Parlour

Parlour in Kensal Rise has been run by chef and owner Jesse Dunford Wood since it was set up in 2012. In his career Jesse worked with some serious chefs including Charlie Trotter in Chicago, Mark Best in Sydney, and Michael Caines in the UK amongst them. He has applied this classical culinary training to the humble British pub, focusing on interpreting retro dishes like chicken Kyiv and Arctic roll. Mr Dunford Wood was not around this evening, but to be fair this is a seven day a week establishment. There is a short wine list, and corkage is available at a very reasonable £20 a bottle. From the list there are wines like Funkstille Riesling 2025 for £38 for a wine that you can find in the high street for £14, Mil Historia Malbec 2023 at £45 compared to its retail price of £16 and Artelium Pinot Gris at £62 compared to its shop price of £26. 

We started with some snacks. A fish skin cracker with samphire and a little caviar was pleasant, and I have always been a fan of the smoked salmon here. It is actually smoked on the premises, and is high quality. There was also some decent, if slightly dense, soda bread (13/20 average).

Chestnut hummus was an unusual take on the classic middle eastern dish. The chestnut here meant that the hummus was a little sweeter than normal hummus, but some red onion added sharpness and balance. This came with some pitta bread (13/20). Watercress soup was decent enough but needed a lot more intensity (11/20). 

Chicken Kyiv was not as good as I remember it. There was simply not enough garlic butter, and the chicken was cooked a little long so it was rather dry. The saving grace was the excellent coleslaw on which it rested, but the chicken itself was not great (12/20). Salmon coated with miso was cooked fine, but vegetables with it were overcooked (12/20).

Rhubarb crumble had nowhere near enough rhubarb relative to crumble, so was too dry. The balance of sweet and sharp was about right but the texture was not very good (12/20). Sticky toffee pudding was harmless. 

Coffee was from a London roaster called All Things Bloom, established in 2023, and was quite good. Service was very friendly, and the bill came to £65 per person all in. The restaurant was very busy on this Sunday night, with tables being turned all around us. It is good to see it doing well, though overall the food tonight was not as good as I recall on previous visits.

Further reviews: 17th Dec 2015 | 23rd Jul 2014 | 12th Feb 2014 | 01st Feb 2014 | 19th Dec 2013 | 05th Oct 2013