Upstairs @ The Ten Bells

A visit to Jack the Ripper's old local, the Ten Bells? Don't mind if we do. So unfortunately says most of Shoreditch on a sunny evening last week, as we fight our way through the crowds quenching their summer thirst on the streets outside this famous East End pub.

We finally make it upstairs, and are greeted by a breezy waiter in the blessedly breezy second floor dining room, with fabulous statement paintings on the walls and satisfyingly chunky wooden tables. Initially a pop-up restaurant run by the Young Turks chef collective, the place has become a permanent, albeit quirky, eatery - perfect for a friend's birthday dinner.

Our waiter recommends a zingy Hendricks, vanilla and 'roasted' lemonade cocktail to start - the perfect antidote to a day of sweaty London tubes and over-heated office. We accept. And enjoy so thoroughly that we order a second...

We then tuck in to a selection of wild and forage-themed dishes, typical of the Young Turks' style. Buttermilk chicken and pine salt is cushioned by fronds of real, fragrant pine needles - KFC for forest hermits. Thin cucumber ribbons hide a creamy cheese & silky ham centre and make a refreshing morsel. I'm not a mackerel fan, but even I savour the wonderful smokey fish and pork flavour combination in the cured & smoked mackerel, pink melon, cucumber & speck.

 

 My friend goes for the plaice dish, but I make a beeline for the lamb cutlets. Oh, the lamb, in a delicious beaded, oily gravy, accompanied by my absolute obsession: stalk-on artichokes. It is cooked to perfection, just the right side of pink, and so succulent as to render me speechless for at least a few seconds.

 

 

A few more roasted lemonades later ('they're full of fruit and healthy') and we're done. The desserts do look incredibly delish and avant garde (the ewe's yogurt mousse makes us waver for a good minute or two) but we regretfully decline, in the interests of saving room for more birthday drinking later on...

What a ripper
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