Review: Fallow, Soho

Comfort is a big part of how you rate a meal, whether you care to admit it or not. I remember getting to WTLGI down slippery frozen steps on a snowy night, teeth chattering, and then finding that it was never quite warm enough in the dining room to thaw out properly. I’m willing to bet that contributed to our unwillingness to engage with their cutting-edge concept menu. If you’re not comfortable, you tend to crave comforting food. It’s an extreme example but anything can colour your enjoyment of a meal. Perched on a hard stool elbow-to-elbow with other diners feels quite alright to suck down a bowl of ramen, but when asked to enjoy beautifully presented small plates that will set you back upwards of £40 per person it’s a bit jarring.

So I should declare that we were sat outside at Fallow, so we could dine with friends in Tier 2, and that it was below 5 degrees. The flame tower heater helped a bit, so did the blankets, but I had still lost all feeling in my toes by main course. The food was still jolly good.

Corn ribs turned out very cleverly to be chunks of grilled sweetcorn quartered lengthways and dredged in sweet spices and lime, so you could gnaw on them like a rib and get lots of bits stuck between your teeth. A fallow scrumpet turns out to be a pig-head croquette, beautiful gooey fibres of meat inside and a gherkin perched upon it.

By contrast, my starter was half a cod’s head. I’m a sucker for a fish head. It’s fiendish fun trying to dig and fiddle all the bits of meat out, and you end up with a surprising lot of very lovely meat. They had drenched it in a sriracha butter that gave a friendly kick to the cod.

The Fallow burger is a good specimen, very flavourful beef cooked just to pink and a sweet but sturdy bun. Tim went with the venison, also excellent quality, nicely paired with a peppery sauce, but this delicate dish was one that felt a bit odd to eat while wrapped in a winter coat and blanket. My main was earthier and I thought really excellent. A very earthy spelt risotto, finely shredded celeriac, chunks of roasted hen-of-the-woods fungus, a poached pullet egg and crispy panko topping. Very umami and with every kind of texture. If I had one tiny “hmm” it was that the white of the pullet egg was still at the “white snot” stage of cooking.

Shout out to a really excellent pudding, perfect for the weather. A hot and caramely lemon curd fondant, topped with lots of curls of lemon peel and a quenelle of lemony cream on top. The sourdough ice cream with malted crumbs on top was also good but just t-t-t-t-too cold for the weather!

Now, you’re probably heading up to £50 for a 3-course meal (though if you went for burgers and snacks instead of starters it’s more sensible). I think for it’s great position just off Regent Street you might forgive a bit of a mark-up, and I’m veeeeery aware that we didn’t have the best match between comfort & ambiance and the food, but I’m still going to say it’s a tad steep. Got nothing to complain about the food though, it’s all top nosh.