Rating: 9.5 / 10
Price: tasting menu £110
Price we paid: £150
1 Michelin Star
Go there for: the best food in London in a non-pretentious setting
Location: Shoreditch
The Clove Club is one of the most talked-about restaurants in London, that’s for sure. Located in the heart of Shoreditch in the former Shoreditch Town Hall, it is the creation of chef patron Isaac McHale, former supper-club chef who opened his own gig in 2013. The restaurant was ranked #1 restaurant in the UK in the Sunday Times, and #26 restaurant in the world in the World 50 Best Restaurant chart in 2017. With a pedigree like that, be prepared to book months in advance and to pre-pay your dinner at the time of the reservation (yes, indeed).
Having said that, The Clove Club is not at all a pretentious or classy restaurant: the dining room is very simple, tables are wooden and no tablecloth can be seen throughout the dining room. The atmosphere is also very relaxed. Overall, it is what you would expect from any restaurant in this part of town, apart from the fact that the food here is incredible, unlike in other hipster East-London venues.
But now on to the food. There is only one choice of menu, a nine-course tasting menu that varies daily depending on the availability of produce (we like this a lot). We are welcomed with three amouse bouche. While the caviar cracker and the haggis roll are definitely very good, the real star is the pine salt fried chicken. This is one of the most famous dishes from this restaurant, and believe me, if you try this you will never be able to eat fried chicken ever again. Everything is perfect, but what is really striking is the texture of the chicken, buttery and melting in your mouth. What a great way to start. I could eat 20 of these.
First “real” dish is a smoked trout with almond butter and toasted almonds. Outstanding dish, the smoking very light, and the texture firm and flaky. Amazing what they are able to achieve with freshwater fish.
Second dish is probably one of the best things I have ever eaten. A potato cracker with a sardine sashimi and a pickled ginger topping. Let’s face it, sardine isn’t the most exciting fish, usually. But this one was truly unbelievable, a texture never encountered in any European raw fish, and an explosion of flavour from the ginger topping. The waiter explained that they get the last catch of the day, so that the time between when the fish is killed and when it is eaten is minimum. Blown away by this, chapeau!
Third dish was the least exciting dish of the night. Morel mushrooms stuffed with pigeon interiors and snails was yes perfectly executed, but personally I don’t really like the texture of morels, and the whole dish lacked character and levels of taste.
Fourth dish was outstanding. A modern take on Scottish porridge, which was made out of brown rice and crab meat, all immersed in a crab foam. The crab was of the highest quality, and the cooking of the rice was just perfect. The combination of flavours was surprising and unique.
Fifth dish was also unbelievable. This was white pollan, a freshwater fish that is only found in five lakes in Ireland, and of which just one if harvestable for two months every year, in very limited batches. The fish has a unique firm texture and a delicate flavour, and in this occasion it was served over a delicious composition of peas, mange-tout and broad beans, which on its own could have been an amazing dish. Quality of ingredients here was extreme.
Sixth dish was chicken with chicken liver roll and parsnip purée and truffle. This was a very pleasant dish, the chicken being undoubtedly of very good quality. But in terms of flavour, a level below the previous fish dishes.
Seventh dish was the best meat dish by far. Lamb breast was served alongside fried sweetbread and potato purée. The lamb was cooked to perfection and had a unique pure game taste, the sweetbread had a fantastic crunchy texture (I have to admit I LOVE sweetbread), and the purée was an explosion of potato creaminess. Really blown away by this dish.
What followed was the first dessert, and probably the second favourite dish of the night. I am still excited remembering the taste of it. A fennel granita was served on a reduced milk cream and warm blood orange. The taste of the granita was smooth and went perfectly well with the smoothness of the custardy cream and the bitterness of the oranges. The play in consistencies and temperatures was impressive: creamy, crunchy, buttery, warm, lukewarm, frozen. Unbelievable.
The last dish was a dark chocolate tart served with a scoop of condensed milk ice cream. This was also very good, the tart having a very neat dark chocolate taste which went well together with the sweetness of the ice cream. With the dessert, we had two glasses of homemade (!) sweet wines/liqueurs: a sweet sherry and a quince liqueur. Both of them were outstanding, and we admired the fact that they do these in house too.
Overall, I am not afraid to say that The Clove Club is the best restaurant we have tried in the UK so far. Everything about it is perfect, from extreme quality ingredients, to execution and service. I wonder what the Michelin inspectors were thinking when they only gave it one star - I am sure the ratings will keep growing for this Shoreditch gem.
The bill was of course not cheap at £150 per head with two glasses of wine each. But to be honest, for the quality and the skill, it is the right price. If you have read this far, don’t hesitate and book it right now, you won’t be disappointed.