Grain Store Unleashed

Grain Store Unleashed

St John's Square, 

86-88 Clerkenwell Road, 

London 

EC1M 5RJ

Phone: +44 (0)20 7324 4455

eat@thezetter.com

SN: Grain Store Unleashed is the re-invention of Bruno Loubet's Bistro deep in Clerkenwell hosted in the Zetter Hotel.  It has relaunched recently and we were lucky enough to get a table shortly after the re-opening.  It is a light and airy, casual style eateries during the day and something a bit mor intimate at night.  We went for Sunday Lunch (a rarity for Split the Bill) to see how it matched up to one of our favourite venues - Grain Store at Kings Cross which we first visited for this blog in Oct 2013 and again more recently in February.  We are still big fans - read how Unleashed stacked up....

As you can see - it's a nice spacious spread of tables with a busy bar and a Spring-like French garden feel about it.

Rhubarb Negroni

SN: It's worth just pausing a moment on Grain Store cocktails - always simple on the page and complex and entertaining on the palate.  This Rhubarb Negroni attracted us both.  The Italian Aperol provided rhubarb and floral flavours whilst the Lillet Blanc (a mix of Bordeaux white wine and exotic citrus bitters) provided a foil to that.  The triangle completed with a robust Beefeater Gin.   Fantastic.

Crozes-Hermitage Les Pontaix 2013, Domaine Fayolle, N. Rhône, France 

SN: This wine was on offer as a bin end in February so unlikely to be around now.  But robust enough to cope with the avalanche of flavours.  We know that if nothing else Loubet squeezes every ounce of flavour out of his ingredients and everything needs a pretty robust wine to balance it.

Cornbread with avocado butter

LM: We started our meal with complimentary cornbread with avocado butter. The cornbread was hot and fresh with crunchy seasalt flakes and the avocado butter was spiked with lime to cut through the richness. A very encouraging start...

Vegetal oyster & caviar, ‘Bottom of the Sea’

SN: This was a curious starter and I was expecting something that made more immediate impact but it did excite the taste buds.  A bit more explanation from the staff might have helped I think.  The overall package is very much of 'the sea'.  I enjoy date seaweed sheet a little more than the oysters - the caviar was delicious but the pickle puree was fine on its own without the onion.

Asparagus in brown butter, pomelo & bronze fennel

LM: Asparagus was a really interesting dish - not particularly adventurous looking on the plate, and for a moment I wondered whether I had picked badly, but thankfully not - the asparagus was dressed with what can only be described as magic butter - sweet and tart without being sour, and fantastically complimentary to the asparagus.

Spring vegetable cassoulet, pulled lamb shoulder

SN: The strong broth beneath this dish would have been sufficient on it's own but with carrots, peas beans and epic poached white radish this was already one of the best dishes I've had at a Loubet restaurant.  The pulled lamb was very finely balanced against these lovely delicate veggie tastes.  As usual Loubet gets these subtleties just right.  Idea for a snack or a light lunch this dish was rich enough for a main course and so hearty as to leave me comfortably full.

Kohlrabi & broad bean raviolo, ramson

LM: Raviolo was gorgeous, the filling wrapped in paper thin slices of kohlrabi rather than pasta and served in a rich broth of beans and peas. So simple but so well made, and I loved the lightness of it. Really generous portion as well - but all about the flavours rather than the bulk.

Parsnip & white chocolate cream, matcha tea, pink grapefruit & passion fruit gel, caramelised puffed oat

SN: this was something I'd yearned for: a decently done parsnip dessert.  Be in no doubt, it tastes primarily of parsnip but the white chocolate is a surprisingly low key accompaniment and looks just divine.  I recall when making homemade parsnip and apple soup, I always struggled to maintain a pure colour but this is spot on.  The oat adds one sort of bite and the gel quite another - it's a hefty kick of tartness that the cream needs.  The shade grown (and therefore very green) matcha tea is a beautiful complement too.  Delivered as a powder it is sparing but a welcome added dimension.

Lemon & strawberries petit pot, rosemary crumble

LM: My dessert was delicious but probably the least adventurous of the dishes. A layer of macerated strawberries was topped with a creamy lemon layer and freeze-dried strawberry coated crumble. I couldn't taste the rosemary but it was tasty nonetheless.

Gorgeous  coffee too!

LM: Overall I think it's fair to say we were both really impressed with the quality of cooking and the inventiveness on offer, and the service was exceptionally friendly and warm. There were a couple of minor glitches from the soft launch including a light spraying for us as the plants were being watered and being charged for the wrong bottle of wine, but both were quickly rectified and with no drama.

Granger and Co, Clerkenwell

Granger & Co

Clerkenwell Green

50 Sekforde Street

London EC1R 0HA

T + 44 20 7251 9032

http://grangerandco.com/#menus-hours-clerkenwell

SN: Granger & Co, one of a worldwide chain of restaurants founded by Australian Bill Granger is - like Caravan - one of those places which is part of unfamiliar London.  It's sited on Clerkenwell Green and one might best describe it as 5 minutes walk north of the Farringdon Underground and Overground stations.  It's a quiet and quaint area of London, alleys, cobbled squares and discrete venues for eating and drinking.

We took cocktails in the Zetter Townhouse which is a sumptuous pad, virtually hidden except for a name plate, and blessedly not packed at 6pm (ish) when we met.  It is plush and comfy with a stag's head on the wall and a tremendous number of books and pictures.  Our cocktails were impeccable and service was charming.  We will go back.   

LM: Granger and Co is on the first floor and at first glance could be mistaken for an office; I'd guess they don't get much passing trade but even at 6.30 it was starting to fill up for dinner. The restaurant itself is light and roomy, a nice change from the cheek to jowl seating found in some places.

SN: It's worth dwelling a bit on the wine list (though the full drinks list is remarkably sensible, varied and, to be honest, just as intriguing as the wine list). We are seasoned wine drinkers and so Christmas having taken its usual toll I was looking for something a bit different.  At first glance the mainstays of any wine list are there - but look a little closer and the rest is perhaps more off the beaten track (and mostly on an Aussie track) than one might expect.

I was delighted to see a Reyneke Syrah from the Stellenbosch in South Africa not too far from Cape Town Airport and opt for that amongst the higher end reds from Italy, New Zealand, France and of course Australia.  It was a very smooth and fragrant choice as it happen - exquisite at the temperature served.  It's a well rounded wine which in no sense over-powers or swamps the palate.  There's none of the cloying richness which had pervaded my Christmas - a welcome change from red wines which are over-powering by the end of the bottle in what many feel should be an abstemious month. This Syrah will be too reticent for some but it's discrete presence held us both to the point where we were disappointed that the bottle was empty.  The tastes are delicate and warm - autumn fruits not summer ones and as everything we ate, the balance was just right.

braised artichoke, burrata, lemon & garlic 

LM: One reason I was so keen to come here was the extensive choice of vegetarian options; it took me ages to chose my dishes! I started with braised artichoke and burrata served with roasted garlic - it was divine, light, tasty and exceptionally well seasoned with chilli flakes, black pepper and a splash of lemon juice.

SN: Sometimes I just want to see how a restaurant deals with the basics so I went down a course of least adventure for this meal.  Calamari, Steak and Chocolate Mousse were the headlines.  The Calamari were delightful it their crispy light batter and served with green payaya which was new to me and a refresh and ever so slightly fragrant salad item.  Everything here at Granger seems to be done with an understated excellence - the herbs were super fresh, the nuoc cham amazingly tasty with  neither chilli nor sugar dominant.  This was to be the norm.

fried calamari, green papaya, nuoc cham, herbs, peanuts & crispy shallots 

warm lentils, mozzarella & sumac roast pumpkin, spinach & za’atar 

LM: My main course was a large plate of salad, which doesn't really do it justice! The pumpkin had retained some of its bite, the helping of mozzarella was generous and the lentils hiding under the spinach were more flavoursome than any I can remember. Again, simple, healthy food done really well.

SN: my steak was a joy.  Ashdale produced near Bath by Alec Jarratt is according to one tasting "the best steak in the world". It is a market leader in a movement away from lean steak towards beef with has more marbling and with it more taste, succulence and yet remaining tender.  These qualities hit you between the eyes.  Much of the rest of the dish was incidental to me.  To announce it the best steak I've ever had would be facile - but to say this steak is well worth tasting and is clear streets ahead in terms of flavour and texture might be of greater interest.  Much else could be written about the delicate blended butter dressing and the watercress - both represent finely judged balance of a super dish.  but just go try it: its a marvel.

ashdale west country sirloin steak, miso & tarragon butter, horseradish, watercress & fries 

white chocolate & pistachio pavlova, passion fruit & yoghurt cream 

LM: For my dessert I gave up on healthy and opted for the pavlova. The pictures don't quite do the size of it justice - it was massive and full of topping. From memory it was studded with chocolate chips and the sugar dusted pistachios were on top but it was all a bit of a haze of tastes and textures - one of the best desserts I can remember eating.

SN: My search for glory on the beaten track took me to a dessert I would normally regard as a bit of a cliché.  Memories of sickly, cloying or overly bitter mousse and overpowering accompaniments were soon banished.  This wasn't the trial by cacao I'd put myself through at Rabat 1745 but a very delicately balanced affair, not trepidatious with the salt in the caramel as you can see but still wonderfully judged in every aspect.

salted caramel & bitter chocolate pot, butter thins  

We washed that lot down with a glass of Plantagenet Ringback Riesling, Great Southern, Australia - a subtle number which is sweet but that's not the first thing that grabs you - the floral component which is subtle and warming, then the sweetness and then something a bit more citrus than your regular German Riesling.  I had an excellent coffee to finish - one of the best I've had in London in ages.

This coffee is a nice way into our conclusion: it was balanced and refined in it's taste - just like everything in the menu we tasted it was finely judged.  It didn't lack for novelty but that doesn't seem to me to be the only goal of this restaurant.  They did the basics very well - extremely well and at a very good price.

With wine it came to £80 each.