Review at a glance
If I had to nominate just one person responsible for the astonishing improvement in London restaurants over the past couple of decades I would give you Fergus Henderson. His influence is all over this list. “Nose to tail eating” is more than acknowledgement that every part of a pig except the squeal can be utilised for nourishment, it encapsulates an approach visible in this graphically converted smokehouse; food (and wine) is what really matters. Artists eat here but there is no art on the walls. Music is the hum of conversation. Staff eat what customers eat. Waste is deplored, an attitude only recently highlighted in the wider trade. Roasted bone marrow with parsley sauce is shorthand for the menu that promotes pleasure where it finds it, but for every “wilder” dish like kid faggots on the daily-changing, evolving list there is something familiar like roast veal. Desserts, eg ginger loaf with butterscotch sauce, are always a reward for a meal well eaten.
See more of the Best Restaurants in Clerkenwell