A sign that the London restaurant scene is fully getting its post-lockdown mojo back again came last night with the return of the annual Croquetas Challenge. Last held in 2019, the event hosted by the Salt Yard Group was back with a bang.
After several highly competitive heats over the past weeks, seven finalists gathered at Salt Yard on Goodge Street to thrash out who would take home the 2022 trophy. Yours truly was one of the judges, alongside Tatler restaurant critic Fay Maschler, the Evening Standard's David Ellis and Foodism's Mike Gibson. Joining us was a restaurant full of the general public who were tasting and judging each of the croquetas alongside us.
As ever it was a close-run thing but there had to be winners and those were:
In third place - The Gatehouse in Highgate (from the Salt Yard Group) with a courgette and enebro cheese croqueta topped with a fried courgette flower stuffed with goats cheese and drizzled with honey.
In second place - Signature Brew in Haggerston with their ox cheek molé croqueta with avocado and fermented hot sauce which came with a coffee porter chaser.
Finally, taking home the trophy for 2022 was Shuk from Borough Market with their amazing Tel Aviv spiced beef brisket croqueta with pickled red onions and pimento mayo.
The winning team will have their creation featured on the Salt Yard menu for two weeks if you want to go down and try it and £1 from each order goes to the chef's chosen charity, which in this case will be the National Autistic Society.
More about The Croquetas Challenge
Where is it? 54 Goodge St, London W1T 4NA
When? The winning croquetas will be on sale for two weeks
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @saltyardrestaurant
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