Cloth is a wine bar and restaurant combo led by friends and wine importers, Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth, as well as former Lasdun head chef Tom Hurst. The restaurant is located on Cloth Fair near Smithfield Market, and is housed in a Grade II listed double fronted corner site, that sits beneath the former home of the poet, John Betjeman.
The restaurant has low ceilings, antique wall lights and wood panelling, paired with warm candle bulbs that create the most cosy atmosphere. Tables are marble with long, dark wood banquettes, topped with antique crockery and silver plate cutlery to create a classic bistro feel. The bar area offers drinks and snacks from 12pm until closing, and the restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner. Tom's seasonal menus are designed to celebrate the very best that Britain has to offer.
The menus do change, to reflect what is best available, but you can expect to be delighted with what you find. Enjoy fried olives with salted almonds, malted sourdough and South Downs butter to begin, before trying out starters of Norfolk asparagus vinaigrette, a smooth blend of duck liver parfait with fennel jam and duck fat brioche, and the Cornish squid with black olive, preserved lemon and lardo. Bigger plates may be the cappelletti of sheep's ricotta with girolles and hazelnuts, the Cornish pollock with razor clams, white asparagus and lovage, and an 800g longhorn ribeye with roscoff onion and bone marrow. For dessert, try the poached meringue with creamy vanilla custard.