Last night, I had a delicious meal at North Road in Farringdon. The chef, Christoffer Hruskova, from Denmark, cooked up some fantastic dishes, perhaps inspired by the success of René Redzepi's Nordic restaurant in Copenhagen, Noma.
We were greeted by very welcoming staff, and a minimal but tasteful interior, with intriguing lights that reminded me of astronaut helmets!
As hors d'oeuvre, we were presented with a highly Noma-esque smoked quails egg, in a large egg shell. I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed with my first taste of North Road, since the eggs were cold and vinegary like they'd been preserved, as opposed to the hot melting, served over the still warm hay equivalent at Noma. My disappointment quickly vanished however, when I tried the smoked cheese and radish appetizer, beautifully presented on crispy bread, and topped with my favourite herb, dill! It was wonderfully light, and subtly smoky, with a soft crunch from the thinly-sliced radishes - deeelish.
For my starter I chose pickled mackerel, with nettles and horseradish. The mackerel on its own was lovely and yielding and just vinegary enough for my liking! I adored the horseradish 'snow', which had a really intensely pungent taste. Although, I wasn't too keen on the burnt hay covered fish, as I think it was too charcoaly, and the texture was strangely oozy, which put me off somewhat.
My main course was absolutely fantastic! I had monkfish tail and cheek, with Kent broad beans, St George mushrooms, delicious sauce made from intense (I think chestnut) mushrooms, and different greens, including samphire. The dish looked like something you might find on a forest floor, with different shades of green and brown, and tasted wonderfully earthy as well. The fish had a great, giving texture, whilst being wonderfully crispy on the outside. I loved the flavoursome mushrooms, and accompanying sauce, and the greens had great sweet and citrus tastes.
Finally, for dessert, I opted for the interesting sounding birch ice-cream and nettle 'snow'. The ice-cream was gently woody, with subtle vanilla undertones, and the nettle 'snow', which looked bizarrely like moss was in fact lovely and refreshing.
Altogether, it's a great restaurant, with exciting and scrumptious food - almost on par with Noma, and certainly easier to get to for me!
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