This particular story starts on a chilly midweek night. I’m meeting a couple of friends, one of whom I haven’t seen for over a decade.
We’re sat catching up in a newish gastropub, the Lady Mildmay, on Newington Green. But then Sally – who lives round the corner – asks if we’ve heard that Perilla has just opened over the road? A pint in, we decide to take a gamble, and are rewarded easily with a table in the window.
Ah, those windows. A real feature of Perilla, they’re floor-to-ceiling and occupy two out of three walls in what’s an unusual triangular space. Previously a children’s party venue called That Place On The Corner, its shocking pinks and bright blues have now been stripped to bare brick. Pendant lights, communal (and single) wooden tables and candles make the feel quite low-key and neighbourhood – although the presumed intention is destination.
Why? Because owners, head chef Ben Marks and ex-Polpo front-of-house Matt Emmerson, have investment from, amongst others, restaurant bigwig Philip Howard, who ran The Square in Mayfair, where Ben previously cooked. He’s also done stints at Noma and Claridges and, with Matt, has run pop-ups across London, including Palm 2 in Clapton and Platform 1 in Dulwich.
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We’re too busy talking and can’t decide whether to go a la carte or plump for the set menu, £38 for six courses. Both menus feature nearly the same dishes, with a couple of additional options on the former, so it makes sense to “not think about it”, as the pal Rich puts it, “and eat what we’re given”. Set menu it is.
Things start well. Tangy seaweed bread is smeared with whipped butter, its satisfying crust brushed perceptibly with lamb fat. Swift to follow are three little boats of roasted kale, piled high with briny smoked cod roe, to be scooped up in one mouthful each. In we pop them, smiling away.
Controversy rears its head with the next course. A shallow bowl of baked celeriac splits opinion: like a “poached pear”, moans Rich; “a dessert”, says Sally. Sure, it’s unusually juicy, but the textural juxtaposition of sliced discs of fresh chestnut and ceps is playful, earthy and, I would argue, compelling. It’s a hit for two out of the three, as Sally and I finish Rich’s dish while he wanders off for a fag.
The next couple of dishes are universally liked by our table. It’s good to see broccoli, rather than the ubiquitous cauliflower, play a starring role, and here layers of it, pot-roasted, are topped with cabbage leaves of different textures, including deep-fried strips that are superbly charred. Thick pools of hung yogurt add a luxuriousness.
Better still? A short rib, although the meat is on the lilliputian side; but it’s packed with a sharp autumnal flavour in the rosehip beef sauce. Radishes provide texture and colour.
The last two plates are less successful. We all agree a ‘palate-cleaner’ of little gem leaves in a dark green dressing doesn’t work after the beef: it’s superfluous and – on a wintry night – not so appealing. It may have slipped down easier a few courses earlier.
The dessert gets a mixed response, too. Nine hand-peeled grapes, individually topped with microscopic leaves, perch in a generous bowl of walnut custard. It’s nursery food, perhaps a witty nod to the venue’s previous incarnation, and agreeable enough to finish – but it doesn’t feel like an ambitious enough ‘sign-off’ after the intricacy of the savoury dishes.
We stay and sink another glass of Portuguese wine. Which, incidentally, deserves a mention: the white Douro is creamily moreish, while the red Alentejo is smooth and fruity.
The bill, when it arrives finally, is steep: it’s our fault as at least one extra bottle has inflated the total. Service is lovely throughout.
In a ‘casual fine dining’ way, Perilla, fashionably light on meat, with an emphasis on brassicas, serious flavours and colourful presentation, is similar to Hackney’s Pidgin, Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green, and Smoke & Salt, the Islington pop-up. Some may say that the food is easier to admire than love; but it’s more than just zeitgeisty fare, and anyone with an interest in innovative London kitchens should book a spot here, and decide for themselves.
