I had a lot of fun during my recent visit to Granger & Co Clerkenwell. Aussie restauranteur Bill Granger’s latest restaurant in a selective global portfolio – which includes a well established eatery in Notting Hill along with outlets in Sydney, Tokyo, and Hawaii – features a playfully palate pleasing menu served in a comfortable and lavishly spacious dining room. Here are a few highlights from my dinner.
Granger & Co is an ideal venue for special occasions that you still want to retain something of a casual air. The space itself impressed me upon my entrance and throughout my meal with its clean line deisign, shear size and zero clutter. Service was efficient and helpful without being too cordial. And the menu was an absolute winner.
Self taught cook Granger’s kitchen yields decidedly comfort food fare skewed toward the Asian side of the Pacific and could possibly come across as overly contrived and a little wacky … until you actually take a bite of what’s offered. A perfect example is the rather-odd-sounding-but-believe-me-it’s-actually-delicious bonito, tofu, potato and parmesan pizza (£12), which I found was an excellent choice for sharing. The multi-napkin-necessary “small plate” of Korean fried chicken with iceberg lettuce, spring onion and chilli sesame (£8.50) was a good one for passing round the table as well.
A little less easy to share but nonetheless a tasty tuck was the shrimp burger with jalapeño mayo, shaved radish salad, and sesame gochujang (£15). A relatively more run-of-the-mill dish of sticky chilli belly pork with spring onion salad (£17.20) was an exceptionally pleasurable mound of deliciousness as well.
I wouldn’t say an accompanying bottle of Momo 2012 Marlborough Pinot Noir wowed, but it certainly more than satisfied and held steady without faltering across a range of menu items.
Prices were pretty expensive but quality was high and the concept was big on fun without being crass or cheesy.
Just round the corner from Clerkenwell Green in a spot that’s a pleasure to settle into as a diner but might prove difficult to draw in enough customers to keep up a sustainable trade, Granger & Co is located at 50 Sekforde Street, EC1R 0HA.
Find out more at grangerandco.com.
