IN SHORT:
- Food: 9/10
- Service: 9/10
- Atmosphere: 9/10
- Overall: 9/10
THE DETAIL:
Each year Christmas seems to take one step backwards and steal a little bit more of November to the cries of ‘too soon!’, yet now that it’s dark by 4:30 the leaden skies seem all too ready for the sparkle of the lights. And when it comes down to it there’s nowhere in London that does Christmas better than Covent Garden.
In the southwestern corner of the piazza stands 3 Henrietta Street, a five-storey grade 2 listed townhouse that has been taken over by chefs Marks Greenaway and Luis Pous as a culinary hub. There’s a pizza restaurant on the ground floor (see my review of Doughnation), the Hawaiian street food of El T’Koy in the basement, and Pivot Bar and Bistro on the first floor in a gorgeous dark salmon pink room with open kitchen and an intimacy that is hard to equal. It also enjoys a superb view of the piazza and St Paul’s church, including the soon-to-be-lit Christmas tree.
As for festive menus, they’re a mixed bag and often don’t try too hard. However, there’s a clarity to Greenaway’s take on this gathering of flavours that I really appreciate. Contrasts of texture, moments of bright colours and carefully curated seasoning combined with portions that weren’t daunting made this a real treat and, with only four starters, five mains and four puds to choose from, it makes for easy ordering – which went like this:
Starters
Cream of curried parsnip soup comes complete with chips of parsnip and roast slices of chestnut. And I could eat this all day. As a flipside we tried the smoked salmon, with capers, crème fraiche and baby watercress which was correct yet unremarkable and would have benefitted from a side of blinis or toasted sourdough.
Mains
Although it was on the menu I save turkey for The Day, so we chose the beef and a lamb shank pie. The former was in fact a 28 day aged Aberdeen steak, which was cooked to perfection and served with peppercorn sauce and truffle mash around which were perched carrots and parsnips, and par-boiled and seared sprouts. We changed ends at half time so I could try the pie. The pastry was voluminously puffed and the lamb in a red wine sauce was sweet and tender. I would recommend they use a shallower pie tin though as it made what was a perfect portion appear tight. It was accompanied by rosemary mash with additional sides of tarragon parsnips and buttered tender-stem broccoli with the added crunch of roast almond flakes.
Puddings
The Christmas pudding was fabulous, served with a brandy cinnamon sauce, and within the first bite its combination of spices dragged Advent forward a month. It sadly outshine the winter berry Pavlova in salted caramel though, which, while also good wasn’t as outstanding.
If you are a believer in Christmas menus then this one is a cracker, and I reluctantly admit I’m glad we went off early this year. My next visit will be to tick off their Sunday Lunch since, going by last night’s dinner, it should be rather special.
Pivot bar and bistro, 3 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8LU is open 7 days a week from 11am to 11pm