The Clove Club, EC1V

What you need to know: The Clove Club currently holds 2 Michelin Stars. The restaurant offers a short (5 course) tasting menu, and a longer (8 course tasting menu), with wine pairings available for both. It’s a nice idea to stop by early for a drink at the bar. The truffle supplement is generous and well worth considering.

NOTE: In this review I have put in brackets, the Michelin Star ratings I feel each course deserves (-/*/**/***)

Verdict: My most recent visit to The Clove Club was my third, having visited both before and after the first Michelin Star. My past visits had given me the confidence to kick off this third, 2 star visit in style – with the 8 course tasting and truffle supplement. The tasting started with a summer herb broth, bursting with notes of parsley, chive, tarragon and chervil. Clean, yet warming (**). After this arrives a cheese gougere. The flavours are mild and buttery, the gougere is served warm inside and pairs perfectly with Champagne (*).

The menu has been elevated since my last visit – although I was disappointed the famous fried chicken with hay has recently been taken off menu (a course so good you could have opened an entire spin-off restaurant based on this concept). The replacement – a pollock pakora – was allegedly seasoned with “Indian spices” that were so mild they were barely recognisable, and served with a lime yoghurt that didn’t taste much of lime. This plate simply couldn’t compete with the legendary fried chicken, the taste of which is still etched in my memory (-). The third amuse bouche was a gazpacho granita with melon, ham jelly and almond (-). This was a pleasant tasting course, but I didn’t think the flavours were particularly distinctive, and it followed suit with the rest of the start of the meal which consisted of a lot very mild, muted flavours – quite unlike my previous visit.

The chilled salad of charcoal grilled aubergine, brown crab, ginger and cinnamon oil, had a great balance of acidity, and was well seasoned with an outstanding quality of crab. I did question the idea of smoky aubergine with the crab but it made for an unusual but delicious combination (**). The plate was finished with a mellow brown crab bisque, that was greedily soaked into the house sourdough That The Clove Club make each morning. One of my favourite plates was the raw Orkney scallop with hazelnut, clementine and truffle. The crunch of hazelnut balanced the silky scallop and woody mushroom, and the truffle was powerful without dominating the more delicate flavours on the plate (**). Following this was the sardine sashimi, with ginger and chrysanthemum glaze sat on horseradish and a potato crisp. This is a brave, ballsy course delivering big, complimentary flavours.  The sardine also arrives with a soup made from the head and offcuts from the sardine – something like a sardine bisque – that is an absolute delight to sip (*).

Native Cornish lobster with gooseberry and summer berries, slightly lacked balance. The acidity and sweetness from the fruit left the lobster struggling slightly, it was nethertheless was a competent and enjoyable restaurant-y dish (*). Next was the Hazelwood grilled red mullet which arrived at the table on a small grill over hot coals. The sweetcorn sauce and puree, in combination with the smoke gave this course an almost southern-state flavour profile. The plate was finished with a little pastry that was buttery and delicious, but wasn’t fully in harmony with the rest of the plate (*). The Slow roast Lincolnshire chicken was a game of two halves. The crispy, deboned chicken foot, dehydrated and the texture of crackling, is to be dipped into a smooth, fatty, umami-bomb of a chicken emulsion so deeply comforting I loved to hug the bowl (**). The other chicken plate was less successful – the breast was slightly overcooked, and the plate as a whole under seasoned (-). 

The palate cleanser is a grilled habanero granita, with sheeps milk mousse and plum sorbet. This is an innovative and vibrant plate – refreshing and with perfect balance (*).  I allowed myself to be tempted by the truffle supplement, which unusually appeared as a dessert. The warm potato mousse with truffle was an elegant beast of a pudding that somehow made sense despite the savoury ingredients. My waitress appeared in a particularly generous mood – a dazzling quantity of potent truffle was shaved over caramel ice cream sat in warm potato mousse. My only reservation was the provenance of the truffles, which were winter truffles with bags of flavour but sadly sourced from Australia. I thought it not in keeping with the standards of a 2 Star restaurant, most of which practice hyper-seasonality to ship this type of ingredient out of season from half way across the world (*).

I was not offered a cheese course or dessert wine. The final dessert was apricot sorbet with apricot kernel mousse, popcorn and amaranth. This was a light ending to the tasting, with a concentrated popcorn flavour, but lacked sophistication and visual refinement (-). Petits fours were a quarter strawberry glazed with vermouth and ginger, and a dark ginger chocolate. This I felt was a lacklustre end to a 2 Star meal, the strawberry was hard to pick up and very  poorly presented and the chocolate quite average, and again not sharply finished. The amuse bouches could be vastly improved (-). 

The atmosphere in the restaurant is a laid back luxury, with diners mostly consisting of Guardian readers and fine dining novices. This is a new school fine dining restaurant – staff are well trained, well versed in the menu, and committed to good service. The Clove Club experience in my estimation is more of the top end of a 1 star, than a true 2 star experience (dry chicken and messy petits fours cannot be forgiven at 2 Star level). The changes to the menu have not improved the overall experience. No plates were a miss, although some were not as refined as they could have been. Ultimately I would definitely return, but will have my expectations managed in order to enjoy and accept The Clove Club for what it really is – a modern and innovative 1 Michelin Star Restaurant.

Sabrina Goodlife.