A few days ago I saw a tweet by a relatively unknown chef here in the north of England bemoaning the culture of the “celebrity chef”
– this was during an episode of TV’s MasterChef which featured a judging panel
of some of Britain’s most highly regarded talents.
With a galaxy of Michelin stars
between them, the chefs involved were Simon Rogan, Nathan Outlaw, Ashley Palmer
Watts, Michael Caines, and Tom Kitchin.
First off, I wouldn’t regard these
guys as “celebrity chefs” and certainly not “TV cooks” – sure they have
appeared on TV on a number of occasions but at their core they are restaurant
cooks who run successful and highly regarded kitchens.
Of course, in some cases there may
be a little bit of ego involved in appearing on TV (it will certainly make
their mums proud) and there is obviously invaluable publicity for their
restaurants; but I don’t see many of the chefs listed above on Sainsbury’s
adverts or selling their own branded sauces, olive oils or cous cous and putting
their names to cheap pans and knives.
These chefs are ambassadors for
British produce and cookery and anyone chef who knocks them is just jealous - few
chefs understand the English countryside as a larder better than Simon Rogan; Nathan’s
passion centres on our island nation’s phenomenal seafood; at Dinner,
Ashley revives historical British dishes; Tom celebrates the produce from his
native Scotland and what could be more quintessentially British than Caines’
Gidleigh Park, housed in a Tudor-style country house, set amongst 55 acres on
the edge of Dartmoor National Park?
Whilst these chefs, due to their
Michelin accolades and occasional media work, may be some of the more
recognisable faces to foodies who watch the TV shows and read the newspaper food supplements, there are a
number of young ‘lesser known’ chefs who are also considered the vanguard of
British cuisine.
Although
not quite ‘household names’, young talents such as Isaac McHale, Florence Knight, James
Knappet, Giles Clark (sous chef to Junya
Yamasaki at Koya)
and Ollie Dabbous hold a few accolades of their own and run or work in some of
the choicest restaurants in the capital.
One chef who merits a mention in the
company of those above is the hugely talented James Lowe.
James is best known for being a long
standing former Head Chef at Fergus Henderson’s St.
John Bread & Wine; he also trained at La Trompette, The River Café, The
Fat Duck and Noma. In London, he also made a name for himself as one of the
Young Turks with Ben Greeno and Isaac McHale.
Recently James’ Twitter bio has
changed from ‘Chef looking for a
restaurant’ to ‘Head Chef @lyleslondon’ - to the casual
observer it may have seemed as though, for the past couple of years, James has
been travelling the world on an extended ‘holiday’ participating in events such
as René Redzepi’s ‘MAD symposium’, ‘San Sebastián Gastronomika’ and ‘Cook It
Raw’ but all the time he had
been looking for the right location and backers.
Eventually, a partnership with the Sethi family (who also own Trishna, Gymkhana and Bubbledogs) and a prime location
in The Tea Building (opposite the BoxPark) at 56
Shoreditch High Street turned out to be the
perfect pairing
An oblong canteen like space with plain white walls and
ceiling, there are obvious parallels with St. John Bread & Wine. Slightly
larger, Lyle’s also has a small bar area, an open kitchen along the back wall and
large elliptical arched windows spanning the other. Uniform rows of crafted
wooden furniture complete the paired down look that echoes the ethos of the
food.
Open
08:00 to 23:00 Monday to Friday, 18:00 to 23:00 on Saturdays (closed Sundays)
with affordable menus showcasing carefully sourced quality ingredients and
excellent coffees, Lyle’s is very much there to serve local community as much
as it could become a destination restaurant.
James
works with the seasons and often deals directly with farmers and small
producers, as such the a la carte menu can change daily. In the evening there
is a small, never over facing, tasting menu which at the time of writing was
set at just £39 for 8 courses plus some wonderful sourdough bread.
Our
meal started with two ‘snack’ sized courses: Smoked eel &
horseradish and Blood cake &
damson but as my wife is not keen on blood cake or black pudding she was
offered Mustard leaf, cheese & honey
as an alternative. Each was delicious with the quality of produce shining
though.
Asparagus & walnut mayonnaise – although meant as a compliment, sometimes I feel a little
guilty when calling a chef’s food ‘simple’ as often the work that can go into
producing something to appear as such can be more than first meets the eye. With
this dish however, I have no qualms about calling it simple… simply delicious.
Mutton & turnip broth – I’m certain the broth which carried so much flavour,
punctuated by sharply pickled turnips, will end up of my traditional end of
year ‘best of’ posts… a top dish.
Gull’s egg –
the last time I ate a gull’s egg was when James cooked one for me at The Ten
Bells, these were stunningly cooked and topped with dried sea urchin and
seaweed… lovely little morsel.
Spring greens, mussels & seaweed – another beautiful dish with the bitterness of the
charred spring greens working a treat with the sweet plump mussels and rich
creamy sauce.
Dover sole, spinach & anchovy – I like to think of myself as fairly well informed when it
comes to food, or at least ingredients, but when Lyle’s personable and
knowledgeable front of house manager, John Ogier, presented this as ‘aged fish’
it was something that piqued my interest.
Of course, I had read about (but not
yet tasted) the Japanese ‘Funa zushi’ where, to simplify, fish are packed in salt for a year,
before being dried and mixed with rice and allowed to ‘ferment’ for anywhere
between three and six years. Lyle’s method of aging is no where near as
‘extreme’ – here certain types of flat fish, such as the dover sole, are rested
for up to six days where some of the natural moisture will escape and flesh
will firm. The results were pleasing but it was the injection of seasoning from
the anchovy emulsion that really wowed.
Baked Riseley & Chegworth leaves – more delightful sourdough, this time toasted was
served with a bowl of melted Wigmore cheese and a bowl of salad leaves. Cheese
and salad may not sound all that special but thanks to the delightfully acidic*
dressing this was a great dish. (*What I initially thought were cells from the
flesh of a grapefruit turned out to be a tiny dice of shallots with the flavour
coming mainly from vinegar and apple.)
Rhubarb & custard – simple, fresh, flavoursome and seasonal… a dessert that
sums up a meal at Lyle’s.
The meal ended with a couple of
dinky Brown butter cakes and some
excellent quality Ethiopian filter coffee.
Lyle’s
very much reminded me of such places as Le
Chateaubriand and Septime in
Paris and, of course, The
Clove Club – these places are listed at 27, 52 and 87 respectively in The
World’s 50 Best Restaurants so expect big things from Lyle’s and James Lowe.
Celebrity chefs or non celebrity
chefs, dining at Lyle’s has confirmed one thing… British cooking is in a strong
place.
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