Reviews Tredwells

Marcus Wareing brought his Tredwell restaurant to Covent Garden back in .... and it went on to win AA's London Restaurant of Year. A fantastic accolade for a 'celeb' Chef who keeps his profile quite low unlike others I could mention. 

On a recent visit to the area for a musical, we took advantage of a pre-theatre set menu courtesey of Bookatable Star Deals. I will say that Star Deals are great. You can enjoy some great award winning restaurants, even Michelin, as they push to fill their early or late slots by offering some value for money deals.

Tredwells is a cute little casual dining spot just down from Seven Dials, opposite the ever busy Dishoom and iconic Stringfellows. Specialising in British seasonal food, looking at the menu I was happy to see some simply no-nonsense dishes as it was actually just what the doctor ordered.

For our starter we has Pork belly and ham hock raviolo with piccalilli and mustard and Brixham crab, brandade with cucumber, pickled celery and sesame cracker. Our main courses consisted of chargrilles lamb chop, slow cooked shoulder with broad beams and mint. I had chargrilled hanger steak, braised shallot with peppercorn steak which was cooked medium rare and was the most tender tasty meat I have tasted in a long time. We had a side of truffled macaroni cheese and smoked potato & gryere croquettes which were to die for.

Tredwells is lush. A place for gorgeous food and great service.

Took a break from Christmas shopping.
The Prix fixe was so good value for money and the chance to add fresh truffle was areal treat. Must come back

A long drawn out breakfast, sprinkled with a cocktail haze, chatter and the warm sense of having no where to be! I met the girls for a long overdue catch up and brunch at Tredwells. I’d heard good things & you know, the name Marcus Wareing plastered on it kind of means good food this way!

A few months ago (November to be precise) I visited and wrote about Jason Atherton’s Little Social in the heart of London’s Mayfair. Fast-forward 6 months and I found myself visiting another of Gordon Ramsay’s protégés less formal restaurants in Marcus Wareing’s Tredwell’s.

Often before heading to a restaurant for the first time I’ll have a look online at existing reviews about the place to know what to keep an eye out for and maybe to avoid. For my Sunday lunch visit to Marcus Wareing’s “modern British” Tredwell’s, I should have just avoided reading the reviews all together and let my gut (which is now a good bit larger after my Tredwell’s meal) guide me in the right direction.

The snide attitudes issued in write ups published in the Evening Standard and the Independent suggesting Tredwell’s was “cynical” and “passable” seemed to be just that – cynical and passable diatribe having at a successful chef for trying to bring something yummy to the high street.

What’s a restaurateur to do? Hide away in a cloistered Knightsbridge kitchen for the rest of his professional career or take a chance near Leicester Square with aplomb and a reasonable priced menu in a comfortable and attractive setting? I reckon the latter is a much braver – and in the long run considerably savvier – action than the former.

I liked my lunch at Tredwell’s. And if this “gateway” eatery might lead folks to hanker a more sophisticated experiences at Wareing’s two Michelin star restaurant at The Berkeley (never had the pleasure but have heard the raves) or his Gilbert Scott brasserie at the St Pancras Renaissance (have been a few times and absolutely adored it), then all the better.

Definitely a more down market take on dining out compared to his other venues, Tredwell’s offers an assortment of au courant dishes that err on the side of playful and hearty.

I savoured every bite of my starter course of prawns, white polenta and roasted garlic in chicken broth (£9.50) and thought my massive main course of Rhug Estate smoked slow cooked beef short rib (£29) was super satisfying. So what if it wasn’t all that terribly refined? Not to get all ecclesiastical about such things, but there’s a time and a place, ya know – and that goes for high street gourmand grinds as much as it does for fanciful haute cuisine. Sides like creamy kale slaw (£5) and chunky sweet potato fries (£5) did not disappoint while a damn fine made-to-order (and not on the drinks list) Bloody Mary impressed greatly. A “housemade” salted caramel soft serve (£5, with gratuitous honeycomb) was a treat!

Service was polite and on the ball (particularly from the fellows behind the bar). The dining area (all three floors of it!) was attractive, filled with natural light (even the basement to some degree) and pretty comfy too!

If Tredwell’s sounds like your kind of place to eat and drink, a great time to go might be from 5pm to 8pm on Sunday 19 April when the restaurant’s downstairs bar will host a special Gin & Jazz night with New York-based double bass player Rob Duguay and Parisian-born saxophonist Alex Terrier. The jazz duo will present an exclusive intimate live set ahead of their performance at Ronnie Scott’s on 20th April. The event will be priced at £15, which includes a Bebop cocktail (Gin, Aperol, Strawberry and Rhubarb) as well as a contribution of £2.50 to the Mousetrap Charity. The band will play from 5pm to 8pm.

The Evening Standard is wrong about Covent Garden’s best diner - you need to eat here.

The service here was excellent! I also loved the atmosphere. In terms of the food, it was delicious but I felt like the menu was pretentious with its fancy names for regular dishes.

So another year comes and goes and like so many, I take a moment to reflect on what I've achieved over the past year. After I realise that is "nothing", I move onto all those new year's resolutions which weren't kept (did I learn Spanish? Um what's Spanish for "no"?). It's only the thought of all the amazing places I've dined at this year which pull me back from the brink of depression which started at Momofuku in Sydney and included the Fat Duck, the Ledbury and Restaurant Story. That's a list that would make any foodie pretty pleased but hey, the year's not over and I'm not prepared to throw in the napkin just yet! And it's with that thought in mind I venture off to Covent Garden to spend the night at Marcus Waring's much publicised Tredwells.

One of the big openings in 2014, Tredwells was for a long time on of the hottest tables in London with seemingly every credible food critic at a table leaving us public to fight for the rest and wait patiently for our turn. Though the hype has died a bit, it still remains insanely popular and after one meal, you can understand why.

In case the decor doesn't make it obvious this place is classy, the menu certainly does, radiating it with every item and with each dish, this was view was only justified.

Everything from the starters of bread with brown butter (which had a subtle toffee taste) and chicken liver mousse with bacon jam & toast to desserts of warm ginger cake, treacle, caramel & cream and salted caramel soft serve, honey comb & warm chocolate sauce was beautiful and struck the perfect balance of top quality without compromising quantity.

The highlight for me though was the slow cooked pork belly with crackling, chorizo jam & mash which was last meal worthy. The combination of flavours was a pure delight and the last bite was bittersweet knowing it was finished after.

Tredwell's has quickly shot up my list of restaurants in Convent Garden and even London in general, entrenching itself in the upper tier. However that's not to say there isn't a bit of criticism as our initial drinks order was lost along with our side-order of chips which really was the only black mark on an otherwise fine meal.

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Tredwell is casual in style it focuses on small sharing plates and, before you yawn and roll your eyes; I think the sharing plates trend has taken off because it allows you to try so many different things without being stuck with one thing and getting bored halfway through, or worse having food envy if someone picked something better than you!

They suggest choosing 2 small plates and one large per person and I have to say this was more than enough food, especially if you want to have room for dessert (and believe me you’ll want to when you see what we had!)

Whilst we made our menu choices, and during the evening, bartender Victor appeared as the walking talking cocktail list (they did not have a cocktail menu as yet when we visited), enquiring what drinks/ spirits/ cocktails we liked and made suggestions as to creations they were going to have on their cocktail list/ bar menu, and brought the final creations for us to try. We kicked off with cocktails including Sidecar (their version with Dorset Brandy and Cider) and a Sparkling Cyanide (Chartreuse, Maraschino, and lime juice) – J loved these especially the summery apple notes from the Sidecar.

My small plates were chicken liver mousse with bacon jam (£8) and charred squash with raisins, goats curd and hazelnuts (£7). The addition of bacon jam to the mousse made this insanely good, we ordered extra toast so we could scoop out every last bit! The charred squash didn’t have quite the same sweetness as when I roast it at home, maybe it needed longer slower cooking?

J small plates were pork belly buns topped with ginger and apple (£5). Frankly, I wish we had got the large version of this, tiny bite sized morsels of perfection. 

His second was dorset crab with mango chutney on toast (£9). I wasn’t quite as taken with this, for me the mango chutney overpowered the delicate sweetness of the crab.

For our large plates, J got the onglet steak with mushroom ketchup (£15). The mushroom ketchup looked an intimidating shade of grey but actually had a real depth of flavour. 

My large plate was beef shortrib with baked beans (£38). The beef was meltingly tender but by this point we were quite full and couldn’t really do this dish justice. 

I would actually lean towards getting more small plates, there were so many we had our eye on, the pork cheeks, the squid and bottarga crumb, we will be coming back to work our way through the rest of the menu.

Last but definitely not least was dessert.

I got the pain perdu with maple cream and bacon (£6). If there’s any take home message from this review it’s that bacon makes everything better, even dessert! J got a chocolate pot topped with Campari ice (£6). J said he would have liked a stronger Campari flavour in the ice, but the pot itself was good. 

J wanted something sweet as a nightcap and Victor created their version of a Clock and Dagger – with Grand Marnier, Vermouth, Cognac and ginger beer, decorated with an orange peel. A perfect way to end the meal! 

Overall, excellent food and service – and loved the personal touch with the cocktails.

Tredwell’s is run by Marcus Wareing, who already has one more casual eatery in the form of The Gilbert Scott to complement his main restaurant. This Covent Garden establishment, which opened in September 2014, is named after the suave butler in Agatha Christie’s 1929 play “The Seven Dials Mystery”. The play’s name refers to a secret society of that name that meets in a club located at the Seven Dials junction of Covent Garden, which is near here. Incidentally, the butler character Tredwell actually appeared earlier in Ms Christie’s first play “Black Coffee” too.

The menu is more modern than the 1920s era name might suggest, with dishes like harissa-glazed aubergine and chipotle chicken wings, but there are more familiar dishes such as shrimp cocktail and mushrooms on toast amongst the more exotic offerings. Head chef Andrew Ward was previously senior sous chef at Chez Bruce, and held the same position at Rhodes 24 and La Trompette after working for four years at The Glasshouse.

The restaurant is spread over three floors, with a tiled floor, black tables with no tablecloths, and a rather striking art deco style clock on one wall. In total 184 diners can be seated at any one time. Lighting was very subdued, hence the murky photos. Music played in the background, from The Rolling Stones to the Cardigans, but was not too intrusive – the noise level peaked at 75 decibels, which is above the level of normal conversation but not excessively loud.

The wine list had just fewer than 50 choices, ranging in price from £24 to £99, with a median price of £48 and an average mark-up of three times the retail price. Example labels were Mas de Daumas Gassac Moulin de Gassac ‘Guilhem’ Pays de l’Hérault 2013 at £24 for a wine that you can find in the high street for £7, Mullineux ‘Kloof Street’ Rouge 2012 at £48 for a wine with a shop price of £12, and Barbaresco Roccalini Cascina Roccalini 2010 at £71 compared to a retail price of £23.

The menu had numerous sections (“bowls”, “bread and buns”, “grills and smokes” etc) and required a certain amount of concentration to read through. Naturally enough these days the portions were “for sharing”, a format that allows restaurateurs to have a menu that looks modestly priced at first glance but results in a rapidly escalating bill in practice.

Crab and mango on toast (£9) was simple but good, the toast made with decent bread, the crab fresh and the mango providing some balance to the crab (13/20). Crayfish salad (£5) was less successful, the shellfish tender enough but the overall effect rather too dry (12/20). Charred kale (£5) was distinctly undercooked, the quinoa on the other hand a touch soft, and the ginger was too tentative to rescue the balance of the dish (11/20).

I preferred a shrimp cocktail (£6), the Marie Rose sauce (tomatoes, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce pepper and lemon juice) nicely made and with a pleasing hint of spice, the prawns tender (13/20). Harissa-glazed aubergine with coriander, peanuts and chill was also good, the heat of the spices lifting the dish nicely (14/20). Another enjoyable dish was sticky Goosnargh chicken thigh (£5), the bird glazed with a slightly sweet soy and chilli sauce. The chicken was carefully cooked and the chilli bite cut nicely through the sweetness of the glaze (14/20). On the side, baked beans served in a little tin were good, the haricot beans tender (13/20), and matchstick fries were fine (13/20).

For dessert, muscavado sponge with coffee and walnut had a strong punch of coffee flavour, the sponge moist and the walnuts adding a pleasing textural contras (14/20). Pain perdu with bacon was less successful, the bread soaked in eggs and then fried but lacking enough richness, though bacon was an interesting way to enliven it, served with maple cream on the side (12/20). Coffee was very good, a proprietary blend that is apparently the same one served at the main Marcus restaurant.

Service was not quite as suave as Agatha Christie’s butler Tredwell, but was pretty slick nonetheless, with attentive and helpful staff. The bill with one of the better wines came to £74 a head. If you shared a more modest bottle then a typical bill might be around £60 per person. This is hardly cheap for what is notionally a casual dining experience. I quite enjoyed Tredwell’s, with its best dishes very good indeed, but there were a few rough edges that should not really happen at this price point. Achieving consistency should not be a mystery to such an experienced team.

There are a few fundamental things we look for in a restaurant: good customer service, pleasing decor, plus great cooking with a varied and reasonably priced menu. It’s staggering the amount of places that fail on one or two of these. Marcus‘s latest venture Tredwell’s in Covent Garden’s Seven Dials ticked all the above boxes, with the added bonus of being in a brilliant and central location and having speedy social media (which is becoming more and more important to us).

Marcus is famed for his notably pricier establishments in hotels, such as MARCUS at the Berkeley and The Gilbert Scott at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, so this mid-price casual restaurant is quite a hefty change of direction for him. You won’t find him in the kitchen here, he is purely the restaurateur, head chef is Andrew, previously of Chez Bruce as well as a two-year stint at La Trompette.

You know that scene from Titanic near the end where Kate Winslet’s ‘ghost’ is greeted by several people as she makes her way through the ship? Well that’s what it felt like for us at Tredwell’s (without the being dead part). Our table was downstairs and every staff member that we came across on the way smiled and welcomed us in a sincere way. The decor is beautiful, a touch of art deco with back-lit angled mirrors on the wall, monochrome metro tiles everywhere giving the feel of a (glam) Victorian station/public toilet. We weren’t too keen on the decorative flame torches outside the entrance though, yes it draws attention, but it also made it look a little tacky, felt like I was back at Yates’s in 1996.

The menu is pretty simple – the food is grouped into “Pots & Jars”, “Grills & Smokes”, “Bread & Buns”, “Bowls” and “Fries”. Designed for sharing but they stress that it’s not essential. We did as advised and chose three items to (mostly) share. There was only one cocktail to get started with – Sparkling Cyanide £7.50 – green Chartreuse, Maraschino, lime, soda. With a name like that, it just had to be done, along with lame jokes about it being for Ade etc etc. He had a New Fashioned £9 – Rye whiskey, marmalade and bitters, with a slice of candied orange. He made this last all evening, sipping it through the perfect cubed ice not wanting it to end, I recon he should have simply ordered another one!

The gorgeous and robust Chorizo jam, charred bread £4 came first – not a jam as such, more of a chilli type texture, lovely slathered on the warm charred toast. Pulled pork belly, ginger & apple sliders £2.50 each were teeny little things which was just as well – buttery brioche buns of heaven. The Chipotle marinated chicken wings £5 tasted great with a gentle kick, but weren’t much to look, possibly just because they were naked, not slathered in sauce or fried.

For mains we stuck to one dish each – no sharing, just a taster of each other’s dish. I couldn’t make my mind up so made a hasty decision upon arrival of the waiter to take our order. My Pork chop, baked celeriac £14 was good but I had forgotten that I wasn’t overly keen on baked celeriac, it can be a little dull. Help was at hand with our side order of Cauliflower, sprouts, hazelnuts & Berkswell cheese £5 which was adapted to contain no cheese for me.

We love it when restaurants do interesting things with vegetable side orders, it’s so boring to find the same old thing all the time. It’s kind of how I feel when I see a chocolate brownie on a dessert menu but we’ll come to that in a bit. Oh, and allergy sufferers take note, they’re very allergy conscious here, stating everything from lupin through to sulphur dioxide .

Ade went for Sea bass, carrot pureé, lentils £14 – a thick fillet of flaky, pure white fish, really good quality and perfectly cooked. The purée had a Coronation Chicken taste to it, possibly intentional, who knows, we liked it regardless. Talking of unexpected flavours, the BBQ mayo for our Sweet potato fries £4 didn’t taste too dissimilar to Marie Rose sauce. The sweet potato fries were amazing, wedges with a crispy skin – something so simple yet often we end up with limp chips which can put us off ordering them.

So, dessert time. This diverse and varied menu deserves a fanfare. Yes, there is a brownie – but it’s no ordinary brownie – it’s a vegan-friendly virtuous one so we’ll let them off. We must have stared at the list for at least five minutes before we decided. Ade went for the Olive oil cake, blackberry jam, custard mousse £5 – a bit like a pimped up trifle, only better. A very light sponge base with a sharp blackberry topping (more a compote than a jam) and topped with a sweet mousse (imagine a custard flavoured Angel Delight and you wont be too wrong). I don’t recall ever having eaten a coconut mousse so I chose ordered the Coconut mousse with pineapple, mint, lime £5. I still haven’t ever had coconut mousse, for this was more of a frothy foam like the milk on a cappuccino, not even a latte thick. You can’t go wrong with pineapple and coconut though (it’s even better with rum) and I guess it was better for my waistline.

Another point that deserves a fanfare is the kids’ menu. We get so fed up with terrible menus for children, you know the ones – nuggets and chips, pasta and tomato sauce, blah blah. Kids deserve more than that and it’s about time that restaurants showed them the same amount of love rather than their menu being a lazy afterthought. At Tredwell’s there’s a junior menu with great sounding dishes such as Cornish cod, sweet potato smash £5 and Courgette ‘spaghetti’, cheesy tomato sauce £4. Check out the prices too.

So, lots of ticks for Tredwell’s, they’ve taken a simple concept that works well and there’s talk of it becoming a chain which usually saddens us but on this occasion, we hope it’s true.

Attractive place. I was curious about their menu, so I gave Tredwell’s a chance.

The place is nice, with small and very neat tables, which are a bit close to each other. I was very undecided on what to order and by seeing how delicious their dishes looked… I went for some chicken decorated with peanuts. The course was pleasant, quite tasty and well presented. Hence, I decided to order, as a dessert, some yoghurt with fruit, which tasted very fresh and yummy.

I have to admit the place surprised me. Their flaw could be the space's availability during peak times. Prices are fine and you would spend approximately 50 £ for two people.

We managed to get a table for the soft opening of Tredwell's, which is a new venture of Marcus Wareing's, although he won't ever be cooking there. The concept is affordable British bistro style food, and the menu offers sharing small or large plates. You are recommended to have two small and one large plate each, and the food comes as it is cooked, rather than as a traditional starter / main course.

For our small dishes we chose smoked pork cheeks with cauliflower, confit cod with garlic and lemon, chicken with peanuts and lamb sweetbreads on carrot. The pork cheeks and sweetbreads were both exceptional, but the others were very good.

For the large dishes we chose slow cooked short rib (at £38  the most expensive large dish on the menu, and very overpriced in my view), and lamb chops with minted beans. We also picked some fries and chicken croquettes, even though by that point we were stuffed and didn't need them.

The short rib fell off the bone and came with tasty and not overly sweet baked beans. The lamb chops were nicely cooked, albeit a little fatty, and the minted beans were (under)cooked al dente and had a refreshingly minty flavour. 

Unfortunately the croquettes were not very pleasant to eat as the inside was quite gloopy and very salty. The chips were also over seasoned for our palates.

Although we were full, we couldn't resist the pudding menu ... although I wish we had. My boyfriend chose coconut yoghurt with fruit, which was light and refreshing but served in an unsuitable dish which meant half the fruit fell down the stem and was unreachable.

I had pain perdu with maple cream and crispy bacon. The pain perdu and maple cream was lovely, but topped with not very crispy bacon bits which added far too much savoury / saltiness to the dish, and left an unpleasant aftertaste.

Overall it was a good experience at Tredwell's, although the tables were very close together and I think it might get uncomfortably packed for a full service. What was good was excellent, but some dishes certainly need some work.

Amazing service. Staff is excellent. Ambiance is lovely - fine dining meets cozy meets romantic. Food was medium - nothing mind blowing. Only negative was we were seated 45 minutes after our reservation. Recommendations: Whiskey sour Port Halibut with truffles Sourdough Polenta fries Mac n cheese

Visited Tredwells today and was thoroughly impressed by the food and service. I had the 5 course, plant based tasting menu which was exquisite! Really creative dishes and the perfect portion sizes. The service was excellent and just the right level of attentiveness. Couldn't fault any part of the evening. Highly recommend a visit.

Amazing experience from the first step in. Food was delicious delicious and service extremely friendly, helpful and efficient. Prices a little bit on the high end but all so worth it. Venison and scallops were definitely stars of the day for me however all the sides we've tried weren't any way worst. If you like sour taste, make sure you try gin and tonic cheesecake for your desert. I'm told that caramel afogato is also delicious. Definitely recommend the experience.

The 3 course set menu and cocktail was great value for £29! Food was well presented and staff were very attentive. The soft serve salted caramel with honeycomb is a must!

The food are a bit salty for the 3 of us, desserts are delicious! Great atmosphere, great customer service. They made a lovely effort for our friend birthday which was so sweet!

They waiter was arrogant he could not speak clearly in English and was rather rude he got our order wrong.The Maire D took over our tables as I asked for our waiter to be removed and she and her assistant were excellent When they did get the right good to us it was excellent The sommelier was very knowledgeable and help full. Had the waiter not have had such a bad attitude towards our table and actually got our order right the first time as you would expect then it would have been a five star rating all over the board but we didn't let it ruin our evening and would highly recommend 15/09/2019 Food and service excellent had great lunch in a great restaurant

A truly delightful place that has a great atmosphere, not overly loud so you can hear the conversations you’re having. Clean, tidy and the lighting is warming and welcoming. Staff very attentive but not overly so. A good amount of vegan plant based options that are exceptionally satisfying and tasty. Well presented food and not a particularly long wait, even tho the place was busy. Will be back for sure.

Outstanding service, exquisite food and adequate price. From the starters to the desserts, my friend and I had marvellous dinner. Well done to the chef and the amazing waiters.