When Michel Roux Jr. announced the forthcoming closure of
his legendary
Le Gavroche restaurant
at the end of the summer, I went straight on their website to book a table for
my upcoming 40
th birthday.
With a trip to London arranged, I perused their menus to develop a short
list of other places to dine in. As the
list grew and grew, a seed of doubt came into my mind that perhaps Roux’s
establishment might be the wrong choice and, in one of those “
close your eyes and click” moments, I
hit the ‘cancel’ button and booked
Trinity
instead. I just hoped my instincts wouldn’t let me down.
Opened in 2006 in Clapham, Trinity is operated by chef Adam Byatt with the aim of providing a
restaurant that is very much at the heart of the community. Trinity currently holds one Michelin star with the guide claiming ‘This is a place you can’t help but fall in love
with’. What appealed to me, as well as Adam’s appearances on Saturday Kitchen, was the menu format (https://trinityrestaurant.co.uk/menus/). Look at it! Not a tasting menu in sight –
hurrah! Instead, you find a five-course a la carte very reasonably priced at
just £100 for the full experience. Is there a dish you wouldn’t want to eat? I
didn’t think so. Sold.
The interior is relaxed and spacious with a slightly open kitchen to
the rear. You instantly get that
neighbourhood vibe that I thought would be difficult to achieve in a fine
dining environment. I love the giant
portholes on the wall parallel to our table that give you a glimpse into
different parts of nature, whether that be the sea, woodland or sky, almost in
acknowledgement to the produce sourced by the chefs.
We enjoyed a glass of champagne along with a rack of
parmesan biscuits and a feather light gougere as we awaited course number
one. Sarah and I both selected Yellowfin
tuna crudo with avocado, apple and XO sauce. It was a bit like the opening song
at a rock concert, setting the tone for what is ahead. I don’t actually
remember having to chew the fish; it was so buttery it melted away on your
tongue with a crisp
Granny Smith note
bringing freshness and a guacamole that oozed flavour. What elevated this dish was the beautiful XO
sauce; it provided a big wave of rock ‘n’ roll umami to what was a very clean
and delicate affair but remained impressively balanced at the same time.
Round two: we both ordered the red prawn ravioli with prawn
bisque and sea vegetables. Visually stunning, there were five dainty little
pasta parcels, three of which were actually scallops, not prawn. The prawns were delicious and had a pleasing
texture from the diced shellfish. The scallop filling was much more subtle and
lacked the bite the prawns had.
Furthermore, I felt they were overpowered by the boldness of the bisque,
unlike the prawns. That exquisite sauce
was frothed up, which added to the presentation, but I would have liked more of
it as an actual sauce. Perhaps a large
raviolo would have worked better.
I was excited by the chateaubriand of Lake District beef ‘chasseur’ for course number three while
Sarah was persuaded by our waiter to explore the ‘game of the day’ option. I liked the simple presentation as it just
looked like something I’d really want to eat.
The meat was supremely tender, working well with the earthy mushrooms
and tangy tomato. The sauce was rich and
to the standard I’d expect from a Michelin-starred place. I admired the idea of
a refined chasseur dish, classically made with chicken, but I would have liked
a dollop of mash or some sort of carb element with it.
As it happened, venison from the
Balmoral Estate
was the game option and it was skillfully handled
by the cook with two delicious chunks of loin that'd been perfectly rested. The parsnip puree was silky smooth and earthy with a meaty mushroom adorned with fresh pear almost completing that 'in the forest' theme. The notoriously tricky pomme souffles were flawlessly made and brought a welcome crunch. There was also a fruity, slightly sweet sauce that bound everything together neatly.
I couldn’t not have a cheese course on my 40
th
birthday, right? There are five seasonal cheeses available, from which you select
three, all served with a warm mini baguette and an array of good crispbreads. I
enjoyed Sinodun Hill, a creamy goats’ cheese full of flavour; Ashcombe, which
is a Morbier-inspired English cheese with a distinct chocolatiness and, to
finish off, Barkham Blue, which is a real triumph of British cheesemaking.
Dessert was an intriguing honey souffle with beeswax ice
cream. Made with local Clapham honey,
the souffle was so airy but lacked honey flavour, which predominantly came from
the sublime ice cream, neatly dunked into it tableside. There was a little puddle of honey in the bottom of the ramekin, but it needed to be incorporated into the actual souffle. Mixing with the ice cream though brought a hot/cold contrast that I just love.
Sarah resisted her favourite bread and butter pudding to try
the warm apple pie with camomile ice cream. The pie was a more of a stuffed apple
donut, but it was a tad on the dry side and, while the filling inside was
sharp, there was a lack of it. It certainly wasn't a looker but the soft
serve was delicious with a floral note that brought a bit of elegance to the party.
The front of house team was pivotal in creating that desired
community eatery atmosphere.
Drinks-wise we had a bottle of their own
white Burgundy (£52) and it was fantastic.
Lightly oaked, it was balanced with the fruit. The wine label was
designed by a customer of the restaurant that has autism, so a portion of each
sale goes to The Autism Society.
My thoughts overall are that you will be well fed and looked
after here. The food has a classic spine to it, but Adam Byatt’s modern,
creative approach brings its own personality to the plate. What I liked was
that you could dine here the following day and enjoy completely different
dishes that you’d not bothered with on the previous visit. Did I regret
cancelling
Le Gavroche? No, not at
all. If it wasn’t for that restaurant,
we wouldn’t have the number of terrifically talented chefs like Adam, whose
food we enjoy across the country today. That should be the
Gavroche legacy.
Web: Trinityrestaurant.co.uk
Instagram: Instagram.com/trinityclapham/
Phone: (020) 7622 1199
Address: 4 The Polygon, Clapham, SW04 0JG
Open: Everyday 12-3 for lunch, 6-8.30 for dinner.
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