Neighbours: the Explosion

‘Wild thing. You make my heart sing. You make everything… groovy.’ I’m singing this (it’s the Troggs, youngsters), not because I’m in the shower or have a hairbrush to hand, but as an ode to last night’s restaurant. A Neal’s Yard spot celebrating the best of Britain’s wild, native food. An eatery with a free spirit. As with so many of London’s most exciting new restaurants, the team started with pop-ups and street stalls before finally taking on this permanent site. In the kitchen is chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes, who was self-taught before training at the River Cottage in Devon. Front of house is Imogen Davis, who grew up in Northamptonshire, running her family falconry business (she had her own falcon – how cool is that?) and generally being a hunter-gatherer extraordinaire. The cooking is reflection of ingredients they love, plus spicing from the Med, Middle East and beyond. ‘Venison’, enthuses Imogen, ‘is on the menu all year, because we use six kinds of British deer, each of which have a different season. Right now, it’s Fallow.’ Also in season is ramsom (wild garlic), which pokes up through the menu like an unruly but delicious weed: in a fragrant broth of teeny palourde clams with pheasant and pigs’ trotter, say. ‘We never put anything on the menu that we don’t absolutely love ourselves’, she beams. Other star turns included a trendy ‘open’ kebab of pink pigeon chunks beautifully offset by lightly pickled cabbage and a harissa-spiked sweet beetroot hummus; or succulent r