Distinctive mix of Middle Eastern flavours with a Western twist, Israeli born Yotam Ottolenghi frames himself to having the best salads in London. Already owning four restaurants within London I went to the Islington deli, simply called Ottolenghi.
I even got a chance to meet Yotam and Sami Tamimi in person at Food Bloggers Connect this year.
The restaurant interior is very simple, a deli by the front with an array of tasty bakery sweet treats and a colourful all sorted salad selection. Plain white tables fit the mood, and shows off the vibrant colourful dishes well.
A platter of assorted bread was presented, breads I never even tried before. One with black specks of ground pepper, another somewhat chilli.
Between the eight of us we ordered two dishes each, but shared everything amongst us. Caramelised candid peaches, chunks of Roquefort milk blue cheese, spicy pecans with mixed bitter leaves.
Smeared apple and cauliflower puree, filled with bright orange Chana Dal, carrots and black radish pickle. Topped with a pan-fried Pollock, it was the sharp flavours from the apple that made it memorable for me.
The next dish came in a contrasting scale of greens covering orange sticks of roasted carrots, and garden peas. This one had to more of sweet dish, from the carrots and honey, orange dressing.
Poached lobster came in four big hunks of meaty bites, along with green tomatoes, citrus sharp lime salsa and pickled cucumber.
Five spiced quails cooked until both sides have grilled marks with a pink inside. Tasted familiar to the Asian flavours use to having. To add drama to the plate, a combination of rhubarb and apple salsa with pickled yellow mustards seeds.
I find roasted belly pork turns up along a lot of restaurants, instead of the usual apple pairing. It’s pear, pickles, prawns and chilli sambai with some pak choi.
This was the end of the savouries and it was time to make room for the after, the display had too many choices and the most moody person was guarding them. She couldn’t wait to get rid of us, talking fast gave an attitude and kept implying we had to order from our table.
I picked one of the fancier looking ones; a nice looking sponge topped with forest berries and halved passion fruit.
Overall Ottolenghi experience was a fantastic one; besides the moody women at the shop front the service was good. Ottolenghi plays well with norm looking dishes, with full of surprising drama and creative flavour combinations. Its no wonder everyone goes on about the salads.
287 Upper Street
London N1 2TZ
Tel: 020 7288 1454
{google_map}287 Upper Street
London N1 2TZ{/google_map}
