26 May 2013

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(menu)

The Clove Club

380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT

British Clerkenwell, Barbican

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Square Meal Review of The Clove Club

Following their talk-of-the-town residency Upstairs at the Ten Bells, chef Isaac McHale and two of his bright young sidekicks have launched a flagship restaurant in Shoreditch’s regenerated Town Hall – a high-ceilinged space divided into a ‘fun’ bar (small plates, cool tunes, cocktails) and an adjoining dining room offering a five-course menu of clever, envelope-pushing dishes. Picture-pretty, offbeat combinations of lesser-known British ingredients are the kitchen’s stock in trade – from thick slices of gently smoked mackerel with pickled rhubarb and slivers of raw turnip, via rib of beef with wilted ransoms and crispy potato to swirls of intense caramel ice cream and barley mousse sprinkled with sugary toasted oats. While the food is right on the money, the whole experience seems less convincing than at the Ten Bells: service can slide, and the only soundtrack in the dining room is the drone of Shoreditch trendies at play.

Overall Diner Rating

Food & Drink: 7.3
Service: 8.3
Atmosphere: 7.0
Value: 6.3

Based on 3 ratings. Rate it!

The Clove Club
380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
Overall rating:
Join our club
by Owen B. (1) 9 May 2013
This is one Clove Club that won't leave your mouth numb, but after this meal you'll still be drooling. At £47 for 5/6 courses isn't cheap but this was worth every penny. Portions are of decent size, unlike some taster menus you definitely will not leave hungry. The venue & menu is stunning, staff are a delight.
Their experience from stints in places such as Noma and the Ledbury is clear, but they really put their own stamp on the food they serve. The only dish that didn't really inspire me much was the fennel, and that maybe due to my lack of zest for seaweed. The main is essentially a roast dinner with ruby red beef, roast potatos and greens (ransom), the quality of the beef delivers more superlatives than I can bear to type. The dessert quite unlike anything I've had before, fennel granita, sheeps milk meringue, blood orange jelly, thankfully a flavour sensation aswell as a technical masterpiece.
This is the best meal I've had in a while. If you haven't already booked up I suggest you get a move on.
Owen B.'s rating
- Food & Drink: 10
- Service: 10
- Atmosphere: 8
- Value: 8
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The Clove Club
380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
Overall rating:
Don't believe the hype
by Ben H. (2) 4 April 2013
Fancy a night out at this trendy Shoreditch restaurant? Sounds like fun.
Well if you have the same time as us (and I hope you don't) you will not want to have bothered.
The staff are quite nice, the venue is dour-municipal – nothing like the experience, culinary or architectural, that you get at Viajente up the road where the bistro serves London’s best value lunch IMHO – and the food equally uninspiring.
They have opted to relieve their visitors of choice by having a set 5 (or so) course dinner, which I usually approve of. Other than a highlight mid-meal beef dish (which was very good), the other courses were under-seasoned and generally lacking in taste and interest. Sashimi mackerel with accompaniments was fresh but tasteless; the accompanying deep-fried chicken piece was ok, but nothing to rave about. Salad of chicory with a nice walnut dressing, again, was nice but uninspiring. Cheese course offered a small nubbin or munster amongst others and didn't hold up the other end of the meal, the dessert ended up having a gritty unpleasant feel to it, a bit like a chocolaty mousse with road-side sweepings – maybe not the intended crunchy delight the chef’s had in mind.
The waiters were ok and occasionally winning but didn’t really have the oomph that you get when everyone is signed up to the food-mission of a rising-star eatery. Wines are over-priced and nothing inspiring (where aren’t they). The bill was a disappointing shock.
Go somewhere else – maybe a nice local restaurant, we went to Lardo up the road in London Fields later in the weekend and had a nice couple of pizzas and a tasty salad. It was better. Or, buy something nice and cook it yourself.
Don’t believe the hype!
Ben H.'s rating
- Food & Drink: 5
- Service: 8
- Atmosphere: 6
- Value: 4
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Published : Friday, 5th April 2013
Lady Rhubarb :: The Clove Club, Shoreditch
From the lads behind Upstairs at The Ten Bells, The Clove Club is their latest and first permanent London fixture. Located in the historic Shoreditch Town Hall, they have fitted out a front bar and a separate dining room. It’s ambitious, youthful and everyone’s talking about it. A much larger dining room and open kitchen makes the experience a little less intimate than their Ten Bells gaff, nevertheless the open space, high ceilings, wooden tables and blue tiles give an almost boarding school diner feel that works. The acoustics need a little tweaking, or maybe I am just getting old!...
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Published : Sunday, 31st March 2013
Edesia Is Hungry - Food of the Gods :: The Clove Club
The Clove Club is the newly opened venture from the team behind Upstairs at the Ten Bells, Clove Club and various other pop ups in East London. Located in Shoreditch Town Hall, lunch was served in the bar at the front, a plain but comfortable space based around a central bar area. Only a lunch menu was available, offering a number of starters and 3 mains, a beef dish, a hake dish and a vegetarian option. The starters included a number of vegetarian dishes too. Bread and salami's plates are also available...
More from Edesia Is Hungry - Food of the Gods »
Published : Monday, 11th March 2013
FoodiesOnTheProwl FoodiesOnTheProwl :: The Clove Club, Mar 2013
We are massive fans of the Young Turks (a couple of young chefs with some highly coveted experience and credentials). When we learned they were planning to open a new restaurant in Shoreditch, called the Clove Club, we were on it faster than Usain Bolt sprints the 100m...
More from FoodiesOnTheProwl FoodiesOnTheProwl »
Published : Sunday, 10th March 2013
The F- World :: The Clove Club (Shoreditch Town Hall) – it doesn’t take a hipster…
Space and decor: as their minimalist, sleek website will tell you, at The Clove Club you can eat both at the bar – an informal space with a stylish array of reclaimed wood tables around a metallic structure for the counter; or in the main dining room, a high-ceiling quite bare space livened up by the open kitchen with its beautiful tiled surfaces. It is all very East London and studiously put together, but not in an “in your face” way – say like in Meat Mission- and threads the border between achingly cool and authentic pretty well...
More from The F- World »
Published : Wednesday, 6th March 2013
Culinary World Tour :: Putting love in The Clove Club
Up the stone steps of Shoreditch town hall and in to the high ceilinged spartan old school space of the bar where we were served a cocktail that was somewhere between a negroni and a glass of Rose wine, served straight up in a coupe glass. Perfect aperitif...
More from Culinary World Tour »
Published : Wednesday, 6th March 2013
Fd Over LDN :: The Clove Club Climax
This is one clove club that won't leave your mouth numb, but after this meal you'll still be drooling. Taking permanent residence in the beautifully restored Shoreditch Town Hall is The Clove Club, set up by 'St.Vibes' after their successful stint (still ongoing) in Upstairs at The Ten Bells. With reviews from 'Upstairs at..' still scintillatingly superlative it seemed a no brainer to book in for their new place before it became impossible to get a table. The Clove Club is split up into 2 areas: the bar, with a great selection of beers, wines and bar food, and then the restaurant itself with open kitchen serving up the '5' course meal. At £46, it may seem like a lot.. but believe me, it was worth it...
More from Fd Over LDN »

Essential Details for The Clove Club

Address: 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
Telephone: 020 7729 6496
Website: Visit The Clove Club

Cuisine: British
Area: Clerkenwell, Barbican

The Clove Club is included in the following Square Meal Selections

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Diner reviews for The Clove Club

The Clove Club
380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
Overall rating:
Join our club
by Owen B. (1) 9 May 2013
This is one Clove Club that won't leave your mouth numb, but after this meal you'll still be drooling. At £47 for 5/6 courses isn't cheap but this was worth every penny. Portions are of decent size, unlike some taster menus you definitely will not leave hungry. The venue & menu is stunning, staff are a delight.
Their experience from stints in places such as Noma and the Ledbury is clear, but they really put their own stamp on the food they serve. The only dish that didn't really inspire me much was the fennel, and that maybe due to my lack of zest for seaweed. The main is essentially a roast dinner with ruby red beef, roast potatos and greens (ransom), the quality of the beef delivers more superlatives than I can bear to type. The dessert quite unlike anything I've had before, fennel granita, sheeps milk meringue, blood orange jelly, thankfully a flavour sensation aswell as a technical masterpiece.
This is the best meal I've had in a while. If you haven't already booked up I suggest you get a move on.
Owen B.'s rating
- Food & Drink: 10
- Service: 10
- Atmosphere: 8
- Value: 8
Was this review helpful to you?
Request removal
The Clove Club
380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT
Overall rating:
Don't believe the hype
by Ben H. (2) 4 April 2013
Fancy a night out at this trendy Shoreditch restaurant? Sounds like fun.
Well if you have the same time as us (and I hope you don't) you will not want to have bothered.
The staff are quite nice, the venue is dour-municipal – nothing like the experience, culinary or architectural, that you get at Viajente up the road where the bistro serves London’s best value lunch IMHO – and the food equally uninspiring.
They have opted to relieve their visitors of choice by having a set 5 (or so) course dinner, which I usually approve of. Other than a highlight mid-meal beef dish (which was very good), the other courses were under-seasoned and generally lacking in taste and interest. Sashimi mackerel with accompaniments was fresh but tasteless; the accompanying deep-fried chicken piece was ok, but nothing to rave about. Salad of chicory with a nice walnut dressing, again, was nice but uninspiring. Cheese course offered a small nubbin or munster amongst others and didn't hold up the other end of the meal, the dessert ended up having a gritty unpleasant feel to it, a bit like a chocolaty mousse with road-side sweepings – maybe not the intended crunchy delight the chef’s had in mind.
The waiters were ok and occasionally winning but didn’t really have the oomph that you get when everyone is signed up to the food-mission of a rising-star eatery. Wines are over-priced and nothing inspiring (where aren’t they). The bill was a disappointing shock.
Go somewhere else – maybe a nice local restaurant, we went to Lardo up the road in London Fields later in the weekend and had a nice couple of pizzas and a tasty salad. It was better. Or, buy something nice and cook it yourself.
Don’t believe the hype!
Ben H.'s rating
- Food & Drink: 5
- Service: 8
- Atmosphere: 6
- Value: 4
Was this review helpful to you?
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Square Meal Review of The Clove Club

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Owen B.'s rating

Don't believe the hype

Ben H.'s rating