Grace Dent reviews Clipstone: Hot right now and set to stay that way

Grace Dent tries Clipstone’s fusion of Japanese and French cuisine
Stark laboratory feel: Clipstone is a kind of modern French, classically influenced, Japanese-flavoured, denim-acceptable, fine dining spot
Grace Dent12 December 2017

Ambience: 4/5

Food: 4/5

Clipstone on Clipstone Street is, to my mind, hot right now. Not hot in a ‘dining downwind of Nancy Dell’Olio’ Sexy Fish way. Or hot in a Padella round-the-block-queuing for pici cacio e pepe way either. Not all hotness is made equally. In the two months since the team behind the much-beloved Portland gave birth to a sibling on the corner close to BBC Broadcasting House, Clipstone has bubbled along in my general foodie cognisance. This is due, in part, to them doing something unspeakable with a cabbage.

Actually a hispi cabbage and some sweet jammy pickled elderberries and smushed-up aubergine which, on paper, sounds like a crime against humanity, but is in fact sharply joyous. Cabbage with jam sounds like something one might be forced to eat as a dare during an exhilarating 8th birthday party game. But it is, in fact, in Clipstone’s hands, a wonder. Game-changing, even, thus the Clipstone buzz.

Still, taking a guest here could go two ways: bliss or bewilderment. There are a zillion restaurants in London one can eat at remaining unruffled, while Clipstone, on the other hand, is a kind of modern French, classically influenced, Japanese-flavoured, denim-acceptable, fine dining spot with a stark laboratory feel and warm, prompt service. Clipstone is also glass-fronted and placed so close to the Radio 4 studios that if one lingers too long over lunch, it is unavoidable you’ll spot someone sauntering past, like myself, with a face better suited to radio. The drinks list is the ‘John Peel at Fabric’ of the booze world: eccentric, eclectic and loveable; Rosemary Mules made with gin, Eva Fricke Riesling and Cellar Foot red (aged underwater). If jammy cabbage is not your bag, perhaps calves brain slathered on toast or clam pizza spread thickly with crème fraîche won’t be either. Clipstone didn’t design this menu for your out-of-town Aunt Joyce who wants to catch up after doing Madame Tussauds and only really eats mince. ‘They have pizza!’ you’d chirp hopefully, noticing the pork-shoulder pizza is festooned with dandelion and shaved fennel.

Jazz noodling: the food is played with, but tastes good

“This isn’t for your out-of-town Aunt Joyce who wants to catch up after doing Madame Tussauds and only really eats mince”

Of course, all this sharply honed faff and chef’s jazz noodling is all very well but does it taste good? Yes. A humble plate of young, fresh, battered and deep-fried leeks with a good mustardy sauce gribiche was a thing of dreams. They brought four. I could have eaten a dozen. A plate of pure white Lardo di Colonnata — cured lard — dotted with sticky caramelised walnuts resembled a lunar reconnaissance mission. It is the exact Venn-diagram intersection between remarkable and queasy-making. My dining guest ate the entire plate without blinking. Clipstone’s take on rillettes is uncompromisingly earthy and features rabbit, pork and foie gras scooped thickly onto grilled bread. A serving of heirloom tomatoes and raspberries appeared with fresh basil, and then the star of the show for me — a quarter of hispi cabbage, still wholly recognisable from its unglamorous natural state, yet now light, sticky and umami like a Japanese okonomiyaki without the pork belly. Our main, officially, was cod ‘en papillote’ with rainbow chard on miso and dulce butter, but although this was nicely executed, it was the cabbage and then a startling Paris-Brest for pudding that sticks in my mind.

The Paris-Brest is making somewhat of a comeback of late, possibly due to it being a go-to item for amateur TV chefs to weep beside with a camera pushed halfway up their nose. Clipstone is currently serving — and I’m willing to thoroughly judge — the best Paris-Brest in London. Two rounds of circular choux piped heroically full of praline, cream, hazelnuts and a glorious bottom-pinch of sea salt. Clipstone isn’t for closed minds. It’s hot right now and set to stay that way.

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1/128

Clipstone

1 Champagne £12

1 Bread £3

1 Rillettes £6

1 Lardo £6

1 Leeks £6

1 Tomatoes £6

1 Hispi cabbage £7

1 Pizza £12

1 Cod £16

2 Glasses of wine £9.50

1 Paris-Brest £7

1 Espresso £2.50

Total £93

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