Last Updated on March 6, 2024
A 2-Star is Born
It’s raining. No. Scrub that. A biblical-level downpour is threatening to wash away all known human life in the Bermondsey area. Somehow I’ve got to navigate my way to Trivet, where I’m meeting Fiona for lunch. I’m at London Bridge station about to be engulfed in a vertical tsunami of dirty London rainwater. Citymapper thinks I’m in Helsinki and Google Maps is proposing a route that pirouettes through the backstreets like a penguin on acid and avoids the restaurant entirely.
Eventually, I arrive. Fiona is looking annoyingly dry and I’m not. Trivet has a warm, contemporary feel. You might call it mid-century modernist if you were so inclined, with Scandi-influenced light wooden floors and tables. There is a hint of industrial design with rough concrete walls and pillars and there’s an open kitchen with the chefs choreographed to a cool 50s jazz soundtrack. Trivet has just won a 2nd Michelin star and is justifiably very pleased with itself.
The restaurant is helmed by an all-star duo; there’s chef Jonny Lake who was Executive Head Chef of The Fat Duck Group, and his partner Isa Bal who was Head Sommelier at Heston Blumenthal’s iconic restaurant as well as having won the Best Sommelier of Europe award. To avoid London Unattached’s immediate financial collapse we swerve the à la carte menu opting for a selection of dishes from the lunch menu, which, after a cursory inspection, seems more rooted in the French bourgeois culinary tradition than Heston-inspired whimsical reinventions. The lunch menu lacks the signposting that most restaurants use. Instead, there are small groups of dishes huddled together; they could be denoted as being snacks, starters, main dishes and sides, but maybe that’s too prosaic for a restaurant of this level of ambition. Many plates are available in smaller or larger portions which adds to the informality.
To kick things off we order a couple of snacks and a starter to share. Green ‘Colossal’ olives, infused with intense burnt lemon and oregano flavours, didn’t live up to their billing. Crackers were tarted up prawn crackers with posh flavours; purple cabbage with mustard, onion with sumac and beetroot with sushinoko vinegar powder. They were pleasant enough but not hugely exciting.
Much more engaging was a plate of lightly cured sea bass and red gurnard. Dressed in a subtle Cappezzana olive oil, and with the snap of Quinoa crackers, the crunch of salsify and a lively emulsion of mint and ginger, this was a gently sophisticated dish. To match our starters Fiona was drinking a glass of Kiraly Dulo, 2021 from Tokaj and made from the Furmint grape. With flavours of lime and white fruit it was fresh and complex. My AOC Saint Mont was a blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Arrufiac; slightly pungent with dried fruit aromatics to the fore.
Ray wing à la Grenobloise (a take on a meunière sauce) was a satisfying dish with a fabulous mouth feel. The floured fish was robustly cooked in butter with grapefruit segments and capers adding acidity and croutons giving each mouthful some welcome crunch.
Fiona loved the tender meat of her chicken Coq au vin blanc (like pulled chicken – is that a thing?); there was some high-concept buttery mash to mop up chestnut mushrooms and small sweet pearl onions in a delicate rich sticky jus. A glass of a light Greek red, Oenofilos Parparoussis 2016, made from a blend of Mavrodaphne and Agiorgitiko was bursting with red cherry flavours and was a lovely match with the chicken. We ordered some sides which we didn’t really need.
Triple-cooked homemade French fries with onion ketchup were an obvious nod to Heston. Grilled purple sprouting broccoli was dressed with mustardy Isot pepper.
A beautifully plated dessert saw the gentle sourness of poached Yorkshire rhubarb, served with a pistachio ice cream and pistachio crumb and a yoghurt and mint tablet. There was a touch of drama at the end of the meal when our charming waiter expertly side-swiped my coffee cup so that its contents ended up in my lap. He was non-plussed and suitably contrite as this kind of thing isn’t meant to happen in a 2-star restaurant. I was more soaked through than before – it’s a good thing that I was wearing jeans rather than my white rhinestone jumpsuit…and in the interests of full disclosure, Trivet comped us the dessert.
I enjoyed our trip to Trivet. I was expecting something much more high-concept. To my surprise, the main dishes were spectacularly delivered bourgeois classics with some very interesting wines which made the trip to Bermondsey more than worth it. It’s not cheap but the lunch offer is no more expensive than lots of places in town. We need to support excellence so give yourself a treat.
36 Snowsfields,
London Bridge
London. SE1 3SU
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