Suckling pig
As the name implies, they’ve gone proper kitsch with the decor. It’s all unashamedly Thai gold-and-pink meets sports bar neon and team shirts. The menu isn’t a copy of Plaza, so we enjoyed a bunch of new dishes we don’t see there.
Black pepper sea bass
I’d say you’d put together a feast here for £25-30 each, before drinks. The drinks are great fun, as you’d expect, though this time we were staying sober and went with their excellent Thai iced tea.
Speedboat Bar
Courgette salad
The Flint House is fairly new, but it’s by Ben McKellar who has been building the little Gingerman group of restaurants for maybe twenty years now. Flint House is in the heart of the Laines, and it’s a small plate place, with the by-now-familiar influence of Asian ideas and ingredients all over the modern British menu. It’s all bloody good stuff, though.
Ox cheek
Smoky char-grilled mackerel, the skin all crisp and black, does very nicely with a dollop of smooth dark brown spicy pear puree and a bit of celeriac remoulade. We also have a salad of raw courgette ribbons dressed with pine nut, mint, feta and aleppo chillies, a really punchy combination on the cool background of courgette. The block of everso-slow-cooked ox cheek in panko is just about the best thing ever, the meat just so soft and immensely beefy in flavour. It’s on a lake of shiny miso emulsion with a chilli heat that is absolutely packed with sharp umami flavour.
We’ve got no room for pud. This blast of full-flavoured small plates with plenty of punch, sweetness, bitter notes and umami is more than enough. Maybe £35 each before drinks? There’s a good drink list here, full of interesting stuff. Flint House has immediately become one of our go-to places for when we’re next down in Brighton.
Smoked anchovy on toast
Hummus and plantain
The little Tatale restaurant in the new Africa Centre near Southwark couldn’t be more different. It’s an informal dining room in the atrium of the centre, stone and clay colours and textures. The staff are friendly and helpful. The menu is five fixed courses with an option on dessert and two choices of main.
Peanut and rice
Next is a peanut soup called “Nkatekwnan” with a dumpling of sticky mashed rice coated in sesame seeds in the middle. The soup is warm, earthy, nutty and works very well with a little rice added to the spoon. What I’m really enjoying here is lots of flavours I’m unfamiliar with, but all cooked with skill and balance.
Delicious stew
We try sharing a cheesecake for pud, a soft and creamy bowl with diced fresh apple and dill creating a really nifty flavour in there. But we’re struggling… hummus, plantain, ackee, panko, rice, peanut, beans, plantain, batter, rice… this is a feast of starches and you will waddle out of here.
For £35 this is a splendid meal and I’m keen to go back. The drink list is small, but they do a good burnt orange negroni and there’s Supermalt on the menu so you can’t go wrong.
Chicken and rice
Just in case you’re making a steak…
1 big shallot, fine diced
3 tsp black peppercorns, 2 tsp pink peppercorns
20g butter
big pinch salt
2-3 tbsp brandy
200ml beef stock
2 tsp mushroom ketchup or worcester sauce
100ml double cream
Dry-toast the black peppercorns, then crush 2 tsp of them. Melt butter and fry the shallot and all the peppercorns for 5 mins or so until the shallot is soft. Add brandy and cook until the brandy has basically all boiled off. Then add stock and seasoning, bubble for 5 mins or so until you’ve reduced by about half. You can stop here until you’re nearly ready to serve, then while your steak is resting after cooking just stir in the cream and heat up for 2-3 minutes.
Scallops n vinegar
Kota is described as having a strong “Asian twist” but really these days that needs to be a bit more than just whipping miso into your butter and adding a bit of yuzu here and there. There’s scarcely a chef in the country not using these ingredients now. So Kota is best described as a refined modern British tasting menu. It’s a relaxed and friendly dining room, right by Porthleven Harbour.
Beetroot
The scallop starter included blobs of avocado puree, sea vegetables and a tiny dice of pickled turnip, set in a ponzu dressing. The ponzu was very tangy, and with the turnip on top the whole dish was tooth-shakingly vinegary. A pity as the scallops were generous and very good, fresh and creamy. The second starter was much the best dish of the day, lovely pieces of slow-cooked beetroot glazed with beetroot molasses. This really amped-up the sweet and earthy goodness, paired with a goat cheese mousse full of flavour.
My main was lamb, shoulder and loin. The shoulder had blobs of excellent black garlic miso as a relish and the loin was topped with a piece of cauliflower fungi cooked in a sweet and umami glaze that I absolutely loved. The caulifungi has a beautiful texture like very soft sheet noodles and a delicate flavour. Maureen’s gurnard came with mussels and a good shellfish sauce, brought alive with saffron-yuzu mayonnaise (though only the saffron really came through).
Chocolate balls
The four course tasting menu is £50 before drinks, and I think it would be good value if all the dishes landed as consistently as the beetroot or my lamb. None of the mis-hits were really bad, but they definitely weren’t right either. Sooooo… given my seasonal warning at the start, I’m going to recommend Kota as worth a try, it’s very definitely keenly priced for a tasting menu. But it’s not particularly Asian and it’s not particularly seafood either!