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Heading up this pretty little restaurant in Stoke Newington is the chef and broadcaster Andi Oliver, of ‘Great British Menu’ judging fame. If you’re of a certain age, you might remember her as one part of the punk band Rip Rig + Panic. If you’re a millennial, you’ll know her as Miquita Oliver’s mum. She’s great, basically, which makes it more of a shame that the food here really isn’t.
The short menu has plenty of creative twists (savoury aubergine ‘baklava’, carrot falafel), but the main problem was that everything was very, very rich. Best of the bunch was a steak tartare served with deliciously bitter, dark ‘marmite soldiers’ and topped with raw egg. The worst were strangely raw cauliflower fritters, which came in a puddle of runny Thai curry, and scarily buttery shrimp and grits. It’s the kind of food that makes you long for steamed green vegetables.
Things were remedied a little by dessert, a dark chocolate olive oil cake, which I ate in Andi’s lovely fairy-lit garden. This little green bolthole alone would make a trip worthwhile. Go, but consider sticking to pudding.