Review: Trinity, Clapham

Does it tell you anything about us that the last three places we’ve lived have all been within ten minutes walk of a Michelin starred restaurant? For the record: Mr Underhills in Ludlow, Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham, and now Trinity in Clapham. Of course not all Michelin stars are created equal, so it was really important to go to Trinity as soon as possible and find out whether it’s going to become our local treat.

Trinity is proper classy fine dining. Tables have linen, there is most definitely a brigade at front of house, and the sommelier does not discuss the menu while the waiters do not discuss the wine. But I don’t want to give the wrong impression, the atmosphere was friendly rather than stuffy. The wine list is worth a mention: there’s very very little below £50.

After a couple of tasty amuse bouche and particularly excellent crunchy rolls with tangy cultured butter we got into starters…

Mine was a warm salad of jerusalem artichoke, truffle and chestnut. It was basically a hedgehog on a plate made out of my favourite autumn foods. I would buy those crunchy j-choke chips by the bag, eat them every night and live in a state of flatulent bliss. Great blocks of candied roast chestnut too, and the truffle flavour humming through it all. Maureen’s mackerel was a beaut, sensitively cured, strongly flavoured, and served with refreshing slices of persimmon.

Second course for me was a breadcrumbed fritter of pigs trotter, served on a bed of sauce gribiche and topped with a quail egg. This was a pretty, pretty plate and yet inside the crispy case the trotter was simply deeply piggy goodness. Great stuff. Maureen had smoked eel pissalardiere, a much more rustic puff of pastry with a generous chunk of eel fillet perched on top and a fruity mustard sauce poured all over it. Frankly I defy anyone not to love that.

For main course I stayed in the piggy regions with a really hearty layered chunk of pork jowl and squash, draped in translucent lardo and topped with a toothsome langoustine. This was an insanely good concoction, madly indulgent, with blobs of spiced date sauce that cut the richness like a good dollop of HP sauce does. Maureen made happy noises over her dover sole baked in truffle butter.

I went all Christmas for pudding, and picked the mince pie special. This turned out to just be the best mince pie you are likely to find. Absolutely pinpoint perfect pastry, served with a Christmas spiced butter and a very (very) gently Stilton-y cream. Maureen’s lemon vacherin was probably a better example of what they can do here, the pure white dome of meringue cracking to reveal a blazing yellow lemon cream both sharp and rich.

Four courses is £60 at lunch and £75 for dinner. The level of cuisine and the experience overall make that about spot-on for the price. I’m very happy having Trinity as my “local Michelin star” (and if I’m honest, even happier to have Trinity Upstairs as I’m much more likely to be lured in there at the end of a long week when we deserve a random eat out)!