoke was as exotic a taste as one might imagine possible in a root vegetable.

Maple Syrup Pudding, Preserved Plum, Rum, Buttermilk

Jerusalem artichoke ice cream, chocolate crumb, wood sorrel

LM: I was tempted by the maple syrup pudding but opted for this, not least on the basis that it was reminiscent of a Viajante dish earlier on in STB's career and had been a fantastic taste combination then. The chunks of chocolate could perhaps have  been smaller but the candied artichoke was an absolute revelation - such an inspired idea and worked beautifully with the smooth ice-cream and chunks of chocolate cake/brownie. Fantastic idea.

SN: all in all a fantastic meal and even with a few reservations this is a real asset in terms of the way it delivers from the farm and vineyard to the table.  The truffle and mushroom ragu, the duck liver and the maple syrup pudding were all exciting, bold and the restaurant does what it sets out to do: flair cooking, small plates and atmosphere.

Ethos

Quick Review

Ethos

48 Eastcastle St, 

Fitzrovia, 

London 

W1W 8DX

Phone: 020 3581 1538

Website: http://ethosfoods.com

Split the Bill paid an on the spur of the moment visit to the new veggie restaurant just off Oxford street - Ethos.  There are plenty of eateries around this bit of Fitzrovia but this one has a rather different feel.  The decor is whitewashed walls and multi-level tables and chairs, booths and pedestals of food.  The vista is punctuated with a birch wood that has been incorporated into the centre of the space.

Foodwise - it's a rather marvellous buffet of veggie gems all on display at the right temperature and with enticing labels - simply pick up a plate or bowl, load it up and go get it weighed and paid.

SN: The process of choosing is in truth the hardest bit only because of the mouth-watering dishes  before you.  As you spin round the tables you also get scents and sights that you bookmark for return on a subsequent course or indeed day. The meal is entirely your own making.

I loved it and had far too much first time round - and second time round and then had a lovely slice of pecan pie.  I think I spent around £25 - but I ate like a king.

Our Petit Chablis was very reasonable £28 though it needed 20 minutes of breathing to lose its edge

SN: I'd particularly recommend the BBQ "spare ribs" which are actually wheat gluten, the "Scotch eggs" made with aloo coating and perhaps most memorable in joint first place (though I didn't try everything) the Courgette with Feta - which was light and delicate but not lacking taste and the Risotto balls - crispy on the outside and mouth watering on the inside.

LM: The dishes are sensibly arranged in a suggestion of what would pair well together but I largely ignored this in favour of heaping my plate. Particular favourites for me were a beautifully marinated aubergine steak and the aforementioned courgette and feta salad - the quality of the ingredients they use is clear. Sadly I didn't have room for dessert but the selection of cakes, pies and pastries looked appetising. They also have an 'all you can eat' brunch option on weekends with or without booze which I can imagine being great fun (and enough calories for a weekend!)

The real beauty of this concept of course is that it encourages you to try new things - as it happened I didn't enjoy the BBQ seitan ribs but as I only had one it was no loss. The only downside was that on occasion when certain dishes ran out they weren't replaced very quickly so you can end up missing dishes you want to try (or repeat)




We may return sooner than we would to any other venue - not least because although there were queues at 8pm at 6:30 it was easy to get a table.

As long as they continue to use good quality, fresh ingredients it's hard to see how Ethos won't be a roaring success. Get in while they've still got space!

Rabot 1745

Rabot 1745

2 - 4 Bedale Street, 

Borough Market, 

London 

SE1 9AL

020 7378 8226

http://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/restaurants/locations/rabot-1745

Rabot 1745 sits in that maze of lanes which form Borough Market, not far from London Bridge - indeed as we sat the distant rumble of trains added a cosmopolitan air to proceedings.  It is a restaurant based, or themed if you like, on cacao - roasted on site and in every dish and some of the drinks. Set up by the founders of Hotel Chocolat and based on a Plantation House interior, Its sister restaurant sits on the Rabot plantation in St Lucia.  Chef Jon Bentham takes a light touch with the cacao on various types of dishes including typically English cuisine

There is a bar downstairs which is notably more agricultural in decor than upstairs.  The upstairs has two halves - an open balcony under cover of the market roof and overlooking the market stalls.  The night-time vista is somewhat barren as all the stalls are packed up.  The other half is under a ceiling - sparsely decorated and fresh with repeating patterns of lampshades, wall coverings and some art high on the walls.  The toilets are delineated with a wall made of strips of wood - high quality tessellation - OCD joy

We thought we should dive into the Cacao Gin and Tonic given cacao was everywhere - and very pleasing it was too.  The little bowl of roasted cacao pods on the table gives one a vivid feeling of the provenance of this taste - this is distant, tropical food brought into a very different setting mediated by the authentic decor.  The gin carries the cacao taste beautifully and was perhaps the peerless combination of the night.

LM: Roast fig, soft goat's cheese, walnut-honey-cacao balsamic was a gorgeous starter, light and creamy with enough dressing to balance the large amount of cheese. The cacao was nicely punchy without overwhelming the other flavours - a good start.

SN: My first course (there was no bread - shock horror) was Yorkshire pudding filled with rare seared parkin-spiced beef, white chocolate mash, cacao red wine gravy. This is a sweet/savoury dish which wins especially because the beef (properly rare) is a sweet highlight in the mix.  The spice mix is beautifully subtle and the heft comes from the delicious gravy.  The Yorkshire pudding adds a weight to this dish as does the milky-sweet potato.  It could have been done without either but I'd be reluctant to do without both.

I decided to go light on the wine so we took a favourite grape from a wide ranging and well priced wine list - Gewurtztraminer, Domaine Ostertag Vignoble d'E 2009  a much better match for Louise but a lovely between courses sip for me.  There was a never-ending supply of iced water for the table too.




SN: My main course was a Slow braised cacao glazed lamb shoulder, garlic mash, buttered carrots another stalwart of the British table given the cacao treatment.

Maybe I have a palette that doesn't respond to these things but garlic mash never really hits the heights for me.  This substantial dish was beautifully delivered but lacked something to cut through some of the richness - a red wine would have helped me in retrospect but I think there needs to be something on the very well loaded plate.  The carrots were very nice but hardly a radical offering.  The lamb was very lean and fell apart at the merest glance.  The glazing worked well but this dish missed a counterpoint for me - maybe the garlic was intended to do that - it didn't come through.  So if you have it - order a characterful red wine.





We shared a dish of Roast kohlrabi, onions, almond cream which was delicious

LM: West Indian vegetable curry tasting platter was something seriously special: Sweet potato and cauliflower gobi, spiced lentil dhal, cumin-spiced roast aubergines, cacao-nib rice. The portions were sensible which is where I often fall down on Indian food and the spicing was just right, nice and warming and full of flavour without blowing my head off, The aubergine in particular was fantastic, melt in the mouth tender, and the spikes of cacao in the rice added a different dimension.




SN: If my main course hadn't hit me between the eyes with cacao in every mouthful - the dessert certainly did.  The Rabot 1745 Mousse Collection: Trinidad 68% milk with malt brittle, Saint Lucia 78% dark with toasted nut crumble, Ecuador 90% dark with roasted nibs - to be precise was something of an affirmation for me that the subtle nuances of cacao are many and well worth exploring.  This though a very rich dessert and is best approached after a substantial break I think.  As a fan of very dark chocolate latterly there was nothing here which was overly bitter for me but the Ecuadorian offer my test the limits for some.  The toppings didn't really penetrate the body of the dish and so were fleeting glimpses of taste combinations one might try elsewhere. 

Molten chocolate lava pudding made from the cacao beans here on site, Rabot 1745 ice cream was everything you'd hope it would be. The famous Hotel Chocolat chocolate is every bit as good melted as solid, encased with a light chocolate sponge and a caramel (I think) ice cream - nothing earth shattering but bloody delicious.
 

We finished with Madeira and I also had a Jamaican Brandy which was served with cacao nibs and 74% St Lucia dark chocolate.

Its certainly an enjoyable dining experience at Rabot 1745 but for anyone like me who is not a cacao fanatic I'm not sure I feel the need to rush back.  I certainly commend it as a fascinating place to go and try something different and perhaps importantly have a satisfying meal both in quality and quantity.

LM: There are maybe a couple of small changes they could make - no slimline tonic at the bar was surprising given that they had several gin options, and I would have loved to have seen a complimentary bread basket - it is noticeable when restaurants don't offer it. Nonetheless it's far from gimmicky as one might assume and well worth a visit.

Typing Room

Typing Room

Town Hall Hotel

Patriot Square, London

E2 9NF

reservations@typingroom.com

+44 (0)20 7871 0461

Typing Room opened when Viajante departed in this elegant space in the Town Hall Hotel in East London. The 1910 building housed a Council and this space was the typing room. We went to Viajante twice and it was an extraordinary experience both times with a quiet, concentrated and reverential ambience. Typing Room is different - same walls, different people and dramatically different approach.

To begin where we began: we had cocktails in the adjoining bar, The Peg and Patriot: this bit is much as we left it only with higher tables.  Two vacuum evaporating machines sit against the back wall: there is high tech cocktail making here - delicious to boot, but it's all interspersed with mirth.  A joyful romp through the wonderful punning cocktail names before choosing your conncotion and your away.  We had a cocktail as usual and moved through to the same dining room we'd enjoyed 18 months ago: the atmosphere was very different! 

What hits you is that the room has more energy about it than Viajante - and it has a zest and movement which is more invigorating. There's an eagerness and hunger about the place - and all the staff are imbued with it. 

In this type of restaurant there is something thrilling in the anticipation of new flavour combinations on a tasting menu journey - here at Typing Room it is coupled with determination to do more with a different approach to wine pairings. Make no mistake Typing Room is as great an adventure as any tasting menu we have had but the wines were just as exciting. It was made clear too that the wine pairings were still being explored and we were asked for feedback as we went along - this is living dining. 

It was refreshing to find a veggie tasting menu ready and waiting for Louise with different wines where the dishes diverged.

LM: One of the interesting things about the wine choices were that they were all organic or bio-....? [SN bio - dynamic]- not something I get to try often.

LM: I wonder sometimes whether you can judge a whole meal on the breadboard - generally my favourite dining experiences have started with something unusual and wonderful and, of course, packed with carbohydrates. In this case we were given rosemary brioche and brown bread, soft and clearly fresh out of the oven with a generous smear of marmite butter and a quenelle of a whipped butter with chicken skin. All absolutely glorious - a fantastic mix of textures. I think even a Marmite-hater would have been won over.

LM: My amuse bouche was a profiterole filled with basil and courgette, light as a feather and just large enough to make eating them in one mouthful equally inelegant and satisfying.

SN: My snacks were two corkers - Crispy fish skin, smoked cod, oyster & dill and Chicken skin, parfait, curry & raisin - both mouth watering and devilishly tempting in offering reinforced flavours fleetingly.  We were served Terrassen, Jurtschitsch - Langerlois, Kamptal, Austria 2013 - as you might imagine it's a tad fresher than it's German equivalent and just the thing against the robust tastes in these tasters.

SN: The Celariac, mustard and cobnut dish which was our first dish proper: it was augmented with foie gras for me.  Celeriac is a favourite of mine and with such a delicate but distinctive taste it was nicely off set by the crisp and sweet cobnuts and mustard.  It's been a great year for cobnuts in my neck of the woods and it was nice to find them in a dish like this - the  Horsmonden, Davenport Vinesyards - Rotherfield, East Sussex, 2013 was a very good match for this combination too.  A fine English wine is a rarity in a wine pairing in our experience and this had both an immediate impact and a depth of flavours which drew parallels with the food.  With or without foie gras - this pairing was a fine discovery.




LM: Our next shared dish was yeasted cauliflower with raisins, capers and mint. After our wonderful experience at Ten Bells I was really excited to see what else was going to be done with cauliflower - I've never had it presented and prepared as elegantly as this. Beautiful variety of textures and flavours - I'd happily have had several portions of that and the bread.

SN: this dish grabs the attention and this much abused veg has recently had a good deal of  rehabilitation: but nothing we've had so far matches this.  This dish is a wonder of construction with the soft yeasted cauli base yielding to firmer florets and then the memorable and mouth-watering crisps.  What a triumph and deservedly one of the most talked about aspects of this menu.  Nuno Mendes Globe Artichoke x3 pudding had thrilled us at Viajante three years ago but that was magical, exotic and somehow out of reach.  This cauliflower dish is more surprising because the basic ingredient is so familiar and so routinely plain.  So this dish is at once both homely and exotic: a theatrical triumph!

The wine Castelcerino, Filippi - Soave, Italy 2012 had much to contend with to get any attention - it's elegant, delicate taste wasn't going to be over-powered by our cauli-fest.  It drew contrast with the sweetness of the dish but did not distract from the many wonders of the dish.





LM: Chilled tomato, scorched watermelon and goats curd was another joy to look at - a plate of artfully arranged vegetables and goat curd with a tomato consommé artfully poured over at the table. The mix of tomato and goats cheese is hard to beat at the best of times and the scorched watermelon just added another sweet tone to the mix. The pairing was Cuna de la poesia, Bodegas Leza - Roija 2013



SN: My next delight was Raw beef, smoked beetroot, horseradish and sorrel served with Mauzac Noir, Robert Flagoles - Galliac, France 2012.  This was I think a wine which wasn't quite up to the task - these are strong flavours and a powerful combination and it felt it needed slightly more heft.  The sommelier, who was eager for feedback on his new pairings, agreed and said he had a better option in mind for the future.  It's a delightful earthy wine, but not quite muscular enough.  The beef was succulent and the tiny beetroot were explosive in a way big slices or chunks could never be.  The punchy leaves mustn't be overlooked in your forkful - there's much fun to be had here.




LM: Courgette, pistachio and basil was beautifully light and delicate after some of the earlier courses; almost like a palate cleanser. If I'm honest the wine pairings and cocktail were starting to kick in at that point so my memory is slightly hazy...SN: the pairing was Macon Villages, Comte Lafon, 2011




SN: The Bass, heritage tomato, courgette and squid was delicate too - and beautifully done.  It had unity which one doesn't always associate with fish dishes.  The fish too often sits on the margins as a strong taste that doesn't like company or it is reluctantly subservient to an even stronger ingredient.  This democratic dish didn't try to overwhelm the delicate sea bass.  The squid acting as alighting rod for the fishiness and the accompaniments were just dandy.  The courgette needs rehabilitation too.  Its cooked variations are a busted flush - this dish put it back where it belongs as a source of flavour not a filler. The wine pairing Rizling, Bolfan Rajnski - Zagorje 2011 from Croatia was a beauty




LM: Roast leek, cep, ratte potato and sorrel put me in mind of a more 'grown up' version of a similar dish I had at Ten Bells - smoky and dark tasting all the way through from the charred leeks but with a smooth and rich creamy sauce to cut through it. An absolute joy of a dish - if anything it could have been a little smaller but that is splitting hairs.  SN: the pairing - Les Fensees de Pallus, Domaine de Pallus - Chinon Loire, France 2011



SN: My next dish was Lamb with burnt aubergine, yoghurt and onions - a robust combination which needed something unexpected from the pairing: the Vilosell, Tomàs Cusiné - Costers del Segre 2011 - this is a blend of six grapes grown high up in the hills between Barcelona and Zaragoza.  What an extraordinary balancing act is done here - it has the richness of a fine Bordeaux but an amazing clarity, dark shadows in the taste and a quality I can only describe as poise.  It was perhaps the most dramatic and unexpected mind blowing pairing of the night.  I will certainly return to the wine and savour the memory of burnt aubergine with the finest lamb I've had in a long time.

My next course was a cheese board - a high quality pause in proceedings but reflecting, I'm puzzled that I wasn't offered a glass of something with it.....and even more perplexed as to why I didn't ask for one....



LM join in the party again with this cute citrous curiosity. As palate cleansers go the little dish of concentrated lemon: a meringue on top of a mousse on top of a crumbly sorbet was a pastry-less lemon meringue pie and another a coup de theatre.  



LM: Chocolate, lovage and hazelnut was one of the best desserts I've eaten this year - the chocolate was in the form of a dry brownie which just sucked up the liquid from the ice cream and sauce to become something almost otherworldly in terms of taste - I love (and not just in this dish) what they're doing with flavours, marrying very rich organic herb flavours with more well known tastes.

SN: This was another dish where the texture and taste dramatically exceeded expectations. The brownie (if it had an flour in it at all) just dissolved in the mouth with flush of chocolate without being cloying or overpowering.  The pairing was an exceptional match too: Chaume, Côteaux du Layon, Domaine des Forges - Loire, France 2011

SN:  As the sommlier and I compared notes at the end of the meal, I noticed two dramatically different things about Typing Room - there was much more animated conversation than the last time I'd been in the room - a different style.  That I was in conversation with the sommlier at all is notable too.  The other thing for me was the flare in the menu and it's delivery - it's a stylish approach to food that we've all eaten before.  the combinations excite as do the pairings.  It was a wonderful night and we were glad to say that to Lee Westcott as we snook into the P&P for a last cocktail before departing. To reiterate: a great dining experience Lee and team, thank you very much.

STB at Upstairs at the Ten Bells

A return visit for SN - his report here but a first time for LM

84 Commercial Street, 

London 

E1 6LY

reservations@tenbells.com

07530 492986

LM: Upstairs @ 10 bells is the rarest of treats - a restaurant recommended by SN :) we were looking for something local to the station and casual enough to have a quick dinner before I headed out of London for a few days. I wasn't expecting anything quite as mind-blowing as this! (SN: I got lucky!)

SN: There is a lot about Ten Bells which is attractive to the idiosyncratic diner.  The rough paint work, the creepy staircase, the dubious art and the setting slightly on the boho side of Spittelfields creative sector: these are all pluses for me.  The very traditional approach to bread and butter is to be commended too.  But there is nothing traditional about this places approach to pub snacking or pub dining - it's properly exploratory and ridiculously joyful food.

I was happy to drink the reasonably priced Chablis again so that was the first banker from this reliable establishment.  I should mention too that they let us in early - sound policy for a happy pair of diners!

Pressed for time we started with a snack: Crispy Cauliflower, Yoghurt, Pickled Chilli, Almond Caraway and Cumin. This mind-blowing combo is typical of Ten Bells - all about flavours and preconceptions - the crispiness eludes expectation of typical "curried" cauliflower combinations, the chilli takes on the the very pleasant spices and the almonds complement at every level.  A low carb biriyani or a high taste English veg - take your pick.  Highly recommended and I suspect if you try a few times, eminently reproducible at home.  It looks like a million dollars too!

LM: special shootout for the pickled chillis - I've never had them before and it's a fantastic idea!

SN: My slow roast leg of lamb was divine and it would have been delicious in the company of plain veg - but that's not what Ten Bells is about.  The leek and hazelnut tart was a marvellous accompaniment along with thinly sliced beetroot and what might have been turnip or perhaps mouli.  The succulence of the whole dish makes my mouth water just looking at the picture.  In addition the Tomme de Chevre (semi hard goats cheese from the south of France) added bite.  We had fresh green beans as shared side.





LM: I can honestly say this is one of the most interesting and complex vegetarian dishes I've had in a long time - tender leek was wrapped in what I think might have been deep fried pasta or similar and served on a creamy cheese sauce with a pop of sharp pickled cherry running through it and peppery leaves. I think the crumbs were crushed hazelnut - either the chef spent days experimenting on all those flavours together or there's a more than a touch of genius in the kitchen. Fantastic textures and tastes and the presentation was gorgeous too.

LM: We made the schoolboy error of not photographing the dessert menu and now I can't remember everything that was in my dessert. It was definitely beignets, lemony with a touch of marscapone, served with a combination of marinated and fresh strawberries, granola and cream with an alcohol flavouring. As with everything so far in the meal, it was beautifully prepared and presented and absolutely delicious - I would quite happily have ordered another portion if I hadn't had a train to catch.

SN: My Rhubarb Sorbet with Vermouth was well presented and the rhubarb sorbet was a thing of beauty.  The silence from the other side of the table suggested Lou had made a good choice too.

SN: Ten Bells lived up to it's reputation and remains a delightful, curious and readily available drop in - especially if you are in Liverpool Street Station bemoaning the ubiquitous food offerings there.  Thoroughly delightful Ten Bells will offer you something very different and quite marvellous.

Caravan

11-13 Exmouth Market,

London. 

EC1R 4QD. 

020 7833 8115

www.caravanonexmouth.co.uk/

LM: STB usually plans out their visits in advance - this was an exception borne of some fairly horrible days at work and a need for strong liquor and food. We'd both heard good things about Caravan but previously been unable to get a table; tonight was our lucky night as we booked easily.

SN: Caravan has two outlets in London, the Exmouth Market establishment describes itself as a restaurant, bar and roastery (the latter referring to their coffee roasting facility).  It's a short walk from Farringdon or Kings Cross - DO NOT let that walk put you off - it's worth every step!

Caravan is just round the corner from Paesan which we visited a little while ago. The difference in the ambience was marked and as we sat there as night fell it turned from a busy day-time eatery to a proper busy restaurant. Then slowly back into a dimly lit but atmospheric bar for the revellers who mooch about Exmouth market and the service matches the mood.  Its a rather magical place.

The culinary prestidigitation starts immediately with a cup of gazpacho which appeared as soon as we were settled.  Its a nice touch on a close Summer evening.

LM:We started with cocktails, olives and the most divine cornbread with chipotle butter and lime.

CCVC was sharply refreshing with a kick from the clove vodka and calvados; if we hadn't been having wine I'd happily have drunk a bucket of it. Tap water was regularly brought around to top up our glasses, always a nice touch.

SN: My lavender gin cocktail "Lavender French 75" was a bit more floral than I anticipated - not quite my thing but a perfectly good cocktail.  The bread though was a marvel of moistness, subtle flavour and explosions of corn and lime.  The olives were just too mouthwatering for words.

LM: I haven't had cornbread before but was intrigued; I couldn't say if it was technically perfect but it was bloody delicious, soft and warm and studded with sweetcorn, moist from the butter and lime. Olives were gorgeous, soft and buttery, and vanished in a flash. Service was prompt too - none of this nonsense waiting around with empty plates for half an hour - and friendly.

SN:  I was impressed that the restaurant has to keep it's wines caged down stairs such is their potency, so I chose a 2008 Barbera D'Asti from the wine list as a heady but lightish red for this feast.  I thought it would be good value for money given its age and it proved to be still pretty full-bodied and complex

- sometimes older Italian reds collapse into a metallic mouthwash but this was holding up very well.  I have a soft spot for Barbera: this was a cut above the usual experience, a real treat.

SN: We had excellent guidance from the staff about the portion sizes for small and large plates.  Since we were mostly sharing we plumped for 5 small plates to share; 4 vegetarian dishes, two portions of French fries and one meat for me.  It was a good balance and left us with room for pudding.

LM: We chose small plates:

Nepalese vegetable momo was the first dish to come out, service with a spiced tomato dip. I haven't had momos since the Nepalese restaurant we used to frequent at university and I've missed them - I could quite happily have eaten these twice over - lucky for SN I managed to save one for him. SN: I'm blessed with a most considerate dining companion

Asparagus, wild garlic aioli and parmesan crisp - simple but well executed - the asparagus was plum and tender with no toughness and the parmesan crisp was more like a crumble which went beautifully. SN: it's a beautifully balanced dish - too much garlic in the aioli would have clashed with the asparagus but the relative weight of these three string tastes was beautifully judged.

Sweet Potato inari pocket with sesame chestnut mushroom and som tam was unlike anything I've tasted - according to google it's a deep fried tofu pocket usually filled with rice, in this case it was full of a deliciously smooth and sticky sweet potato puree. The mushrooms worked well in counterpoint, preventing it from being too sugary. SN: I loved this - next time we'll order one each :)

Courgette with goats curd, piquillo peppers and sherry vinaigrette was probably the least exciting of the dishes we ate - again, good quality ingredients beautifully presented but for me it lacked the wow factor of the other dishes. That said it was nice to have something plainer with all the flavours going on! SN: I'm a big fan of chunk barely cooked courgette - I hate it's watery incarnation.  I found this light and filling and whilst not intense it had so much going for it.

SN: BBQ Beef Brisket, bourbon shrimp butter: sometimes my adorable veggie fri

end doesn't know what she's missing and this was a bit of a wonder.  Slow cooked roast brisket is a robust meat but so full of a gentler beef flavour.  Some will want steak.  Some will baulk at the texture too but it just adds to the attraction for me.  It's accompaniments, layered on top, were a BBQ sauce rich in smokey chipotle and then a magnificently counterpointed shrimp and bourbon butter - all together it combined like a most wonderful treat - taste explosions are over-done and generally over-rated (unless they're actual tiny explosions in the mouth as we experienced at Club Gascon many moons ago).  This was a flavoursome, hefty, and hearty the diner willing to go that far.  Boy, was it worth it.

LM: I want to wax lyrical about my dessert before I forget too - I've been incredibly lucky with my picks recently and this was way up there. Madelines with almond butter and tangy citrus marmalade were one of the nicest things I can remember eating for a while - soft and fluffy with just the right proportions of butter and fruit to slather all over them.

SN: I had a Chocolate mocha pot with pistachio cream and sable biscuit dessert which was way off my usual diet allowance but I lapsed. It was delicate and well balanced -as all the dishes were.  The presentation wasn't quite what we'd seen earlier but with crunchy, short, biscuit made for a nice contrast.  So enthused was I about the flavour that I forgot LM doesn't like coffee...

We ended with a glass of Monbazillac 2007, Domaine De L'Ancienne Cure - delicious end to a meal where flavour ran through everything.  The restaurant had changed character in the time we took to eat our way through these finely honed and well judged combinations of flavours and textures.  

The portion options worked well for us and the service was good humour, attentive but not over-bearing.  We sat and chatted long into the night - a midsummer vigil of taste and characterful cooking.

This is a restaurant and a menu to savour and surroundings which are unassuming, never pretentious, adaptable and with service that is spot on.  It's well worth a visit.

I ended on a strong black coffee which they roast themselves on a machine next to the wine cage.  Like everything here it's unprepossessing, and of the finest quality.  It doesn't take much to get me back to a good restaurant where I feel at home and cosy - but I hope we go back soon.