Tom Parker Bowles | The Best London Restaurants You've Never Heard Of

Confidentials 9 June 2016

AFTER fourteen pints, three bags of pork scratchings and a ragbag of lowbrow gags in The Briton's Protection, it was agreed by all parties that The Mail on Sunday restaurant critic and Esquire magazine food editor, Tom Parker Bowles, would join the swelling rank of writers here at Confidential, alongside Masterchef judge Charles Campion and the greatest and greediest pens in the North.

For his inaugural piece, we asked Tom to give our readers an insider's guide to the best London restaurants you've probably never heard of...

LONDON. You know the place. About 500 miles south of Manchester. Lots of old buildings and skyscrapers. They speak with a funny accent. Anyway, Manchester might be the centre of the known universe, but it’s not all shite down south. You may well have heard about the Capital’s gleaming stars – The River Café, Wolseley, Gavroche, Ledbury, Quo Vadis, Gymkhana and the rest – but it’s the lesser know beauties, mainly celebrating no nonsense, unmucked about, good old fashioned food, that really make London a city in thrall to its gut.

Black Axe Mangal

A tiny, no booking North London space, with little more than a pounding metal soundtrack, a huge oven, and a few scattered chairs and tables. But Head Chef Lee Tiernan’s food (he used to run St John Bread and Wine) really rocks, a mixture of Turkish, Sichuan, British and god knows what else. Hot damn, this food doesn’t just sing but belts ‘em out. And the flavour is turned up to eleven. Chilli packed goats’ offal pide, surprisingly subtle, on wonderful thin, blistered bread. Grilled hispi cabbage with shrimp paste, and pigs’ cheeks, slow cooked with scallop and crisp pig’s ear. Grub to make the heart race with greedy joy.

156 Canonbury Rd, London N1 2UP www.blackaxemangal.com

Taberna de Mercado

Nuno Mendes might now be a culinary superstar, with the likes of Viajante and Chiltern Firehouse wowing critics and glittering punters alike. But here, on the edge of old Spitalfields market, this hugely talented chef cooks the food of his homeland, Portugal, like you’ve never tasted before. The room is small, but comfortable, and dishes include migas, sourdough soaked in an ethereal, slightly boozy broth with cod, egg yolk, peas, prawns and broad beans all mixed in. Sublime. Just like a filthily dripping beef sandwich, slathered with piri piri and Portuguese mustard. And don’t miss the braised trotter and cuttlefish, wobbling, debased, reaching the headiest, most seductive heights of surf and turf. A great wine list too.

Old Spitalfields Market, 107B Commercial St, London E1 6BG www.tabernamercado.co.uk

Santo Remedio

Mexican food (the real stuff) has always had it pretty bad. Sizzling plates of cheap, stringy meat; endless sullen melted cheese, watery chilli con carne, crap tequila and a comedy sombrero. But at Santo Remedio, you get a taste of real regional Mexican tucker. Excellent blue corn tortillas, pig’s ear tacos, four kinds of home made salsa, oozing carnitas, octopus tostada and grilled ox tongue that sends the head giddy with delight. Oh, and quesadillas stuffed full with Gringa Dairy fresh Chihuahua cheese and caramelised hibiscus flowers. Plus lots of cracking tequilas and mezcal. At long last, a true taste of this magnificent country. And not a stinking chimichanga in sight.

22 Rivington St, London EC2A 3DY www.santoremedio.co.uk

Hereford Road

It may have been open for nearly a decade but standards at Tom Pemberton’s essentially British bistro never drop. Its menu is intensely seasonal, without ever shoving it down your throat, and flavour always comes first. Pemberton trained under Fergus Henderson at St John. And it shows. So wonderful ingredients are allowed to do the talking. Asparagus and gulls eggs in spring, grouse, partridges and whole oxtails as the nights draw in. The set lunch is probably the best deal in London, two courses, from potted crab and deep fried brains to hangar steak and pigeon, for under £15 bloody quid. Service is warm and switched on, the wine list short and sweet, and the whole place a West London neighbourhood institution. If you haven’t yet been, go. This is a chef, and kitchen, on consistently cracking form.

3 Hereford Rd, Westbourne Grove, London W2 4AB www.herefordroad.org

Lurra

Ok, so it’s a little larger, smarter and more expensive than the others on this list. But this Basque restaurant offers cracking value. Start with bone marrow on toast, plus Gernika peppers, similar to Padron. Sublime prawn croquettes spill their soft buttery contents all over the plate, while ceps come with egg yolk and shaved frozen foie gras. You can get whole Turbot, spankingly fresh and cooked on the bone, or a Josper charred monkfish tail. Best of all is the fourteen year old Galician steak. A great bloody hunk of the stuff, with fat so lasciviously sweet it makes the taste buds blush. Old age means serious flavour. As good as I’ve eaten anywhere. Plus crisp, golden paprika dusted chips. In short, quiet Basque brilliance.

9 Seymour Pl, London W1H 5BA www.lurra.co.uk

Six Portland Road

Both chef and front of house at this small, light drenched Holland Park restaurant used to work with the Terroirs group, the people behind Terrors and Brawn. This is very good news. Just like Six Portland Road. Food is unfussy, but beautifully sourced and cooked. Plump Brindisa anchovies, Hansen and Lydersen smoked salmon, Christian Parra Boudin Noir. They find amazing ingredients, but do very little to them. Though the kitchen has serious talent too. Cheese soaked polenta covered with St George’s mushrooms, morels, broad beans and peas, the very essence of spring, a peerless veal chop, wonderful scallops grilled with breadcrumbs and monk’s beard. No faffing about, just really good, blessedly unpretentious modern European food. Wonderful wine list too.

6 Portland Rd, London W11 4LA www.sixportlandroad.com

Som Saa

It started, like so many of the best new places do, as a pop-up. But head chef Andy Oliver trained under the great David Thompson. Which means he knows all about REAL Thai food. Rather than the emasculated, dumbed down, bland pap that passes for the real thing. The rough edges are left firmly intact, so chillies sear, fish sauce honks, and flavours not just seduce the mouth but blast it into happy submission. Fiery but fabulous nahm priks (relishes you rarely see over here), Isan style som tams, lovingly grilled pork neck, smoked trout and some wonderful curries too. But it’s not all shock and awe. There’s immense restraint when needed. And like all great regional Thai food, the whole meal is about balance. I’m a Thai freak, and this food could hold its head up high in the homeland. Food to make the senses sing with lusty, joyous aplomb.

43A Commercial St, London E1 6BD www.somsaa.com

Dinings

Another relative old timer (well, approaching its tenth birthday), and certainly not cheap. But this is probably my favourite Japanese restaurant in London, for sheer consistency and excellence. Ok, so it’s strictly Nikkei (a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian, like Nobu, where the chefs first trained), and the bill mounts up pretty sharpish. But I’ve never had a bum mouthful here. Not even an average one. Immaculate sushi and sashimi, plus yellowtail Tar Tar chips (like tartare fish tacos), ‘nasu miso’ grilled aubergine, wagyu that’s actually worth the cash, chilli garlic black cod and all manner of specials. This is the place for a blow out treat. And it never, ever disappoints.

22 Harcourt St, London W1H 4HH www.dinings.co.uk