Words Hannah Hopkins

Anglo

As the temperature drops and autumn kicks in, the thought of holing up in a restaurant for hours, with delicious food and a bottle of wine becomes even more appealing. If you’re bookmarking places to visit this season, Anglo should be top of the list. Headed up by Mark Jarvis, a Le Manoir graduate who was previously head chef at Bingham in Richmond and Jack Cashmore, previously of Sat Bains and In De Wolf in rural Belgium, there are some seriously starry credentials behind Anglo, and it shows.

Based just off Hatton Garden, the dining room has only 40 seats, low-hanging lights with copper accents and simple decor. The resulting mood is non-fancy Nordic, designed to the let the food do the talking.

There is only a tasting menu at dinner, which is refreshing for two reasons. Firstly it takes the hard work out of having to decide what to eat (ordering fatigue is a real problem for regular restaurant-goers in London) and secondly the menu changes weekly, meaning each time you return you’re bound to have something new and exciting. This autumn, keep your eye out for the special game dishes. At £45 for seven courses, plus introductory snacks and crunchy sourdough bread smothered with fluffy fermented yeast butter (as good as it sounds), it’s also incredibly good value given the standard of cooking.

The place is full even on a cold, windy Monday night and once the dishes start arriving we settle in for the long-haul. Each small but beautifully presented plate is thoughtful, creative and packed with flavour. Some are even delivered to you by the chefs, who give you a brief explanation of each dish. Among the highlights are a snack of burnt leek tartlet, which looked and tasted otherworldly, a simple but powerful combination of mushroom with cep custard, a perfectly cooked Creedy Carver duck with duck tartlets and a cheese-festooned malt loaf with onion chutney.

Of all three (yes, three) desserts the blackberry sorbet, mascarpone and dark chocolate was a heavenly combination which had even this non-sweet fan scrabbling for seconds. You can opt for a wine flight for an additional £30 or simply have a few glasses – the Berry Bros offerings, including a gorgeous Riesling, are a particular favourite. Despite having seven courses we left just the right level of full, and slightly in awe of this technically accomplished food, which is bound to intrigue London’s serially wined and dined.

30 St Cross Street, EC1N

Visit anglorestaurant.com