What can you tell us about Claude’s Kitchen?
Claude’s Kitchen is the first restaurant from Claude Compton, known for his award-winning street food company, Green Goat Food, not to mention stints in the Michelin-starred kitchens of Petersham Nurseries and Club Gascon. Since it opened in early March above the popular Champagne bar, Amuse Bouche, the intimate space has fast become a popular neighbourhood restaurant.
The timeless interior (which seats 40) features white walls with light blue wood panelling, pale wooden floors, class bistro chairs, scattered filament bulbs and plenty of candlelight (there are even tea lights to guide you up the stairs to the loos). The sum of parts is the kind of soothing space in which you instantly want to linger all night. Claud is joined in the kitchen by his Sous Chef and fellow Petersham Nurseries graduate Pete Hartley-Booth.
Where is it?
Above Champagne bar Amuse Bouche, practically opposite the station on Parson’s Green, so therefore difficult to miss (just look out for the Sloanes drinking Bolly).
Where should I sit?
The intimate room doesn’t really have a bad seat – though if pushed we’d have to say that the far left or right corners are the best spots to observe the dining action. If you’re interested in spying on the kitchen team, the tables to the left as you walk in allow for a glimpse of what’s cooking and who’s cooking it.
Where should I meet up with friends?
The obvious choice would be to grab a pre-dinner glass of champers or a cocktail at Amuse Bouche downstairs (both lists are fairly extensive) which, if the crowd on our visit was anything to go by, is quite the neighbourhood hot spot. They also have a bar menu with ‘Bits and Bobs’, ‘Bigger Bites’ and ‘Buns’ ranging from £2.50-£5.
For those looking for something a little more casual, The White Horse, a pub just few minutes up the road towards the green, is a long-standing favourite of locals and Londoners alike dating back to 1688. Recently refurbished, the Victorian grand old boozer is famous for having a world class selection of ales and craft beers, as well as a fantastic menu of high end pub grub such as lamb rump, samphire, broad beans, parmesan suet crumble (£22.00). It’s also popular with Chelsea players, the cast of Made In Chelsea and other well-known slone rangers, so useful if you like your pint with a side of celeb spotting.
Is bread included?
It is indeed and very good it is too. Chewy, crisp-edged slices of tangy sourdough arrived promptly at our table with two types of home made butter – one pale and deeply creamy and the other sunny yellow, salty and flecked with herbs and tomato.
What should I eat?
Claude’s Kitchen’s seasonal, weekly-changing menu may be short (three starters, four mains and four puddings) but it manages to cram maximum excitement, not to mention superlative ingredients, into every dish. On our visit, starters of herring (charred & rollmopped) with radish, granny smith, caraway, carrot & dill (£6) and rabbit terrine with pickled red onion, watercress, piquillios & black olive (£6) lived up to Michelin-associated expectations with aplomb. The smoky and sharp fish judged perfectly against the sweet, paper thin slivers of carrot and apple, with subtle hits of aniseed to tie the dish together. Even better was the terrine, playfully presented with lurid orange dots and packed with rich chunks of melting rabbit – elevated further by the marriage of sweet peppers, sharp pickled onion and salty olive.
Standards slipped ever so slightly with the mains, but nothing a sprinkling of seasoning and a little extra sauce reduction couldn’t fix. A Technicolor green dish of lamb shoulder, kale, arronccina beans, anchovies, salsa verde & peas (£16), with the meat cooked slow and low into weeping submission, was nicely balanced with crunchy peas and fresh mint. Guinea fowl with beetroot puree, sweet peppers & broad beans (£15) was an equally vivid plate of well-judged flavours, the sweetness of the puree underpinning the game bird rather than overpowering it.
For dessert we opted for the bitter choc parfait with red wine figs, beet crisp & fizzy grapes (£6) and the sweet & sour rhubarb with lemon & star anise posit & hot piquillo tuille (£6). Both cemented our impression that Compton is harbouring many cards up the sleeves of his chef whites. Elegant in presentation and flavour, the two dishes shared a playful element of grin-inducing fun and, most importantly, they were spoon-lickingly sublime to eat.
What about drinks?
Like the menu, the wine list is pleasingly short but full of crackers – with bottles starting at around £19. Five whites, five reds and a couple of rose are available by the glass and the house is available by carafe; always a welcome option, especially at lunch. We chose a bottle of Espiritu de Argentina Malbec at £28, which was rich with fruit yet light. It worked surprisingly well with most of our menu choices but particularly alongside the meatiness of the rabbit and lamb.
Overall thoughts?
Nothing, not even a few minor quibbles about the main courses, will stop us from raving about Claude’s Kitchen. What Compton is doing in his small kitchen in this bosky corner of West London, is giving people what we all want from a neighbourhood restaurant – great value food so comfortingly delicious that we can’t stop eating it, in a bustling, ambient space so appealing that we don’t want to leave it.
Claude’s Kitchen is located at 51 Parson’s Green, Parson’s Green, London, SW6 4JA - Find out more about Claude's Kitchen
Prices were correct at time of writing. Hot Dinners were invited to eat at Claude's Kitchen.
