Clarkes

On December 17th 2010 Clarke’s will celebrate its 26th anniversary. For decades Sally Clarke was ahead of her time in offering an omakese style i.e. no choice menu, which is normal in Japan but in the West has only recently become fashionable. As if to prove itself ahead of the curve, Clarke’s recently abandoned this formula, which is nowadays all the rage, in place of a normal menu with choices.

The cooking is what might be described as modern British with a heavy hint of Italy, but Ms Clarke’s early roots in Californian kitchens continue to show through, including in the wine list, which is particularly strong in its Californian section.  The dining room is in two parts, a ground floor with a bar and a view out onto a little patio garden (very Japanese) and a larger basement area with an open kitchen. Lighting is murky, which is reflected in the photos.

A set menu is offered at £39.50 in addition to the a la carte. The wine list is marked up at what these day’s passes for kind levels, with a 62% gross profit margin. Examples include Bonny Doon Albarino 2008 at £41 for a wine that costs £15 in the shops, Cepparello 2002 Isole e Olena £77 for a wine that retails at £34, with a wide selection of Ridge Monte Bello vintages, such as the 1997 at £250 for a wine that costs £110 to buy retail. We drank the excellent Guigal Condrieu 2008 at £59 for a wine that will set you back £28 in the shops.

Breads are made on the premises, and indeed these breads are sold widely in delicatessens around London. What I found interesting is how much better these tasted tonight than the supposedly same ones at my local deli – perhaps more care is taken with the ones at the restaurant or they are just fresher, but either way they were very good: rosemary bread, Stilton bread, granary bread and raisin bread all had very good texture and taste, and had sufficient salt (16/20).

We began with risotto (£9.50) of seasonal organic pumpkin (from Oxfordshire) with Scottish girolles, cavallo nero, goat cheese and toasted cobnuts. These components were all in season, and the girolles in particular were excellent. The risotto itself was clearly made ahead of time, cooled and then reheated, which is common practice in London restaurants but means that the starch partly breaks down and loses its texture compared with when it is cooked all at once (this takes at least 20 minutes, which is why most restaurants do not bother). The stock used was reasonable and the toppings were good; the salt would have been a bit much for some people but I found it fine, but this was still only 14/20 due to the rather ordinary texture of the rice. Even given the pre-cooking, some London kitchens do a better job of risotto.

Slightly better was tagliatelle with chestnuts, cream, chives and white truffle from Alba (£18.50). The tagliatelle itself was very good with nice soft texture, and the chestnuts were fine, but the white truffles (admittedly a scarily expensive ingredient) were present in such tiny quantities as to be barely detectable (15/20).

Corn-fed chicken breast (£19.50) was filled with rosemary and lemon and then roasted, served with the cooking juices, baked artichokes, beetroot and celeriac. The chicken was carefully cooked and very well seasoned, and the beetroot and celeriac gave bold, earthy flavours; I thought the artichoke was cooked a little long, but the cooking juices had good depth of flavour (15/20).

This had the edge over lemon sole, which was deep-fried with hand-cut potato crisps and a gherkin, caper and parsley mayonnaise. The fish was properly cooked, though the flavour was limited, and the potato chips worked well enough with the nice mayonnaise, but lemon sole is a fish that struggles to stand up to strong flavours (14/20).

Lemon curd ice cream (£7.75) was sandwiched between a pair of brown sugar palmier biscuits. For me a little more acidity from the lemon would have been welcome, while the palmiers were rather clunky, though not badly made (14/20).  Pink grapefruit and Campari sorbet (£7.75) was served in a glass along with a slice of Sauternes cake. This was better, the unusual mix of Campari and grapefruit working well in a sorbet with excellent texture. For me the cake could have been a little more moist, but this was still comfortably 15/20.

Pleasant coffee was served with very good chocolate truffles (15/20). Service was led by a very competent but over-stretched manager, and his helpers were really not up to snuff e.g. when the main courses arrived they were confidently presented the wrong way around, while wine topping up was erratic. The bill for two was £173 for two. Overall I thought this was a very enjoyable meal, with the food veering between 14/20 and 15/20. I can see why it was full on this weekday night.

Further reviews: 06th Sep 2018