We got well and truly lost trying to find Craft London as I had no idea where exactly the Greenwich Peninsular was. This new restaurant from Stevie Parle, who’s the man behind Rotorino and The Dock Kitchen, is in fact slap bang next to the O2 Arena. It’s not an area particularly known for its food offerings, unless you like a good Harvester that is.
Location aside, it’s a pretty little spot designed by Tom Dixon no less, so it’s all very well thought out. And there’s a view of the O2 Arena from your table. 👍
We started with three snacks; a particularly good wild pigeon pastry (£7.50), a lovely cured English lop pepper sausage (£7) and an Einkhorn drop scone topped with duck liver parfait (£4.50). The latter was a little soggy for me, the parfait could have done with something a little firmer to counterbalance it.
From the starters, scallops (£14) were in fact scallop; for 14 quid I would have hoped for more than just one. Beautifully plump though and perfectly cooked, it was sitting atop an intriguing four grain porridge studded with mussels and clams.
Smoked and grilled eel (£12.50) let the eel be the star of the show – and it needed to be as there was hardly anything else on the plate.
The mains also seemed to lack an extra ingredient to make a complete dish. My Hampshire pork loin (£22) was exquisite but it needed something else to bring it to life. The same for the wood grilled monkfish (£29) and the butter poached turbot (£30); proper good cooking but they just lacked a certain something.
The fireplace potatoes (£5) however lacked absolutely nothing. These were easily the crispest potatoes in the history of crispy potatoes; I would have gladly ordered another plate just for myself.
For dessert, we asked the waiter to choose the best one and he didn’t let us down. The baked nutmeg spelt pudding (£8) was a real sweet treat; like a warm, gooey rice pudding with a chewy, sugary top.
I like the idea of Craft; they’re curing their own meats, they’re growing their own herbs, they even have their own bee hives. It’s all leading towards a very bright future I don’t doubt, but right now, for the price, I was hoping for a few less faults.
3/5