We met up with a couple of friends for a first visit to the Townsend Restaurant which is located in the Whitechapel Gallery in east london. It turned out to be a very nice lunch with good food and excellent service from Niki. The menu is a mix small and large plate’s designed for sharing. It also gives you the flexibility for instance if you just want a couple of dishes each that’s absolutely fine. You can spend as little or as much time here as you want. The four of us basically decided to order 99.999% of the menu meaning that it was just the oysters and the cheese were the only items we didn’t choose. Our host Niki said she would arrange to stagger the food so that all the plates did not come out together. Listed below was yesterday’s menu. SMALL PLATES / LARGE PLATES Bread and whipped glastonbury butter Cornish yarg fritter, apple ketchup (pic.1) Whipped cods roe, Townsend cracker and beetroot (pic.2) Nutbourne tomatoes, vegan ricotta and black garlic (pic.3) Crab with fine green beans and marketmore cucumber (pic.4) Charred hispi cabbage, romesco, onion bhaji, coconut mint yogurt (pic.5) Lamb breast, slipcote, red currants and rainbow chard (pic.6) Rainbow trout, berkswell, courgette, pine nuts and pickled sea herbs (pic.7) SIDES Jersey mids, garlic and parsley, olive oil, garlic mayonnaise Watercress and red oak salad DESSERTS Chocolate torte, cherries (pic.8) Lemon tart, Northiam farm creme fraiche (pic.9) English strawberries, Yoghurt parfait with lemon thyme (pic.10) The food was delicious , the service was very friendly and there was a lovely casual and relaxed atmosphere. I would definitely recommend popping in especially if you’re paying a visit to the gallery located in the same building. Thank You to all the team for a lovely afternoon.