The return of Henry Harris at The Coach

I sometimes wonder if we value novelty too much. As an avid restaurant-goer the temptation is always to head for the the latest opening - but keeping pace with what’s new inevitably means you don’t spend as much time as you’d like in the places you actually enjoy.

So I was pretty happy this week to discover that the newly opened The Coach in Clerkenwell with Henry Harris at the helm is nothing but a reincarnation of the much-loved (by me at any rate) Racine. It’s a bit like going to a concert of someone you swooned over as a teenager where they sing all your favourite hits.

Who’s Henry Harris you might ask? Well he’s a bit of a chef’s chef. Having cooked with the legendary Simon Hopkinson at Hilaire and Bibendum he made his name at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor then opened his own restaurant Racine, also in Knightsbridge, which he ran for 12 years until he closed it in 2015. He loves offal, loves French food, loves in fact all those things that are resolutely unfashionable. There’s no flirting with dairy-free and vegan on an HH menu.

So I ordered what I probably ordered last time I went to his restaurant: Bayonne ham with a sharp mustardy celeriac remoulade followed by an exemplary steak tartare and chips (I’m hard pushed to think who does a better one. Hand chopped obviously. Not over-seasoned. Not too ‘wet’ and definitely no mayo)

One of my companions went for calves brains with black butter which was a little full-on even for me although they were perfectly cooked (I did have a taste) and lamb chops with a merguez and cabbage faggot which was a truly inspired creation.

The other had a smoked trout and rocket salad which was possibly, being vaguely healthy, a little dull and rabbit with bacon in mustard sauce which was emphatically not. (You can find the recipe, should you feel moved to make it, on the Great British Chefs website)

We ordered rhubarb meringue because I was rather taken by the idea of the accompanying negroni syrup but it wasn’t quite as boozy as billed. We should probably, as I suspect Henry would have done, gone for the cheese (Harbourne Blue and a Swiss cheese called Challerhocker) to finish off the excellent bottle of 2014 Qupé Syrah we were drinking, a reliable choice from a thoroughly workmanlike, unflashy and reasonably priced (for London) wine list. The Bruno Sorg Pinot Blanc is a good pick if you want a glass of white.

This is a restaurant that does what it says on the tin. It’s a pub serving unusually good pub grub (the sausage rolls which are on the bar menu but which we had to try after seeing one wafting past are also top notch).

I suggest you go over the next couple of weeks if you can while you’re likely to find Harris in the kitchen until he moves on to his next project (he’s masterminding a number of restaurant makeovers in his new role as chef/director of Harcourt Inns). Although he won’t be permanently at the Coach he will be there from time to time. They may not do brains when he’s not.

The Coach is at 26-28 Ray Street, London EC1R 3DJ. Starters £6.50-£9.50. Mains £14-19. Harris is also behind the menu at Three Cranes on Garlick Hill in the City which specialises in grills and steaks.

Two London restaurants you’re going to love

It’s rare to find a restaurant that excites almost universal approval but then, like buses, two come along at once. Just before Christmas everyone was raving about the new outpost of Margot Henderson’s Rochelle Canteen at the ICA. This month there’s a general love-in for Parsons in Covent Garden

What do these have in common? They’re central which certainly helps - it’s nice not to have to trek over to Hackney for once, both have a good atmosphere and friendly service but above all they serve the kind of food we all - well, maybe I’m speaking for myself - want to eat.

Parsons

First of all, Parsons, which is freshest in my mind as I ate there this week. It’s been opened by the team behind 10 cases bistrot a vin opposite (also congenial) and occupies a small white tiled room that looks as if it could have been a fishmonger in a former life. In fact, I’m told, it was once a restaurant called Diana’s Diner) The slight downside to the size is that the tables are decidedly cramped which adds extra impetus to pacing yourself and ordering two dishes at a time..

The menu is based on fish - some of which are changing daily specials though I’m thankful that the potted shrimp croquettes (is this the best incarnation yet of croquetas?) and sea trout tartare with Bloody Mary jelly (equally clever) are both on the regular menu as is the lobster mash though that had proved so popular the night we were there that it had sold out.

Other highlights were the impressively tender octopus with pork fat potatoes (basically roasties. What’s not to like?) and some fat juicy grilled prawns off the specials board. The fish pie was sound if not stellar - maybe we were just feeling miffed about the mash.

The only dish that didn’t quite work, as Fay Maschler of the Evening Standard points out, was the crab pissaladière but I liked the idea so much I felt I had to give it a go. I agree it's not quite right. The base, while authentic, is a bit heavy, it's not crabby or oniony enough and there are some weird very un-Parsons like blobs of what tasted a bit like tarragon mayo all over it. Have a second portion of the croquettes instead.

As you’d expect from its parentage the wine list is impressive, particularly for such a small place though we in fact drank quite modestly (a carafe of Xarel-lo - the grape that’s used to make Cava). And then had to have two more glasses. We should have ordered a bottle.

As is the way with small plates you can run up quite a bill (in our case £108.56 for two) but you don’t have to eat as much as we did - though I warn you you probably will.

Rochelle Canteen at the ICA

At Rochelle Canteen’s it’s the pies that have attracted the attention - the rabbit and bacon pie in particular .Why is it so good? The nostalgia of the concept, the smoky flavour of the bacon which tastes as if it’s been hacked from a flitch that’s been hanging in an outhouse for weeks, the crisp, crunchy texture of the suet crust pastry and just the right proportion of filling to lid. It’s a madly generous portion for one

Margot Henderson cooks the sort of big-flavoured food I yearn for (her Turkish coffee cake from her wonderful cookery book You’re all Invited is one of my dessert staples).

We also tucked into a perfect plate of fresh radishes with smoked cods roe, fluffy salted hake croquettes with a punchy saffron mayonnaise, a simply marvellous Jerusalem artichoke, salsify and watercress salad (the perfect winter salad) and braised fennel sausages and polenta. No surprise then that we didn’t have room for a pud though we were sorely tempted by both the quince, meringue and cream and the pear and almond tart.

The white-painted room verges on the austere - very reminiscent of St John (same design team I wonder?). A lovely light for instagramming I confess I immediately thought (shame on me) followed swiftly by how perfectly it fits into the ICA.

The wine list oddly isn’t anything to write home about - or wasn’t when I went in November. Quite short, not much choice by the glass, just the house wine. They could expand that a bit given a lot of people will be lunching there midweek and might not want to sink a whole bottle. On the other hand you might. Go anyway …

I ate at Rochelle Canteen as a guest of the restaurant but guessing food would be about £30-35 a head if you weren't too greedy

Pastaiao and the new pasta craze

If you want to open a new restaurant serve pasta. That seems to be the formula for success these days.

It started with Padella in Borough market which, excellent though it is, still somewhat incomprehensibly attracts long queues of customers who brave wind and rain for a plate of cacio e pepe - the pasta du jour for the majority of the cool new pasta joints.

Other on-trend places are Padella's parent restaurant Trullo and the bar at Luca in St John Street where I had a spectacularly good pasta with pistachio pesto the other day.

In Bristol we have the much heralded Pasta Loco and Bombolini up the Gloucester Road which is the epitome of a warm, welcoming Italian family restaurant, albeit run by a Brit.

But why is pasta the focus all of a sudden? I mean we all cook pasta at home (though less than we used to apparently) Why do we want it when we go out?

Well, because we're being offered better pasta than we could possibly make ourselves for one thing: what one might almost call - and i’m sure someone will - gastro pasta. It feels more healthy than burgers (though may well not be depending on the sauce) and it makes for a cheaper - and more comforting - meal than the typical small plates experience.

From the restaurateur’s point of view it’s certainly a win. the ingredients are generally low cost, it doesn’t involve expensive kit like a pizza oven. and you can get customers in and out within the hour (which is maybe why starters and puds are often underwelming. They don’t want you to linger)

Anyway a friend and I gave one of London's latest, Stevie Parle's Pastaio a quick road test this week on its first full day’s opening and found the pasta all a hard core pasta fan could wish for. Cacio e Pepe, with fat bucatini was suitably peppery, a special of loosely folded agnolotti, stuffed with grouse and rabbit and bathed in a luxuriantly buttery sauce even better. Most of the pasta (though maybe not the bucatini?) is made on the spot

But - pace my theory above - the starters were nothing to write home about: an undercooked red pepper stuffed with a slightly watery tomato and an underpowered castelfranco (a kind of radicchio) pomegranate and pecorino salad were both disappointing as was a delicious-sounding cannoli with ricotta, orange, saffron and pistachio which failed to live up to its billing. You’d be better off, if you crave something sweet, with the refreshing clementine sorbet.

I’m sure those elements will improve - Parle is an experienced restaurateur and these are early days - but that said, pasta - and a good glass of wine - is what to go to a pasta restaurant for. Don't necessarily try and turn it into a three course meal.

Pastaio is in 19 Ganton Street, just off Carnaby Street.

Magpie: smart bar food for wine lovers

With dozens of restaurants opening every week in London what do you do to stand out from the crowd? The answer, it seems from James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy's recently opened Magpie in Heddon Street, is to pretend you’re a Chinese restaurant and wheel around the menu on a trolley.

It’s a logical extension of the small plates formula with the advantage that you can see what’s on offer. The downside (although obviously not a problem for them) being that you want to order everything.

The flurry of trays and trolleys combined with a natural British reluctance to say no to anything in case it might seem rude may well result in your having more plates than you can reasonably eat. I found I’d ordered £30 of food within half an hour then tried to slow the pace with the result that they stopped bringing me anything and I had to call over the waitress and order off the menu like you would anywhere else.

Still, all restaurants have teething problems with delivery, especially in an establishment this innovative. The food, however, is smart and clever - Magpie is from the same stable as the Michelin starred Pidgin in Hackney. I loved their take on a caesar salad (below) with Japanese style eel instead of anchovy, the crisp element of croutons replaced by nori fried in tempura. Trout with grapes and quinoa almost converted me to that over-hyped grain. Oysters were boldly partnered with chicharron (crispy pork skin) and apple, a combination so good you wonder why it hasn't been done more often.

There’s an occasional WTF? dish like the fried chicken ‘coq au vin’ and the strange electric blue curaçao granita topping an otherwise appealing Jamaican pepper polenta cake with raspberries and yoghurt which I see has now disappeared from the menu, but in general there are many more hits than misses. You might possibly want to order the steak tartare that other reviewers have been raving about, a bargain at £7.

Great value wines

The other strong suit is a short but extremely well curated and well priced wine list. The three wines I tried (OK drank) by the glass - a dry German riesling, a cinsault rosé and a refosco (light Italian red from Friuli) were all exemplary - the latter two at just £4.50 a glass. They appeared to have been thoughtfully chosen for the food rather than to pander to label spotters. The riesling - a Schloss Marienlay from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt was an inspired choice for the oysters as I noted in my match of the week a fortnight ago.

Like most restaurants it pays to know how and when to use them. Given its location just off Regent Street Magpie would be a perfect place to go to after an early evening event in the West End when you don’t really want a full meal but fancy a couple of light dishes and a decent glass or two of wine. Or for a light lunch when you’ve got a 5 course dinner in the evening.

You just need to overcome your British reserve and steel yourself say no to the persuasive pushers of those trollies. Well, you would in a Chinese, wouldn’t you?

Magpie is at 10 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BX. Tel 020 3903 9096. They are apparently now open for breakfast too.

I should perhaps reveal that I know James well but I didn’t call him first and paid my own way. (£69.75 for 5 dishes and 3 glasses which was probably a little indulgent for one!)