Plum + Spilt Milk - British Classics by Mark Sargeant

Name: Plum + Spilt Milk

Where: Great Northern Hotel, Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB, http://plumandspiltmilk.com/

Cost: The average cost per person is in the region of £40 per person for a three-course meal not including drinks. The à la carte menu for dinner has starters ranging from £8 to £12.00, fish, meat or vegetarian mains from £9.50 to £32, puddings at £8.50, and a British cheese platter at £9.50. 

About: Opened in 2014, Plum + Spilt Milk is the restaurant on the first floor of the recently restored Great Northern Hotel in King’s Cross, with Chef Director Mark Sargeant, formerly head chef at Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred restaurant at Claridges.



Chef Sargeant also owns Rocksalt Restaurant and The Smokehouse upmarket fish and chippie in Folkestone.

The restaurant occupies a prime corner spot on the first floor of the Great Northern Hotel. With smart new solid wood parquet flooring, wood panelling, a high ceiling and banquettes of white leather and wood curving around the tables, the restaurant has a traditional British atmosphere, with tall windows overlooking travellers rushing through the restored Victorian facade at King's Cross Station.

Plum + Spilt Milk’s unusual name comes from the purple and cream liveries of the trains that used to run out of King's Cross Station, and today the restaurant markets itself as serving 'simple classics, beautifully cooked'.

What We Ate: The menu is short but well thought out, as is the wine list. For starters, we had roasted corn-fed chicken oysters (£9.50). I can't recall ever seeing chicken oysters on a menu - delicate and tender, they are my favourite part of the bird. Here, they were well-seasoned, flavoursome, and served with grilled leeks, shallots and capers.

Orkney scallops (£16 as a starter), on a bed of rich cauliflower purée, came with roasted cauliflower, samphire and sherry vinegar caramel. The scallops were sweet and tender, with crunchy cauliflower florets and a deliciously rich caramel.

For our main course, we spotted a Beef Wellington for two (£80) on the menu which we could not resist. The beef comes from Scotland’s North Highlands, and is 28-day aged.

The Wellington itself was very well made, with tender beef fillet having a great depth of flavour, and cooked medium-rare as requested. There was a tarragon-infused pancake (crêpe Cellestine) around the fillet, then a thin outer layer of puff pastry.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Wellington, my only minor regret being the lack of a duxelle of mushrooms between the beef and the pastry, which would have added an extra layer of flavour and texture.

The Beef Wellington was served with roast new potatoes and honey-roast baby parsnips with a hazelnut crumb, and buttered winter greens. The accompanying red wine jus was amazing - rich, velvety, glossy and packed with marrow flavour.

The desserts at Plum + Spilt Milk were excellent. The plum and spilt milk (£8.50) was a delicious concoction of baked brioche topped with caramelised plum, and a milk ice cream - magnificent.

The iced peanut and salted caramel mousse (£8.75) was also truly impressive. An upmarket version of Snickers (which I still think of as a Marathon bar), this had a smooth peanut parfait with just enough unctuous salted caramel to offset the sweetness. I felt a pang of sympathy for my peanut-allergic friends and family!

What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Avaton 2012 from Domain Gerovassiliou in Macedonia, Greece (£39). With a rich aroma of cherries and cedar, and gentle tannins, this was robust enough for the beef but not so powerful as to overwhelm the chicken oysters. In fact, it was one of those rare red wines that was a pleasure to drink on its own, but revealed unexpected depths of flavour and complexity in combination with the rare beef. Restaurants often focus on wines made from familiar French grapes, no matter which country in the world they come from, so I am always on the lookout for wines that buck that trend.  For me, this blend of three indigenous Greek varietals (Limnio, Mavrotragano and Mavroudi) was a winner, and at a very reasonable price for this quality.

Likes: The cooking was consistently good. I particularly enjoyed the Beef Wellington and the desserts. The wine list is varied and has some unusual and good value options. Good service.

Dislikes: Nothing to do with the food, but to my mind, the walls were crying out for some artwork. 

Verdict: For those who say there is no such thing as British cuisine, Plum + Spilt Milk is the answer. For excellent produce from the British Isles, cooked with love and skill, there are not many places I would prefer to eat. Recommended. 

Thai Green Curry To Die For At Patara Berners Street

Name: Patara Berners Street

Where: 5A Berners Street, London, W1T 3LF, http://www.pataralondon.com/restaurant/berners-street/

Cost: Average spend per person is around £45 not including drinks. From the à la carte menu, starters are priced from £9.50 to £14.50, mains from £16.75 to £45. There are two set menus - Patara Pride is £45 per person with soup, and includes 5 starters, 4 mains plus accompanying rice and vegetable sides and dessert. The Patara Platinum is £65 per person for the same number of dishes but featuring some more luxurious items like Wagyu beef, king scallops and black cod. There is also a vegetarian set menu for £40 per person. 

About: Patara Berners Street is the latest London branch of the group, and opened in December 2015.

The Patara Group is known in London as a fine-dining Thai option with a reputation for top quality cooking, and Berners Street joins branches in Oxford Circus, Soho, Knightsbridge, South Kensington and Hampstead, as well as international branches in Bangkok, Beijing and Singapore.

The restaurant is situated just a few metres north of bustling Oxford Street, next to the Berners Tavern in the trendy London Edition Hotel.

It has an über-sleek look, clean and modern if a tad bland, with low level lighting, plain teak tables, green leather seating.

What We Ate: We wanted to choose our own dishes so opted for à la carte rather than the set menus. We started with the Chor Muang (£8) – these were beautifully presented, flower-shaped lilac dumplings filled with caramelised chicken and a peanut and coconut cream. Sweet, savoury and with a light but glutinous pastry casing, I enjoyed these.

Next were the chilli and sea salt calamari (£10.50) seasoned with fresh red chilli, black pepper, spring onion and garlic. As ubiquitous as this dish is in Chinese and southeast Asian restaurants, it is one I can't stop myself from ordering. Patara's version was highly seasoned, crispy and as moreish as it gets.

We then had fresh rolls with battered deep-fried soft shell crab and prawn (£10.25), filled with basil, carrot, mint and roasted peanut, and served with a chilli lime dressing. These were as refreshing as a Vietnamese summer roll, but I could hardly detect any soft shell crab in them, and so at this price point I thought they were not great vfm.

The salad of prawn and crispy beignet (£12.25) was tossed with cashews, mint, lemongrass and shallot, with a roasted chilli dressing. This had some great textures and tasted fresh and zingy, though the dressing was too sweet for my palate. I think of beignets as being balls of deep-fried dough, but what I saw in the salad were crispy little slivers.

Prawn tom yum soup (£9.50) was beautifully presented in a black cast-iron Japanese teapot, with an accompanying pestle and mortar and chilles, so that diners can adjust the heat of the soup to their own taste. The soup combined prawn, shimeji and oyster mushrooms, simmered in a broth of evaporated milk and fish sauce with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime. This was refreshing, well flavoured and delicious.

And then on to the mains - the curry was a chicken Kieaw Wan (£16.75), made from free-range chicken, aubergine and bamboo shoot in a green curry paste made in-house. The most ubiquitous of Thai dishes, chicken green curry to many signifies Thai cooking at its most popular, and it is a dish I nearly always order. Patara’s had tender chicken in a richly creamy curry with heady Thai basil, green chilli and coconut milk. This was one of the highlights of the meal for me, and beautifully served in a copper pot.

The fish main was a whole lemon sole (£24), filleted and cut into thin slices, served battered and deep-fried over its bones, accompanied by a green mango salad with coconut, chilli, cashews and shallot. I really wanted to love this dish, but like the prawn salad it was a tad too sweet for my liking, and lacked the zinginess, freshness and overall balance I was hoping for.

The main meat dish was one Patara’s signature dishes, and one I have tried before and loved – the coconut braised beef (£16.75). This had meltingly tender slow-braised beef in a lime-coconut cream reduction, finished with mint, lemongrass and coriander; rich, creamy and delicious, and I was very happy to have revisited it at Patara Berners Street.

The king prawn Pad Thai (£19.50) had a couple of whopping shellfish more like lobsters than prawns, and the taste was as good as it gets.

We had a couple of accompaniments including stir-fried morning glory, Thailand's number one green vegetable (£8.95). With chilli, ginger and mushroom sauce, this had a lovely texture and wok-breath.

The riceberry red Thai rice, roasted with sweet coconut water (£7.50), came served in a dinky young coconut shell, and had a lovely nutty flavour.

What We Drank: Patara Signature Cocktails, all with a Thai twist, range from £9.75 to £12. The entry level white wine is a South African Chenin Blanc (£22), with the red being a Shiraz/Cabernet blend from Berton Vineyards, Australia (£22).

We kicked off proceedings with a couple of Patara Signature cocktails. The Hendrick's Sour (£10), blended gin with lime juice and cucumber, garnished with fresh coriander. The Sake Popping Boba (£11.50) featured sake shaken with Jack Daniel's, St Germain elderflower liqueur, honey and jasmine tea. 

With the meal itself, we shared a bottle of Alsatian Pinot Blanc 2014, from Dopff (£26). With apple and melon flavours, this was a nicely rounded wine with enough richness to balance the spicy food. It was also surprisingly well priced.

Likes: A perfect meal for me here would include Pad Thai, chilli and sea salt calamari, coconut braised beef and morning glory. The restaurant is well located close to Soho and London’s theatreland. 

Dislikes: A couple of dishes were unbalanced - a tad too sweet, and lacking in freshness or acidity.

Verdict: Berners Street is a great addition to the Patara collection of fine-dining Thai restaurants in central London. The coconut braised beef and chicken green curry are to die for, and I would very happily return for them. Recommended.  

Galvin HOP - Pub Grub with Knobs On!

Name: Galvin HOP

Where: 35 Spital Square, London, E1 6DY, https://www.galvinrestaurants.com/section/62/1/galvinhop

Cost: Starters cost from £6 to £10.50. Main courses range from £7 to £19, with desserts priced at £4 to £8. The average cost per person is around £30 excluding drinks.

About: Brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin, well known for Galvin La Chapelle next door as well as well 5 other Galvin restaurants across London and 2 in Edinburgh, launched Galvin HOP in January 2016.

With their background in successful Michelin-starred restaurants over many years, this venue represents a foray into the more casual though upmarket pub offering. The Galvin 'Pub Deluxe' (which descriptor they prefer to somewhat jaded label of 'gastropub'), is situated on the site of the former Galvin Cafe à Vin in Spitalfields Market, a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street Station.  It is a traditional pub where you can stand or sit at the bar and enjoy a pint, but with the option of some seriously good food.

The pub has a stone-coloured floor, with cream and green wall tiles, and two environments - one a darker, traditional pub-style room, the other a conservatory with a flat plate-glass roof. There is also a heated, covered outdoor area to smoke or for City types to enjoy a Havana cigar from the thermidor. On the Sunday lunchtime we were there, the place was packed with a mix of families, tourists and Spitalfields Market shoppers.

Galvin HOP is an innovative partnership between the Galvin brothers, Pilsner Urquell, and Maille, the French mustard maker. Urquell comes from Plzen in the Czech Republic, where the company has been making beer since 1842, and the recipe has not changed since then. Galvan HOP has four huge copper tanks containing unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell over the bar, filled by weekly deliveries from the Czech Republic. 

Maille is a premium French mustard brand founded in 1747, and well known for its fine Dijon and wholegrain mustards made with Chablis Premier Cru vinegar. The menu at Galvin HOP offers classic pub dishes and a range of premium hot dogs. Uniquely, it has a professional hot-dog station by the entrance, so people can eat in or take away. The 'Luxe Dog' is a range of gourmet hot dogs served with Maille's seasonal mustard.

What We Ate: I was lucky to have a chat before lunch with the Sous-Chef Chris Barrett, who showed me around the spankingly new kitchen. He suggested a range of dishes he felt I should not miss. We started with an appetizer of tarte flambée (£8.50) - a lovely wafer-thin and crisp base, topped with crème fraiche and smoky Alsatian lardons baked in their state of the art wood oven.

Next came a mixed platter - Galvin gala pie (£7.50), Cumbrian sausage roll (£3) and steak tartare with toasted sourdough bread (£8). The gala pie had traditional water pastry made with hot water, flour and beef fat, with a filling of minced pork, kidney and liver, herbs and a hard-boiled Clarence Court egg, all topped with a jelly of Marmite and pork stock. It had a fine crust of crisp pastry, and a richly flavoured, not too offal-laden filling. If like me you have reservations about meat and kidney pies, this is definitely a dish to try at Galvin HOP – it will change your mind I’m sure.

The sausage rolls were light with deliciously buttery pastry and a flavoursome filling. It was a delight to see this pedestrian British snack given the Galvin treatment, generously brushed with Maille truffle mustard. 

For me, steak tartare is always a good way to judge a restaurant, in addition to being one of my favourite things to eat – highlighting freshness of ingredients, seasoning and presentation. Galvan HOP's version had hand-chopped fresh, good-quality beef, well-seasoned with herbs and caperberries and served with crisp toasted sourdough. I very much enjoyed it.    

There are three hot dog options on the menu, and we went for the Galvin Dog Deluxe with a portion of straw chips (£8.10). This had a Frankfurter sausage made from beef and pork, and a choucroute of white cabbage and carrot, topped with crispy shallots and Maille truffle mustard, all served in a soft bun made in-house from potato flour. I loved the choucroute, an unusual but delicious Alsatian addition to the hot dog, which added freshness and acidity. The bun, though delicious, was a tad too soft and did not hold it all together, so I resorted to knife and fork.

The Galvin HOP's fish pie deluxe (£17), served with a side of glazed carrots and peas, was filled with smoked haddock, prawns, scallop, and salmon, topped with mashed potato and Pecorino cheese. With a rich, creamy and cheesy sauce, this fish pie was delicious and as good as it gets.

But what about Galvin HOP’s Sunday Roast? On the day we visited, we tried the Brisket Beef Sunday Roast with all the trimmings, including Yorkshire pudding, cabbage, roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots (£16). Cured in salt, then slow roasted for 18 hours, this was a super-tender and well-flavoured piece of beef. The meat was thoroughly cooked, with no pinkness (as would be expected from cured beef), which I thought detracted from its appearance. 

For dessert, being rhubarb season, I ordered the Yorkshire rhubarb doughnut (£4) - this was light and fluffy, and I just wish I had had room for more.

What We Drank: The Galvin brothers and Pilsner Urquell are collaborating at Galvin HOP, and the latter’s unpasteurised draft beer features on the menu at £5.50 per pint. Bottled beers cost from £4 to £4.50, including St Peter's Old Style Porter and Lindemans Kriek cherry beer. Wines are available on tap by the glass, at £4.50 to £6.80. By the bottle, the entry level white is a Languedoc blend of Grenache Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Ugni Blanc (£18.50), with the red being a Tannat/Syrah blend from Gascogne (£23).

We started with a half pint of unpasteurised draught Pilsner Urquell (£4), which was a classic clean, refreshing beer. We then tried the Roosters Fort Smith American Pale Ale, from Knaresborough, UK (£4) - served from a can, it had a wonderful aroma of hops and a rich, complex flavour. The Adnams Broadside English Strong Ale (£4.50) was a rich, dark beer with chocolate and coffee notes.

Likes: The Gala pie, the steak tartare and the fish pie were stand-out dishes for me. The opportunity to drink fresh, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell is a rare one, and there is a small but delicious range of craft beers. Super friendly service.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: The newly opened Galvin HOP is a great option for top quality pub grub, gourmet hot dogs, unpasteurised Pilsner and craft beers. Conveniently located whether for a quick City lunch or a more leisurely Sunday roast for weekend shoppers at nearby Spitalfield Market, it ticks all the boxes. Recommended.

The Cinnamon Club Celebrates 15 Years of Indian Fine Dining in Westminster

Name: The Cinnamon Club

Where: The Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BU, http://cinnamonclub.com/

Cost: Starters range from £7.50 to £24, mains from £16 to £35, and desserts from £6.50 to £8.50. We opted for the 8-course tasting menu at £85 per person. 

About: The Cinnamon Club first launched at the grade II listed former Westminster Library in 2001. For this 15th anniversary year, the restaurant has had a £1m refit, with a new menu for both the restaurant and the bar. It is known for imaginative, upmarket modern Indian cooking with an emphasis on fish and game. Vivek Singh is the Executive Chef of the Cinnamon group, and the current Head Chef at The Cinnamon Club is Rakesh Nair.

The main dining room is one of the more distinctive restaurant venues in London. Walls are lined with the original books of the former library. With characterful parquet floors, grey leather seats and white linen tablecloths, in a room buzzing with journalists and politicians from the Houses of Parliament next door, there is an interesting atmosphere to the place, unlike any other restaurant I have been to in London.

What We Ate: We opted for the 8-course tasting menu, which started with a carpaccio of home cured Shetland salmon and green pea chutney. The salmon was lightly cured, halfway between a salmon sashimi and smoked salmon, and was served with a jalmori (a spiced puffed rice snack from Bengal) and dainty cubes of spiced potato.

The Kerala-style seafood bisque flamed with brandy had a concentrated, spicy tomato stock with prawns, squid, aubergine and potato. It was presented with a separate chilled wafer of crispy lotus root and a crab salad. The combination of hot and chilled, smooth and crunchy was well conceived, although I found the chilli heat a little out of balance.

Next was a tandoori breast of Anjou squab pigeon, pumpkin chutney and peanut. Served with a delicious raita infused with smoked paprika, and an emerald-green coriander chutney, the pigeon was tender, medium rare and delicately gamey. My only quibble with this dish was its presentation which I felt was somewhat uninspiring.

The smoked Herdwick lamb escalope came with a galouti kebab mille feuille. Galouti kebabs hail from Uttar Pradesh in Northern India, and combine minced lamb, ginger and spices. The dish had a base of lamb mince, topped with filo pastry spiked with cumin, then lamb escalope, all topped with a paprika raita and finally the galouti kebab. With a garnish of mango puree and pickled onions, fresh and chutneyed coriander, this was an excellent lamb dish in three different textures, with crunchy vegetables. I enjoyed it very much, and although I really enjoyed the cumin-flavoured pastry, it was decidedly one, rather than one-thousand sheets thick.

After a refreshing green apple sorbet, we moved on to the tandoori wild Spencer Gulf king prawns. Spencer Gulf prawns come from Australia, and are said to be among the finest in the world. Marinated in red chilli powder, the prawns were meaty and well-seasoned, served on a creamy bed of coconut and ginger sauce, with stir-fried cabbage and kale.

The main event was roast loin of Oisin red deer with black stone flower and onion reduction. Oisin literally means young deer or fawn, and black stone flower is a fungus commonly used as a spice in India. The Cinnamon Club has a reputation for serving top quality game, and the fawn did not disappoint - tender, pink and succulent, it was very well made and the spice of the black stone flower was a first taste for me of the condiment.

Pre-dessert was carrot halwa spring roll in filo pastry, with clove ice cream, cashew nut, and a few swirls of caramel. The clove ice cream was intensely aromatic and heady with the warm spice, and the combination of clove and sweet carrot was a delight.

Dessert proper was green cardamom brulée with rose petal and pistachio biscotti. This was a very familiar French dessert enlivened by some typically subcontinental spices.

What We Drank: The wine list is extensive, and focuses on classic French and European wines, although there is broad representation from across the full range of New World wines. The entry level white is a Vin de Pays d’Oc (£25), while for reds it is an Italian Nero d'Avola at £26.

In the relaunched Cinnamon Club, the Negronis change with the seasons. As well as the obligatory gin and Campari, in the autumn they used Darjeeling tea, in the winter (when I visited) they used chestnut liqueur, and in spring it will change again.

We started with a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the bar. The Seasonal Negroni (£10.50) combined chestnut liqueur with gin and Campari. A glass of Franciacorta Brut DOCG, from Contadi Castaldi (£8.90) had fine bubbles, elegant structure and refreshing acidity.  

To accompany our tasting menu, we shared a bottle of Cuvée Marie Louise, Domaine de Gravennes, from the Southern Rhone (£53). A classic blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah, this had plenty of damson and black cherry fruit, a hint of cracked pepper, and some very nice tannins - more than a match for the heat of the dishes.

With dessert, we had a glass of Saussignac, Vendage d'Autrefois, Gascony 2012, (£7 per glass). This had lovely honeyed fruit, with enough bracing acidity and depth of green fruit flavour to stop it from being cloying.   

Likes: The venue is charming, characterful and unusual. I particularly enjoyed the lamb three ways, the Spencer Gulf king prawn and the loin of baby red deer. The cocktails and the wine list are well thought out, and the sommelier's suggestion for our visit was spot on. 

Dislikes: I always feel that in any tasting menu, one of the first offerings should be a wow dish. For me, fortunately if somewhat belatedly, the level of interest and the wow-factor peaked halfway through the menu. 

Verdict: For modern Indian fine-dining in a stunning setting next to Westminster Abbey, The Cinnamon Club continues to be one of London’s best options. Recommended.