It’s always a pleasure to see folks evolve and mature. With The Golden Tooth, the duo behind puckish scenester bistro Papi have levelled up to gastro greatness.
Once a rampantly mid pub called The Leconfield, this vast Green Lanes boozer’s makeover is subtle but important. It’s fabulously roomy inside, with a designated dining area under colossal sky lights. There are a couple of discreet paintings, a few flourishing pot plants, but no wanky or unnecessary touches. Unlike Papi (which closed earlier this year, its building now home to the excellent Auguste The Golden Tooth not particularly ‘London’, it’s simply a pub; the ideal blank canvas for the regal cookery and wondrous wine choices of the Papi chappies, aka chef Matthew Scott and sommelier Charlie Carr.
This is powerful and intense food
A gin pickle martini, mellowed with a splash of elderflower, and the liquid roast dinner that is a rosemary vodka version, are greedily sipped as the first menu highlight amongst many arrives. It’s chunky beef tartare, bound together with a creamy tonnato dressing, and topped with a gleaming egg yolk. The Golden Tooth twist? Instead of traditional tuna, the tonnato is made with smoked eel, offering an unparalleled decadence. On top are some naughty summer truffle shavings, and there’s a glistening slab of beef dripping toast to pile it onto. Yet despite the indulgent ingredients, there's a playful lightness to the dish. Bury me with a bowl of it.
Next comes plump mussels resting provocatively under a silky sheet of semi-sheer lardo, like an edible take on Tracey Emin’s bed. Is it art? Well if it isn’t, the Montgomery cheddar custard tart that follows most certainly is. As wobbly as the very best Basque cheesecake, it melts into a honking pile of gooey onion soubise and walnut ketchup, which is prettified with purple garlic flowers. But frankly, we’d eat it if it looked like the contents of a bin.
This is powerful and intense food; food for sailors before they brave a rough night on the ocean. Especially when it comes to the stargazy pie, a dish born from struggle and myth and conceptually grotesque yet beautiful, with Scott’s version featuring a prawn’s head poking out of the golden pastry instead of classic sardines. It’s a paragon of pies, with nary a meatless mouthful (it’s packed with chicken as well as seafood), and pastry that’s temptingly soggy on the bottom, but remains crisp and flaky on the top. Our MVP (most valuable prawn) comes with brains still intact, so one lucky diner gets to suck them out. It’s not cheap at £52, but share it between three and you’ll still have leftovers.
Papi was good, but The Golden Tooth is truly great.
The vibe A grand boozer with space for drinkers and eaters alike.
The food Burly, flavour-packed gastropub dishes.
The drink Old school natural wine that’s as funky as a George Clinton track. Carr’s a huge fan of British wine and the bottles lean homegrown, with plenty by the glass, too.
Time Out tip The fantastic Bar Etna is around the corner. Go and prop up the bar with a £5 negroni after your dinner.