Jo Lives To Eat

Sod’s law is a bitch.  Isn’t it?  Weeks and weeks I’ve been waiting to go to Pollen Street Social and the day before I get ill with the most horrid cold I’ve had in ages.  Bugger.  I wasn’t about to cancel it as I was going with my dear Mum who was visiting me from Newcastle…..and paying (obviously).  So, I had to buck up, dowse up and sniff up a load of drugs to try and enjoy myself.

The social is aptly named as the main room of the restaurant is a bit like a canteen.  The tables are very close together and while my Mother didn’t like it for being too loud, I actually like being near to other customers and hearing their conversations.  The restaurant is very simple, modern and clean with a few nice touches of interior lighting and random art.  However, with the prep bar being at one end of the room, it would kind of look like a furniture showroom if you removed the dining tables. 

Comfortable and 10% snot-free we had a look at the menus.  There is a very reasonable set lunch for £25.50 for 3 courses that my Mum and I both indulged in.  Mum started with an asparagus salad that came with Colchester brown crab, pomelo and coriander. I’m not a fan of crab but Mum said it was fresh out the sea and very tasty.  The pomelo had been freeze dried and was deliciously crunchy.

 I decided to start with something a little more adventurous, a scallop ceviche that came with cucumber, radish, apple and a soy dressing.  It looked like a sculpted piece of art that I almost hesitated in digging in to.  Initially I thought that the tastes might be a little too weak for my deterred cold-ridden taste buds to detect but in fact, all the subtle flavours came through really well.  The sharpness of the soy dressing and radish, mixed with the coldness of the scallops and apples made something that was a lovely piquant sweetness.

We both had the same main course – rack of salt marsh lamb, crispy lamb belly on seaweed, pea puree and asparagus.  It was divine in every way.  Although, I’m not sure the crispy lamb belly needed a whole bowl to itself, on a bed of inedible seaweed.  I thought that was a little pretentious and pointless.  Nevertheless, the rest was stunning.  The lamb was beautifully pink and soft with some crispy edges I enjoyed nibbling.  A truly British dish with seasonal colours and flavours.

 The pre-dessert palette cleaner was a pineapple and lime granite with a lychee foam.  I would have been quite happy to have that as a light dessert.  It was as it should be – fruity, fresh, cold and clean.

It clearly would have been far too refined of us not to have desserts, so we indulged gluttonously on a cheese plate and a calorie disaster of chocolate.  This was a pave that came with almond ice-cream and pink praline.  It looked supremely rich but in reality it was very edible, especially with the subtle ice-cream flavour.

All in all a superb lunch and as I had hoped, Jaston Atherton’s cooking is similar to that of Marcus Waerings’ – clean, elegant and fuss-free, rather unlike the overly rich food of their mentor Gordon Ramsay.   I will most definitely go to the Social again.