THE JOURNAL
Cold buckwheat soba at Yen, London. Photograph courtesy of Yen
An alternative Christmas menu, featuring noodles, pasta and leg of lamb.
It’s the holiday season, which means your diary is about to be filled with endless evenings spent squeezing into overbooked, tinsel-strewn restaurants to endure the dreaded “festive menu”. Novelty turkey dishes, Wham! on repeat, crumpled paper hats and excessive lunchtime drinking are all unavoidable hazards when you run the gauntlet of December party season. Thankfully, some of London’s recent openings are the perfect antidote to the inevitable onslaught of preordained merriment. Avoid turkey on repeat and end the year with a new favourite dish you’ll remember long after the trees have shed their needles.
Japanese knot weed with wild garlic and asparagus at Cub, London. Photograph by Mr Xavier Buendia, courtesy of Cub
The waste-free supper
Amid December’s excesses, Cub – the latest venture from cocktail supernova Mr Ryan Chetiyawardana – in Hoxton is a breath of fresh air. Sink into a yellow banquette and order the vegetable-centric tasting menu, developed by chef Mr Douglas McMaster of zero-waste eatery Silo in Brighton. It offers a convention-blurring selection of 11 small plates and drinks. Krug champagne hides a pop of citrusy jelly, charred baby gem sits on some heady Neal’s Yard goat’s cheese (from a batch the London dairy would have discarded) and a chlorophyll-green Belvedere vodka cocktail is infused with Douglas fir. Baby cauliflower with a treacly, deeply savoury sauce of black garlic, miso and feta is the standout.
Ravioli with mashed potato and gravy at Pastaio, London. Photograph courtesy of Pastaio
The perfect pasta
If you’re brave enough to face the crowds on Oxford Street, Pastaio is a good place to regain your sanity. The busy spot is the sixth opening from chef Mr Stevie Parle (Dock Kitchen, Craft London), with Mr Tom Dixon responsible for the bright interiors. A short menu focuses on antipasti (order the clams, with sourdough from Coombeshead Farm in Cornwall to mop up their juices) and handmade pasta. Dishes change regularly, so try December’s highlight – grouse, rabbit and pork agnoli – while you can. Parcels of silky dough encasing the game filling are doused in a lemony, sage-scented butter sauce. Eat this alongside a glass of trebbiano from the concise list, and you’ll feel human again.
Kolhapuri spit chicken at Bombay Bustle, London. Photograph courtesy of Bombay Bustle
The Bombay banquet
Forget turkey curry. The second Mayfair restaurant from the team behind Michelin-starred Jamavar, Bombay Bustle is inspired by Mumbai’s tiffin tin carriers, the men who deliver stacked lunchboxes of curries, rice and breads to workers using a complex transport system. Dishes such as buttery paneer masala and tandoor-blistered achari lamb chops elevate curry-house classics with precision cooking and masterful use of texture. Go all out with the kolhapuri spit chicken, a whole Suffolk bird, slowly flame-grilled in a marinade of cumin, black pepper and chilli until the skin is mottled and golden. Art Deco-inspired interiors reinterpret Mumbai’s railway stations with a Mayfair crowd in mind.
Cold buckwheat soba at Yen, London. Photograph courtesy of Yen
The real-deal noodles
Buckwheat soba noodles have arrived in London – via Paris. Having been open in the French capital for 14 years, Japanese restaurant Yen has taken a second site in the glitzy 190 Strand development. If you’d rather not dine next to a wilting Christmas tree, the pared-back, Parisian vibe will appeal. Think wooden tables, triple-height ceilings and a gleaming sushi counter. The sashimi and tempura are excellent, but the noodles are the stars. Stretched and cut by hand in a glass-fronted kitchen, they’re eaten cold with soy dipping sauce (slosh in a little of your sake, too) or as a nourishing broth. You can taste the many years chefs Mr Maruno Hidenori and Mr Katsuki Sakurai spent training with noodle masters in the Japanese mountains.
Lamb Kleftiko at Horvada, London. Photograph by Ms Patricia Niven, courtesy of Horvada
The taste of the Aegean
For Christmas revelry minus the tackiness, head to Hovarda in Soho. Named after the Turkish and Greek word meaning “generous host”, the restaurant turns out dishes inspired by the countries surrounding the Aegean Sea from an aqua-green tile-clad open kitchen. There’s simply grilled day-boat fish with lemon, salt and olive oil, and mezze sharing plates – try the wood-fired beetroot with galomitzithra cheese from Crete. But the winner is the made-for-two kleftiko: leg of Ryeland lamb, rubbed in oregano and cooked for 12 hours, and served with fudgy lamb-fat potatoes. Burn off your supper, ideally with a Greek mastiha liqueur martini in hand, listening to live music and DJs in the bar upstairs.