Now you can make Cornerstone restaurant’s signature dish at home.

In east London’s Hackney Wick, beside the craft breweries, graffiti-clad warehouses and canal boats, chef Mr Tom Brown is cooking some of the capital’s finest seafood. The concise menu at his debut restaurant, Cornerstone, is made up of simple dishes – pickled oysters with horseradish, celery and dill; baked scallops with coral butter and lime; or cured gurnard with grapes, almond and sherry vinegar – which demonstrate a respect for impeccable-quality, carefully sourced fish and shellfish, prepared without fuss.

“When we first opened, we did have meat on the menu,” says Mr Brown. A visit from Mr Claude Bosi, the renowned head chef at London’s Michelin-starred Bibendum, early on, led him to focus solely on fish. “He asked why we included meat, since all the best dishes were fish-focused” he continues. “I couldn’t argue with him.”  It’s an approach that’s winning Cornerstone great acclaim: since it opened last year, the restaurant has been lauded by critics, and received the Observer Food Monthly’s Best Newcomer restaurant award.

Mr Brown learned from the best, having worked for renowned Cornish seafood chef Mr Nathan Outlaw for six years. “Nathan has been a huge inspiration to me,” he says. “Lots of the dishes we serve at Cornerstone can be traced back to him somehow. He’s a master of fish cookery.”

Although the menu at Cornerstone changes constantly, depending on the daily catch, Mr Brown’s house-made potted shrimp crumpet with kohlrabi and gherkin has been a permanent fixture on it (and in-the-know diners’ Instagram feeds) since the beginning. “The crumpets never fail to put a smile on guests’ faces,” says Mr Brown. “So, how could I take them off the menu?”

“I wanted to include a few nostalgic dishes on the menu,” says Mr Brown, who uses brown shrimps to bring a seaside flavour to the dish. “I love the idea of a few humble ingredients coming together to make something special. The dish has lots of salty butter, which works with the tart lemon to cut through the richness. There’s a good hit of spice against the coolness of the kohlrabi, and gherkins for added tang.”

Making homemade crumpets is easier than you might think, says Mr Brown. “Just be sure to rest the dough until lots of bubbles form, and try not to overfill the rings, since the crumpet may not cook through if the batter is too thick.” The rest of the ingredients are easy to come by, he says, including the classically British brown shrimps, which “you should be able to find at your supermarket or fishmonger’s”.

Recreate Mr Brown’s signature dish with his recipe, the latest instalment of our series in which top chefs share the secrets of their best-loved dishes.

Serves 4

For the crumpets: 125g strong white bread flour ¼ tsp caster sugar 7g pack of dried fast-action yeast ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda 150ml tepid water

For the toppings: A pinch of cayenne pepper ½ tsp nutmeg ½ tsp mace A pinch of smoked paprika 250g salted butter 1 lemon, zest and juice 2 large gherkins ¼ medium kohlrabi A handful of fresh parsley, chopped  250g brown shrimps

To make the crumpets, mix everything together in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Cover and leave to stand somewhere warm for 15 minutes for the yeast to develop and bubbles to form on the surface.

Grease four 90mm crumpet rings and place in a large frying pan over a low heat. Fill the rings three-quarters full with the crumpet mix and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until the top has formed a skin and the mix is almost cooked through.

Carefully lift off the rings and flip each crumpet and finish cooking for three to four minutes until lightly golden brown. Leave to cool.

Gently toast the cayenne, nutmeg, mace and paprika in a dry pan until aromatic, being careful not to burn them. Add the butter and lemon zest and juice and allow to melt. Leave to one side to infuse.

Shred the gherkins and kohlrabi on a mandolin or alternatively use a coarse grater and add to bowl. Stir in the parsley, mix well and set aside. Bring the butter mix back up to the boil and add the lemon juice and shrimps.

Toast the crumpets under the grill, and spoon over the shrimps and as much butter as possible, then top with the kohlrabi and gherkin mix.

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