Humble Grape Islington London

Our meal was superb. 

We started by sharing some bar snacks of chorizo croquettas with green alioli and artichokes with pickles.  Croquettas were smaller than usual, about the size of a man's thumb and fried a deeper brown than normal.  Very tasty alioli colored with parsley.  Not a pronounced taste of chorizo, though.  Light and airy and not too oily.  We were impressed by the homemade pickles.  Artichokes dressed in olive oil were on a bed of pickled shaved carrot and a tangle of red and white onion.  Each of the vegetables had been brined in its own pickling liquor.  The carrots tasted of nutmeg and were slightly sweeter than the onions.  The white onion had been flavored with cardamon.  There was a hint of clove in the red onion.

My main was the rump steak cooked rare from the Butcher's Cut section of the menu.  The best steak in recent memory.  It had a smokiness that made me wonder if it had been cooked over charcoal.  I was assured they use a normal grill that can attain extremely high temperatures.  Better than any steak you can make in a domestic kitchen.  It came with good chunky chips, a few sauteed green beans, some undressed rocket and watercress as well as a delicious anchovy butter.

I didn't taste all of my companion's hake fillet dish but it looked great.  Crispy skin, a lemon and butter emulsion with fresh mint, samphire and pan fried cucumber.

For dessert I had the dark chocolate fondant with a scoop of rum and raisin ice cream.  Perfectly executed with a gooey centre.  A crumble of nuts and broken pralines sprinkled over the top added a crunchy texture.  My companion had creme brulee with fresh berries.  Rich custard and some raspberries were scattered over the pudding but under the caramel topping.  The brulee had been caramelized to a quite aggressive shade of brown.  I do prefer the complexity of a dark caramel that starts to take on a slightly bitter edge.

We drank a bottle of rose grenache that was excellent and fruity.  I also ordered a glass of the cheapest red to go with my steak.  We attended the discounted soft launch, but at full price, our meal with service would have been £97 and worth every penny.  Don't miss the attractive WC with the distressed cork tiles in keeping with the wine theme.

Cosy and pleasant place. Love their Mondays. I can have great wine for less :D Recently staff changed and I think service is much better. Tomi our waitress was fun and full of joy. It was nice to see her happy engaging in the conversation with us. The new Italian manager is also nice. We enjoyed the selection of cheeses and meats. Wine recommendation was great too. I put one star less for atmosphere as the music choice for chilled Monday afternoon was a bit too much, I didn’t enjoy the mix of random pop, commercial songs. It was hard to relax or even to talk :p