The best things the CODE team ate this week: 21 August 2020

Myrtle

At Myrtle, head chef Anna Haugh cooks European cuisine with strong Irish influences and uses as much Irish produce as she can. The food is exquisite, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to discover lesser-known Irish ingredients and dishes; Cáis Na Tíre cheese, for example, is made from sheep’s milk in Ireland but made and aged in the same way as Pecorino. We tried boxty dumplings too: a classic Irish potato pancake stuffed with slow-cooked beef. Another star of the show was the freshly baked soda bread served still warm alongside a good slab of Irish butter – all decidedly hard to beat. Myrtle is taking part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme for the rest of August, and also serve an excellent value mid-week lunch menu.
Minna Gabertas, partners & memberships

Union Street Café

New York-style in design with tall windows and a distressed industrial feel, Union Street Café is owned by Gordon Ramsey but you wouldn’t know it. It is billed as an Italian restaurant and the simple, rustic-style cooking met my expectations. There are large, tender anchovies swimming in spicy olive oil to be mopped up with chewy bread, a fine selection of pasta dishes – my favourite a saffron infused Bolognese coating fluffy pillows of gnocci. Secondi is also a real treat, particularly the pork loin and octopus dishes that were on the menu that day. It was quiet when I visited on a weekday afternoon, lacking the typical hubbub of the lunchtime city worker trade. Despite this, the service, food and experience were all excellent – it’s good to be back in dining rooms.
Ed Pettifer, events and marketing manager

Chotto Matte

Heading out on a drizzly Wednesday evening we were glad to see the rain had failed to dampen Soho’s buzz. Winding through Frith street we arrived at Chotto Matte and entered in dazed amazement. The vast space is dimly lit but bright with colour, thrumming with music and from months in lock-down certainly the closest thing I’ve seen to a nightclub. We were welcomed and led to a table upstairs from which we could watch endless exciting and intriguing dishes fly around us from the open kitchen. Spoilt for choice with the menu and still slightly awestruck we went for one of the Nikkei set menus, deciding to leave the difficult choosing to someone more knowledgeable! Arriving in slick procession, a whopping 9 dishes came our way, each with its own bravado and drama, and each as delicious as the last. The Spicy Tuna O.N.M had to be a favourite followed shortly by the Asado de Tira. A place of cheery revelry and fun (something I think we all deserve a strong dose of at the moment!), the evening was certainly one of the more exciting I’ve had in sometime.
Molly Wade, partners and memberships

CUT Out

Like many restaurants in the capital, CUT at 45 Park Lane has opened a small outdoor terrace for diners called CUT Out. The intimate setting is a nice spot to enjoy a meal of crab and lobster cocktail with a glass of Wolfgang Puck’s Californian Chardonnay followed by a USDA sirloin steak with some creamed spinach and fries.
Adam Hyman, founder

Silk Road

In my opinion, the best Chinese restaurant in London. I know there are a number I am yet to try and many offer different styles of cooking but Silk Road takes first place for me. Perhaps it is the array of skewers that start all of my meals here that puts Silk Road out in front – this time I went left of field and tried the tripe skewer, in addition to my usual order of kidney and lamb – each one sprinkled in a healthy dusting of hot, blended spices. Or, perhaps, it could be the incredibly tender braised aubergine dish that steals my heart each visit, the deliciously wrapped dumplings or the mammoth bowls of belt noodles that sit atop tables around the restaurant. I think it is evident that I am obsessed, risky business when you’re flat is just around the corner!
Ed Pettifer, events and marketing manager

Tripe, fish, lamb and kidney skewers, Silk Road

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