db eats: Eastside Inn

Eastside Inn caters for two different audiences, it’s a French bistro to the left and a fine dining restaurant to the right.

The bistro has 55 covers, the restaurant has 34. It sounded as though the bistro was quite busy – the two spaces are semi-connected by an open plan kitchen, and each has its own entrance on St John Street in central London.

My guest and I occupied the only two covers reserved in the restaurant. So 32 were empty – never a good feeling. On the other hand both the chef and later his wife came to say hello and chat. He offered a three course “mystery menu” if you wanted to be surprised. We did not.

The à la carte menu had about six entrées, six main courses and six desserts as well as a cheese platter of three cheeses with an optional wine pairing. Everything looked so inviting that it was hard to select but finally, we both opted for the scallops and the grouse.

Before the scallops arrived, three amuses bouches were served and all three were excellent. The scallops were very creative: scored as you do to cook squid or octopus, so very tender, and served in a consommé with the roe as a starting point for flavour with black radish on the side.

My first grouse of the season had been overcooked at the Travelers’ Club, but this one was fabulous; delightfully pink as it should be, served off the bone on a bed of bread sauce, accompanied only by watercress and a sublime sauce that had been created by all of the grouse’s offal.

The restaurant’s young, French sommelier isThierry Sauvanot. The wine list is great with a nice selection by the glass and you can also have a pichet, as at Arbutus.

The fine wine selection by the bottle is excellent for so young a restaurant, with some bottles going back to late ‘90s and 2000.

After a glass of Deutz we had a lovely glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, and with the grouse a 2000 Grand Cru Mazis Chambertin that was fairly priced at £160.

The wines and cheese pairing showed the creativity of the sommelier, although the master of this is Roberto at Restaurant Roussillon.

Would we go back? Why yes, and I do hope that others book. At the end of the meal, the chef and his wife came back to chat.

We decided that he had cooked the grouse sous vide…he said no, that he had tried all the trendy El Bulli stuff, but had gone back to the basics of French cooking.

I am going to eat there, either at the bistro or restaurant, when I have meetings in the City.

Jazz fans should note the Eastside Inn jazz evenings adding a bit of swing to the London autumn. Full details of the line-up are yet to be confirmed, but keep an eye on the website for more information.

Eastside Inn
40 St John Street,
London
EC1M 4AY

Bistro: +44 (0)207 490 9240
Restaurant: +44 (0)207 490 9230
www.esilondon.com

Nights Out on Tuesday, 06.10.2009