The Dairy

On Tuesday evening for my birthday dinner, my mum took me to The Dairy in Clapham. The restaurant was buzzing with people, and the low-key décor made for a relaxing atmosphere. The staff were very friendly, and I'd heard that they have a kitchen garden on the roof, so I was expecting great things.

I really liked the menu: it's split up into Snacks, Garden, Sea, Land, and Sweet, reflecting seasonal ingredients highlighted under each category. The idea is to order several of the very reasonably-priced starter size portions, and so try lots of different flavour combinations.

Bread is a good judge of a great restaurant, and The Dairy certainly passed that test. A mini sourdough loaf arrived at our table in a little hemp bag, along with butter served on rocks. Having spent the past few months trying to master the time-consuming art of sourdough baking myself, I could appreciate a great boule. Combined with intensely-flavoured seaweed butter, it was very moreish - we had to ask for another loaf!

This 'rustic' approach to presentation was exercised with great effect - each dish came with a different plate which complimented it both visually and texturally. Potted salmon came with Guinness soda bread on a diamond-shaped stone. The fish was absolutely wonderful, fresh and delicate, supported well by the bread.

My favourite Garden dishes were asparagus & hen egg, and pea & sorrel. The asparagus had a good bite, and were delicious with the creamy smoked custard and oozing hen egg. Then, a fantastically rich pea purée was served with sorrel ice, crunchy crumbs and jellies for an interesting mix of texture and temperature.

From the 'Sea', monkfish was perfectly cooked and served with crunchy radishes and chutney. The octopus was also lovely, with soft fennel, broad beans and a flavoursome broth.

Pudding was equally exceptional: Gariguette strawberries came with vanilla whey and cheesecake ice cream for a sweet treat, and apricots were drizzled with home-made honey (they keep bees on the roof!) and sprinkled with honeycumb for a crunchy contrast to the soft flesh of the fruit.

With stunning presentation, the best seasonal ingredients, and the creative Robin Gill as chef in the kitchen, The Dairy must be one of the best local restaurants - even worth a trip if you're not in Clapham. I'll certainly be returning, especially to try the new dishes next season!

The Lab 2013

Last night, I was very lucky to be at The Lab, a incredible event from the creators of Taste Festivals bringing together the best chefs from around the world to share exciting new ingredients, flavours and techniques. There was a great buzz about the place, perhaps from the moody dim red lighting, but more likely the anticipation of Monday's news: The World's 50 Best Restaurants.

After a warm 'ciao' and hug from Massimo Bottura, I watched Alex Atala as he finished preparing dishes at the AEG Experiment stage. The food looked stunning, with coconut apple and seaweed brought over from Brazil where his restaurant D.O.M. is located, and an oyster fried in brioche crumbs and served in a little Japanese sauce dish with a soy sauce emulsion, tapioca and roe.

I then went on to try a couple of 'The Dishes'. The mackerel tartare was wonderful: beautifully fresh mackerel well seasoned, with a touch of caviar bringing out the flavour, and combined with crispy bread and beetroot made for a treat.

I really liked the Lukas Pfaff's (of Sartoria) asparagus risotto - it was very creamy but had a slight citrus tang cutting through from the mystery ingredient, Bergamot (which my mum guessed!). The quail's egg melting on top also added an interesting dimension to the dish. Unfortunately it wasn't served very warm, so I didn't have long to savour it!

Roasted rice from Kolkata Street Food was perhaps the best, with sevpuri, mung beans, chickpeas, cucumber and spiced with Indian onion, chili, coriander, lime and tamarind, all combined before me and served in a paper cone.

The highlight of the evening, however, had to be taking part in the 'Noma Flavour Test', for which my mum managed to secure only a single ticket (they went in a flash) which she generously gave to me!

Lars Williams, head of research and development at Noma, talked about the excitement of discovering a new flavour combination, comparing it to an artist discovering a new colour and the ways in which Noma is changing, from re-designing their kitchen to be more dynamic to employing a full-time forager. 

We were lead through several ingredients - Danish-grown seaweed which was dried into a thick crunchy crisp tasted distinctively like soy sauce. There was barley, some fermented and used to flavour potato like a sweet sauce, some colonised by mould which released amylase enzymes and could rapidly age cheese. My favourite were woodland ants (not sure if they were alive) which tasted exceptionally sharp and acidic - I'll be looking out for them in the supermarket (... or not!).

Bird of Smithfield

Last night I went to Bird of Smithfield, the new restaurant just a stone's throw from the famous meat market, started by Alan Bird, veteran of The Ivy. On my visit, it was still almost a building site in parts, but despite the odd wire dangling like tentacles from the ceiling, the restaurant was already looking stylish, with armchairs surrounding the bar and interesting paintings around the dining tables on the cosy restaurant floor.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, and although I was tempted by the treacle cured salmon or a fresh salad with goat's cheese, I couldn't resist the Dorset crab which came with fantastic crispy thin slices of bread. The rich mayonnaisey dressing covered delicate crab meat and fresh avocado - I found myself asking for more bread to enjoy every last morsel of this creamy delight! My mum's asparagus were cooked to perfection, with a superb hollandaise.

Mains was a tough decision too, although I was very happy with my slip sole, served with brown shrimp and samphire. The texture of the fish was great, and the intense flavours brought about in combination with the almost earthy shrimp and salty samphire transported me to the coast. With such a rich dish, I struggled to finish the extremely generous portion - one fillet would have sufficed for me! I would have preferred the triple-cooked chips to be much more crispy (admittedly my standards based on Heston's Hind's Head are high), but they were wonderfully fluffy inside.

The chocolate pot, made with Original Beans' Cru Virunga, was a hit, topped with a powerful salted caramel cream, and hiding a little surprise of popping candy.

Having not had trifle for a long time, I was mightily impressed by the rhubarb trifle with 'Bird's Custard': decadent, but refined - I'll be returning to Bird of Smithfield, if just for some more scrumptious desserts!