Lola's, Maison Novelli and Stephen Bull
I MUST confess to some satisfaction with my choice of subjects for this article about three of London's successful new restau- rants. Just before I settled down to write it I went to lunch at Sir Terence Conran's new Bluebird restaurant in King's Road, Chelsea (the best-looking and -cooking of his vast dining halls), at which the 1997 Time Out Eating and Drinking Awards were announced. Imagine my pleasure when Lola's won the Best New Restaurant category, pipping Maison Novelli, also on the short list at the post; and Stephen Bull's original restaurant in Blandford Street, Matylebone, was declared winner of the Modern European award. My views entirely.
Lola's, in the old tram shed on the corner of Upper Street and Camden Passage in Islington, has the distinction of being an all-female project. The Caprice and Ivy 'greeters' Carol George and Morfudd Richards have teamed up with the ex-Alas- tair Little chef Judith Peston to establish an elegant, friendly neighbourhood restaurant. It is a long, rectangular, first-floor space, coolly decorated by the proprietors them- selves, with sloping windows above the tables shaded by attractive oatmeal- coloured blinds. There is a pianist, as at Le Caprice, which adds to the welcoming atmosphere. I went there with food-loving Nathalie Jamot, who works at Lola's parent Le Caprice, and was keen to see old friends. We found the place reassuringly busy on a bank-holiday Monday evening.
The menu changes daily, and there is also a two-course set lunch for £12. From the short but interesting carte (about six choices per course), Nathalie started with fried buffalo mozzarella, accompanied by tomato, avocado, basil and olives: simple, but precisely flavoured. I chose potato pan- cake, surmounted by smoked salmon caviar, horseradish cream and chives — one of two dishes on the menu clearly influ- enced by Jewish cooking — and found it delicious, with a laudably light latka'. I continued with lamb chump served with braised peas, asparagus, ham and mint; a lovely, earthy dish, full of good flavours and offering prime meat, impeccably cooked. Nathalie had two-way chicken, the breast roasted with grilled vegetables and aioli, the leg braised with paprika and pickled cucumbers; another example of creative work by Ms Peston in the kitchen, it was much enjoyed. To end, we shared a choco- late mousse cake, with a good texture, intense but not too sweet. This excellent meal, with wine, coffee and service, came to just £67.50 for the two of us: great value in a comfortable, congenial and expertly run new restaurant.
Jean-Christophe Novelli was the much admired chef at the Quatre Saisons hotel in Park Lane. Having then set out to do his own thing, he is certainly doing it with a vengeance. First came Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell Green, a ground-floor brasserie with restaurant above, which is about to be extended, with the brasserie moving next door and the restaurant occu- pying both floors of the original building. Now he has just opened Novelli W8 in the old Ark Bistro in Notting Hill Gate. I visit- ed Notting Hill first, with the art publisher Lucy Beazer, and, after a less than polished reception by the nervy manager, Eric Cha- troux, we settled down at our small table in the thin, cramped room, now painted a vio- lent shade of purple but otherwise little changed from its Ark days of 30 years ago. The menu offers starters at £4.50, main courses at £9.50 and desserts at £4.50, with a few supplements. Lucy started with pan- fried celeriac and potatoes, with a goat's cheese and mozzarella terrine and mixed salad; a splendidly natural taste which was much enjoyed. My starter was an original beer-braised endive soup, with a poached egg and a crouton of delicious Maroilles cheese floating in it — unusual and superb. Next Lucy ate a good blanquette of salmon with haricots blancs and parmesan, and I chose the pig's trotter dish of the day; its filling varies according to the humeur of the chef. This one was stuffed with Toulouse sausage, boudin noir and foie gras, and was thus suitably rich. Lucy ended with a hot and cold, dark and white chocolate plate 'It's got a dead-in-the-watermark' 'Liz McGrath' (apparently a hotelier friend of Novelli's in South Africa) which was gooey and good, and I had a well-executed mandarin creme brulee. With Cotes du Rhone, tea, coffee and service, this fine meal in somewhat cramped surroundings came to a reasonable £71.
Novelli's Clerkenwell Green restaurant is more soigné, and much pricier: an admit- tedly excellent lunch there with the wine and food buff David McAlpine, albeit with kir, a bottle and a half of wine (Haut Medoc '88 and Menetou Salon), plus a greedy 15 per cent service, came to double the price of W8. The room is pretty — the same shade of purple as at Notting Hill — the tables well spaced and service good. McAlpine started with marvellous roast langoustines with cardamom and beetroot oil, and I with an equally excellent 'nage' of scallops and baby squid with Chinese noo- dles and oyster froth; then, in McAlpine's case, a pig's trotter similar to the one I had consumed in Notting Hill, though more refined, and in mine a fabulous gigolette of spit-roasted pigeon, with piperade stuffing and polenta. Desserts were rich and deli- cious, and David McAlpine remarked that Novelli offered the only distinguished cooking now to be found within reach of the City of London.
Stephen Bull's new restaurant is in that unpromising stretch known as Upper St Martin's Lane. When I went there after seeing Carmen at the Coliseum on a Satur- day evening, it was far from full, and future concert pianist Nicola Eimer and I did not exactly feel welcomed by the all-white inte- rior with beige banquettes, starkly lit and not a picture in sight. But service was warm and the cooking, by Jeremy Bentham, for- merly Bull's head chef in Blandford Street, distinguished. Nicola started with an enjoy- able potato and summer vegetable salad, and I tried the interesting crab Scotch egg — using a quail's egg and with the meat slightly too breadcrumbed — with a good crab-flavoured mayonnaise. Then Nicola ate a rather heavy slow-baked shoulder of lamb with field mushrooms, not a million miles from Greek kleftiko, and I had an admirable herb-roasted, stuffed chicken leg, with truffled potatoes, sweet peas and mousseron mushrooms. Desserts of rum junket and chocolate and hazelnut tart with raspberry ice cream were delicious. With a bottle of Vacqueyras and coffee, the bill was a not unreasonable £68. This new Bull is a welcome addition to Covent Garden eating.
Lola's, 359 Upper Street, London Ni; tel: 0171 359 1932 Closed Sunday dinner. Novelli W8, 122 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W8; tel: 0171 229 4024. Open all week Maison Novelli, 29 Clerkenwell Green, Lon- don ECI; tel: 0171 251 6606. Closed Sunday. Stephen Bull, 12 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2; tel: 0171 379 7811. Closed Saturday lunch and all Sunday.
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