Eat & Drink
Originally published on Thursday, 30th May 2013
ONE LEICESTER STREET
A simple anomaly in Chinatown
1 Leicester Street, WC2H 7BL | 020 3301 8020 | @OneLeicesterStreet
Location
Hidden away in One Leicester Street hotel (where St John, and before that Manzi's, used to be) the restaurant is a complete break from the shiny, bling offerings otherwise found in Chinatown.
Vibe
Formal but friendly, simple and calm – a bit like the cuisine. Everything from the hand-illustrated menu covers to the presentation of the dishes and the wine list shows the restaurant's attention to detail.
Flavours
We love how the menu is arranged into five simple categories: Shellfish/Fish, Meat/Offals, Veg, Cheese and Pudding. Tom Harris, who previously worked here when it was St John, is onto something. Conservative types can opt for a traditional starter/main course/dessert set-up with help from the waiter, but it's not meant for this. We say wait for the dishes to come out when they're ready. Standalone, they are all strong, so it doesn't matter if the vegetables come out first – these may well have been our favourites: grilled onion in goats curd with wild fennel, and a deliciously sweet tomato salad with barley and arrow grass. Otherwise, we started on devilled pig's skin (like pork scratchings) with smoked cod roe – it tasted like a posh, salty prawn cracker, perhaps a nod to Chinatown – followed by rock oysters, one Dorset (sweet and plump), one Jersey (salty). The fish section has some great offerings – perhaps a nod to Manzi's and the signage outside – like the fresh crab, fennel and monks beard and Italian-style cuttlefish, peas and mint. Meat-wise, the pigs-cheek ham, asparagus and egg yolk was standout. Dessert is fantastic, and we're not usually fussed about dessert. The chocolate with puffed barley and malt ice cream is like a warm, deconstructed Crunchie bar, while the burnt blood orange and yoghurt is tart, zingy and textural (it also reminded us of another delicious blood orange dessert at The Clove Club). Finish with cheese and wine – go off-piste with some unique European recommendations – reds from Mallorca, Tenerife and Bulgaria were new to us, and we'll definitely be back for round two.
Decor
The décor is along the same vein as St John, but less clinical. The open kitchen remains. The matte grey walls, sharp tablecloths and pared-down cutlery and crockery serve to highlight the presentation of the food, which is beautiful and technical.
Upshot
The spirit of St John definitely still roams the halls here, so we're booking in for breakfast pronto – the menu is divided into "Sweet" and "Savoury". Simples.
