Dominic Hamdy’s HAM Restaurants are quickly becoming some of the most interesting and popular in the city. Bistro Freddie remains a very difficult place to get a table some months after opening, but those in search of some candlelit romance can head to Clapham (surely the first time anyone had said those words together), where Crispin has transplanted the format into a space at Studio Voltaire - an art studio and exhibition space just a swift jaunt from Clapham Common station.
Crispin at Studio Voltaire doesn’t have quite the same cosiness as Bistro Freddie. It’s more expansive, more industrial, with concrete floors and cool polished metal fixtures. Juxtaposed against this are polished bistro chairs and slim, flickering candles. A heavy curtain frames one side of the room, pulling in the proportions and attempting to smooth the room’s rougher edges. It works, albeit with assistance from brilliant, friendly staff, who bounce around in St John-esque boxy white jackets.
The St John comparisons are also apparent in the blackboards, the stubby wine glasses, and the menu, which takes a similar less-is-more approach. Pickles, olives, Cobble Lane charcuterie and E5 sourdough are all staple snacks among London’s current crop of cult restaurants, but we will say, few of those restaurants do a comte croquette as well as this - a big punch of cheese and plenty pickled walnut ketchup will always be a lovely thing.
The menu has a good sense of balance, where less measured restaurants can overwhelm with blunt force. Duck leg terrine with blood orange is fantastic, balancing sweet and sharp with fat and flavour. Then, a welcome pair of vegetarian dishes, a salad of asparagus and wild garlic with a zippy dressing, and charred leeks with sharp, herb-flecked yoghurt. It’s easy going but thoughtful food, perfect for sharing alongside an excellent wine list (devised as usual by HAM’s sommelier star Alex Price).
A chunk of cod with clams was a brief and rare dip in proceedings - the clams a bit chewy and fish a bit salty - but otherwise, Crispin at Studio Voltaire is another fantastic flag-in-the-ground for this exciting group.