Clipstone

Amazing food and drink, impeccable service, great value.

Amazing food and cocktails. Great atmosphere and fairly priced for the quality you get.

Great for breakfast, a civilised start to the day.

A fantastic experience. Relaxed, friendly and amazing food.

Fabulous menu. Delightful food and wonderful service.

This place was reputed to be casual and indeed its like there are a few tables in the centre of what might pass as a deli or bakery. Smart enough, but not in the slightest luxurious , almost to the point where you expect someone to sit down, order a coffee, and break out the laptop. In no sense was this disappointing or a surprise- especially for a restaurant that guides you to its somewhat more stylish sibling if you'd like to linger. However it must be clarified that no-one asked us to move on after 90 minutes and indeed it might have been difficult to eat what we ordered in that timespan. The menu looked interesting , and there were a lot of dishes where it was difficult to anticipate what the food was to look like, never mind what it would taste like. The answer for our party of three at lunch was a lunchtime tasting menu comprising about half the dishes on the a la carte menu, and which worked out to provide 8 courses. In normal-speak this consisted of 5 dishes that you might consider starters, a main course and two desserts, all of which were brought to share , and all told there was certainly enough food for three decent appetites. I was delighted to see that they brought the food one course at a time throughout the meal rather than the frequent and unfortunate practice of cooking the dishes in pretty much random order and directly they are cooked, so that everyone spends the meal shuffling stuff around tables that are too small, the waiters hoping against hope that you'll say dish A is done so there's room for H that has arrived to everyone's surprise. The pace was just right throughout , and with the exception of desserts, they maintained the "one dish only on the table" style thoughout. Whilst the style of cooking was undeniably contemporary, with lots of veg and much food served vaguely pickled, there was a lot of variation in what was served. A meat carpaccio, a fish tartare, broccoli in a piquant sauce, a single tasty scallop each, a pasta dish and a grilled meat main. So not a lot of repetition and to be frank I could name some national cuisines that would struggle to replicate the variety we had today. Everything we ate was cooked nicely and presented decently if never elaborately. Its not a fussy sort of place. Couple of disappointments:- the yellow foot chicken was nicely cooked but not as flavoursome as I'd have liked (and, by the way without a yellow foot anywhere to be seen- odd to name a dish after something you don't get?), and finally my espresso was very sharply flavoured /acid indeed. There's a reason why none of the big coffee chains serve espresso like that. All told though there was much more to like about our meal than to carp about. The bill for the three of us, including bread, sparkling water, food and two half bottles of a pleasant Gruner Veltliner , and an equally flavoursome Refosco, came to £192. It isn't a cheap restaurant , though we did have quite a lot of food and eight different dishes. We left content, with a feeling that lunch had been highly satisfactory, and I'm sure we'll all visit again.

Wholeheartedly recommend Clipstone. Fantastic food, great service, and astonishing value for money. Restaurant is small, so tables are a bit of a squeeze - we had a very nice chat with our American neighbours - but it adds to the buzz.

I loved the restaurant as soon as I walked in. The decor is simple and clean looking, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The dishes we ordered (6 sharing plates) were all amazing; an inventive and delicious combination of flavours, and the wine was just the right temperature, and a spot on recommendation by our waitress. HOWEVER, we didn't even have time for a cup of peppermint tea as we were booted off to make way for SittingTwo after just 90 minutes. I met a friend for a good old catch and a leisurely meal and when the bill is well over £100 for 2 without any desserts or coffee, I would expect to be able to enjoy the occasion, not wander the streets at 8.15pm looking for somewhere to finish our conversation over a cup of tea.

It is possible to feel slightly dizzy from the constant rush of new restaurants opening their doors to the public in London. Tyranny of choice sometimes spring to mind. However, based on the success of Portland, which I thoroughly loved when it opened last year (and won a deserved Michelin star), Clipstone definitely merited a visit. A recent lunchtime there with two others was well worth a trip and we rated the atmosphere, food and service, while pricing was also very fair. In contrast to Portland, Clipstone goes for a very clean and pared-back look, tiled walls, an open kitchen and simple seating. It worked well on a good day in early autumn when the sun streamed in and the tables were mostly occupied, but I could imagine it may feel slightly too stark and perhaps a little depressing at a less busy time on perhaps a rainy November day. Nonetheless, the food certainly cheered here. The formula is broadly a modern interpretation of mostly classic French dishes, with a few English quirks thrown in too. As is the current trend, plates are intended for sharing although larger options are also available. This is always great in principle but it did provoke some mild dissension among our group over what to choose and also begged somewhat the inevitable question of whether Clipstone perhaps needs to rethink its menu format. In particular, it was utterly unclear to us where a pizza (even an apparently very cool one topped with clams) would fit alongside say, either a crudo of yellowfin tuna or a grouse with wet polenta. Pizza dropped, we were all happier and indeed both the crudo and the grouse were stand-out dishes. The former was as light as it was flavoursome, delicately paired with preserved chanterelles and samphire. Meanwhile, the grouse was cooked close to perfection, tender and full of game-flavour. The twist of pickled elderberries was also an excellent one. In between, we journeyed through some of Clipstone’s ‘autumn’ dishes, and also rated the grilled ox tongue as well as the excellent cabbage and burnet aubergine dish. For the more adventurous, calves brain is also available, although this item again caused dissent in our group, and so we avoided on this occasion. The piece-de-resistance, however, was a Paris-Brest dessert, which tasted as good as it looked, even if this boosted the calorific intake of our group significantly. A final word on the wines: a very good list here (as at Portland), with clear thought put into compiling a balanced yet innovative set of selection. Our Oregon red blend ticked all the right boxes. At c£40/head, Clipstone feels like a good and reasonable option where your money is undoubtedly well spent.