That's Cloth on the left and to the right is the oldest residential building in the City of London.
What can you tell us about Cloth?
Cloth is a new restaurant and wine bar in the City that sees two wine importers, Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth, teaming up with ex-Brawn/Lasdun chef Tom Hurst, opening in an area of town that's rich in history. Think of it as a bistro in a classic building, with a great wine list.
Where is it?
Taking the space that used to be Bowling Bird, it's just off the south side of Smithfield Market, in an area where you'll also find Restaurant St Barts and Club Gascon. If you like a bit of historical London, then this is the place for you. It's on Cloth Fair, a side street which has one of the City of London's oldest buildings on it - one that actually survived the Great Fire of London. You'll find Cloth right next door to that, a beautiful-looking piece of classic London itself. it even has a blue plaque as having once been the home of Sir John Betjeman.
If you're heading there by tube, either Farringdon or Barbican are nearest.
Where should we go for a drink first?
There are a few pubs nearby that are worth a look, notably the Three Compasses (downstairs from Bouchon Racine) if you're coming via Farringdon. Closer to the restaurant, you'll find Le Bar by Club Gascon and there's also a great wine bar around the corner, 56 Wine Bar and shop, that's also worth a look.
That said, the entrance room for Cloth is set up as a more informal room and one where you can pop in for drinks and snacks. So even if you're not heading there for dinner, if you're in the area it's definitely worth popping in for a drink or two.
A look inside the various rooms of Cloth. Each room is beautifully designed and we love the liberal use of candles throughout.
Where should we sit?
Inside Cloth, you'll find something of a warren of rooms, each adorned with candles making the whole thing notably atmospheric, particularly when night falls. Any of these spaces looked great to us, with a table near the front windows being your best bet. They'll have to work on a little bit of sound absorption in some of the rooms with larger groups, we think, but we visited pretty early and we're sure they'll be working on that.
What's on the menu?
In charge of the food here is chef Tom Hurst. He's got a very impressive CV having worked at Brawn, The Marksman, Levan, Salon and Larry’s and most recently at Lasdun inside the National Theatre as head chef. Much as you'd expect from his previous work, the menu here is all about seasonality and local produce. That said, he's put together a very accessible bistro-style menu with some real crackers on it.
The menu is loosely framed into snacks, small and larger plates, and you can approach this as both as a sharing menu, or a more standard three-course affair. With that in mind, here's what we went for.
Lincolnshire Poacher croquettes, pickled walnut (£6) - perfectly bite-sized and crispy (with a marvellously piquant walnut sauce).
Dorset crab, celeriac, almond (£15) - a dish that sounds simple but absolutely sparkles.
English asparagus, hen's egg, tarragon (£13) - highlighting the seasonality of the menu.
Their pasta game is incredibly strong too - this is Cappelletti of ricotta with pecorino, sarawak pepper and truffle (£18)
Ayrshire sirloin, Burgundy snails, pickled walnut (£80) - the most expensive dish on the menu and meant for sharing between two, this was a beautifully cooked piece of meat and the addition of chopped up snails and that rich Burgundy sauce gave it strong French overtones.
Special mention goes to some of the best chips we've had in a while; these were gloriously crunchy and seasoned with espelette pepper (£6). Even if you're just popping in for a drink and a snack, you won't go wrong with a bowl of these.
Anything else to highlight on the main menu?
Because we had the steak, we didn't manage to get to the other large dishes. What you can expect are dishes like tagliatelle of Cornish mussels or a Somerset hogget with grilled cos lettuce and smoked tongue. It's a small menu and other than the main steak dish, expect it to change regularly (it had already changed significantly from a menu we'd seen the week before). There's a good selection of vegetarian dishes on there.
And save some room for dessert?
There are two desserts alongside a selection of Neals Yard cheeses. Both of the desserts are well worth going for:
Vanilla panna cotta, gariguette strawberries (£9) - and an unbilled, but delicious shortbread biscuit.
Dark chocolate ganache, PX ice cream, chocolate and olive oil crumb (£9) - a nice light finish for a chocolate dessert and that ice cream is VERY good.
What about drinks?
Given the owners' background, it's all about the wine here. About half of the wines will come from their importer business. Joe Haynes specialises in wines from Bordeaux, Alsace, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Loire and Luxembourg while Ben Butterworth's focus is on German wine. The other half of the list comes from small, independent and sustainable producers. If you know your wine, you'll find a lot to choose from here - and if you don't, the staff here are eager to match you up with something.
Price-wise, things start at about £36 a bottle, which is becoming pretty standard in London, while glasses start at £7. If you're in the mood to splash out a little more but not as much as a whole bottle, they do have a changing list "by Coravin" where some of their finer wines are available by the glass. That was starting as low as £11 on our visit (2017 while blend from South Africa's Sijnn wines) and heading up to £53 for a glass of 2008 Chablis from Vincent Dauvissat.
Overall thoughts
Barely open a week, Cloth was already on the way to becoming something of a scene, and it's easy to see why. The food is fantastic, whether you're popping in for a few snacks or a full meal, backed up with a great wine list that also has some decent entry-level options. And that's before we even get to the beautifully designed rooms in a space that's a little bit of very old London. And then there are the next-level chips. We can see this doing extremely well.
More about Cloth
Where is it? 44 Cloth Fair, London EC1A 7JQ
How to book: Book online or call 0208 143 0345
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @clothrestaurant.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Cloth. Prices correct at time of publication.
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