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The Hedonist

Lyle’s – Review

June 11, 2014 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Lyle’s                       Shoreditch

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Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JJ
info@lyleslondon.com/0203 011 5911
Lyle's 2
With Lyle’s near neighbour The Clove Club breaking into the San Pellegrino Top 100 Restaurants in the world list at number 87 and with other recent hot openings such as Rotorino and Andina London’s eastern boroughs are becoming less the gastro equivalent of the Siberian steppes and more the latest hot destination.
Lyle's 3
Lyle’s is fronted by chef James Lowe who alongside The Clove Club’s chef Isaac McHale came to prominence as one of the trio of ‘Young Turks’ who first hit the culinary scene with their popup above The Ten Bells pub in neighbouring Spitalfields. The restaurant is situated in The Tea Building in Shoreditch High St, also home to Pizza East, in a refined post-industrial space. It is an assemblage of light wood, polished concrete, steel and white tile that feels cool and restrained. We are here for lunch a few days after the opening. It isn’t particularly busy and the rest of the clientele are either other early adopters or middle aged nuevo (like me) Eastenders (not like me…).
Lyle's 5
Proceedings opened with a fantastic eggy sourdough bread and Lyle’s own freshly churned butter. Since it was lunchtime we needed a drink and ordered two glasses of the Raventos i Blanc, l’Hereu, Conca del Riu Anola 2011 £6/£35.
This cava comes from the Raventós i Blanc estate which has been producing wines since 1497. It is a blend of 50% Macabeo. 35% Xarel·lo.15% Parellada grapes and has a rich honeyed and butterscotch flavour with a hint of bitterness on the end.
Lyle's 1
Nettle soup, pheasant egg and cured pork neck £7) came in a vivid British racing green. It packed an intense chlorophyll punch and the pheasant egg added a rich unctuousness to the dish, softening the impact of the green.
Lyle's 9
Hispi cabbage, mussels and seaweed (£7) was a modest revelation. The crisp roast cabbage was delicious and given a flavour of the sea by the tender mussels, powdered seaweed and cream sauce.
Lyle's 6
Dover Sole, Jersey royals and land cress (£14.90). The spuds were tiny and flavoured by the butter and cress. Dover Sole should be aged but this fish was a little rubbery and didn’t have the springy texture the fish should have. However the flavour was good. This was a perfect early summer’s dish
Lyle's 8
Cheeses are supplied by Neal’s Yard. Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire was creamy and crumbly and the St James was soft and yielding.  (£8.50)
Lyle's 11
Yoghurt, loganberry and spelt cake (£6.30) was a conflation of frozen yoghurt, dehydrated loganberry powder and warm spelt cake. It was warm, crumbly, cool, smooth and fruity all at the same time which worked very well for me thank you.
Lyle’s is a cool urbane space producing a sophisticated take on gutsy ingredient-led British food. Dinner is a set menu offer which doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I will return for a more extended foray into the menu.

Square Meal

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The Clove Club – Review

June 9, 2014 by Adrian Leave a Comment

The Clove Club                        Shoreditch                                                 

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Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London EC1V 9LT
020 7729 6496/thecloveclub.com/
CLOVE CLUB EXT

The Clove Club is the love child of chef Isaac McHale, a chef who first came to prominence as one of the trio of ‘Young Turks’ who first hit the culinary scene with their popup above The Ten Bells pub. His latest venture is the The Clove Club which is situated in the former Shoreditch Town Hall.

CLOVE CLUB KITCHEN 1

The room has high ceilings, white walls and wooden floors and tables with McHale cutting a burly bespectacled figure at the pass. There is a separate bar area offering a simplified menu but I chose to go for the non-negotionable five course tasting menu (£55) that somehow morphed into an eight course feast. Unusually I wasn’t in the mood for a big drink but a glass of Portuguese Loureiro 2012 Aphros Vinho Verde (£6) with its citrus and tropical fruit notes was a good set up for the meal.

CLOVE CLUB 7
A dish of radishes, gochuchang and black sesame was a contrast of texture and taste. The cruel crunch of the radish was soothed by the Korean curry emulsion (more like a spicy Marie Rose sauce than anything) then taunted by the sardonic wit of the sesame.
CLOVE CLUB 6
The second of the trio of amuses brought together a beautiful tartare of wild Irish trout with a dried cep tart that was bursting with flavour. The finale amuse was a Tokyo turnip, sunflower and mint roll which had a soft but crunchy texture with hints of the sunflower and mint flavours melding with the milder vegetal root element.
Hot crusty malty bread came with home made butter. It is a new trend for bread to be served as a ‘course’ rather than before the meal.
CLOVE CLUB POLLEN
Wild Irish pollan, tarragon salt, horseradish, and fried shallot.  The delicately flavoured pollan is similar to a char. It had been slow baked at 80 degrees for one hour in a lot of butter then served with a horseradish creme fraiche and a fried shallot. I love how the delicate use of horseradish can add a subtly perfumed note to a dish.
CLOVE CLUB 4
An unexpected bonus was the pollan bone that came deep-fried. Its salty crunch provided a great contrast to the previous dish.
CLOVE CLUB 3
Monkfish came with white asparagus and morels, cinnamon and curry leaf. The fish was firm but not rubbery in texture and was interestingly framed by the cinnamon foam, juicy morels and the chlorophyll hit of the curry leaf reduction.
CLOVE CLUB 2
Roast parsley root, perigord truffles white polenta and hazelnut grilled chanterelles. The creamy porridge of the polenta provided a nourishing base for the rich autumnal flavours of the roast parsley root, chanterelles and truffles.
CLOVE CLUB 1
The Amalfi lemon cream was made with a thickener rather alarmingly called ‘Thick and Easy’ and served with a black pepper ice cream (the cream base is poured briefly over peppercorns) . It was refreshing with a mild bite of pepper. The charming waitress then brought me a complimentary glass of Moscato d’Asti, a sweet white fizz with that delicious moscatel grape taste as I obviously looked as if I needed another drink.
CLOVE CLUB FENNEL GRANITA
A wonderfully aniseed wild fennel granita arrived topped with the crunch of a ewe’s milk crisp (made like meringue then dehydrated) and a warm blood orange mousse. Finally an apple Tarte Tatin was a perfect blend of the caramelised fruit with great vanilla ice cream.
This was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. It combined creativity, precision and subtlety with great technique. The Clove Club has just vaulted into the San Pellegrino Top 100 Restaurants in the world at number 87 and justifiably so. Go.

The Clove Club on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

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