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A cosy neighbourhood restaurant with simple decor and adventurous food, Wander is a welcome addition to Stoke Newington High Street. It’s a venture from Alexis Noble, an Australian chef who’s worked her way through notable restaurants in Sydney, New York, San Francisco and Rome. She changes the menu whenever she feels like it (almost daily) and experiments with unique ingredients and global flavours she’s picked up from her time travelling around the world.
The result? Very good food indeed. Pork belly buns with pickled watermelon rind, black vinegar and chilli oil were outrageously delicious. Equally good were cider-soaked mussels that came swimming in a spicy ’nduja broth.
The Australian influences here are subtle but ubiquitous, and particularly apparent in the desserts. Think pavlova with gin-infused strawberry and shaved wasabi, or ‘bush-spiced affogato’: lemon myrtle, aniseed and wattleseed-flavoured ice cream teamed with a shot of espresso. Wonderful. The wine list is small (and all natural, baby), featuring a couple of great Aussie chardonnays and some more experimental drops from Slovakia and Spain.
Wander is already quite special, but with a few tweaks it could become something truly great. My advice: offer a showstopper dish that stays on the menu and is good enough to keep everyone in Stokey coming back for more. The pavlova did it for me; but then again I’m an Aussie with a sweet tooth. A signature savoury with staying power, that’s all Wander really needs.