More great British food: The Clove Club

I have for some time owed you a description of yet another meal I enjoyed while in London, a meal I mentioned in a post about the first day of the London WorldCon. That dinner was at The Clove Club, and it, like my meal at The Ledbury, proved that truly great British food is readily available today.

The Clove Club is relatively new, but in its short life it as already become a hot spot and earned a ranking of number 88 from the folks who assemble the lists behind The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants. Chef Isaac McHale drew on his time at The Ledbury and his work doing pop-ups and other foodie events to create a restaurant that manages to combine the friendly atmosphere of a no-frills pub with upscale, wonderful cuisine that relies heavily on British ingredients.

The menu is fixed; you get what they want to serve.  To some, this is off-putting.  I love it.  The night our group was there, we chose the extended menu.

Click an image to see a larger version.

The snacks were lovely, rustic, and delicious.  Check out a few of them.

One bit, often a single bite, per person, each one scrumptious, each one different from all the others.

I won't go through all the courses, but I must note that the grouse were among the first of the season, and they were delicious.  The chefs showed us the birds before carving.

We then each received a plate of our own

and one with shared bits.

The different cuts of the birds were, as you'd expect, very different in flavor, but all were delicious.

Back when I worked for a company with offices in Britain, I would tease them often about the food.  Were I to run into them today, I would offer myself as a strong advocate of the fact that great British food is indeed on offer all over London from talented chefs working with local ingredients--just as similar great food is now available almost anywhere.

Should you be in London, I highly recommend The Clove Club.