The Dish is a monthly column that shines a light on London's most thrilling plates.
In the midst of a borderline apocalyptic heatwave that’s been regularly making central London hotter than coastal Spain, the only reasonable way to eat is as if you were on holiday. July is not a time for British stodge (unless it comes in picnic form). Instead, I’ve spent the last month ordering any variation of crudo on the menu, and dining like a Mediterranean.
Crudo, the Italian term for ‘raw’, covers a wide variety of specialities from carpaccio to tartare and ceviche, and London is brimming with exemplary versions of each. At Legare - a neighbourhood Italian tucked away on the cobbled streets of Shad Thames near Tower Bridge - make a beeline for their trout variation if it’s on the weekly rotating specials menu. Plump little cubes of pale pink fish with a light citrus dressing undercutting the richness of the fish, it’s the perfect foil to their plates of rustic pappardelle and olive oil-drenched panzanella.
At MAAI by Nikita, the recently opened Clapham restaurant from Great British Menu winner Nikita Pathakji, their cured sea bream could be hung in a gallery. Where many of their impeccable flavours - a mix of British ingredients and globally-influenced ideas - pack a punch, their sea bream is a light and mellow moment of subtlety. Studded with cubes of green apple and bathed in a citrus ponzu dressing with a smattering of nigella seeds, it doesn’t shout, but it makes its presence known amongst a truly standout menu.
On an almost intolerably hot Sunday afternoon, however, I found myself walking down Stoke Newington’s bustling Church Street and into Escocesa. Opened in 2015, with chefs from Barcelona and Bilbao via Soho’s Barrafina, it has managed that rarest of feats among an ever-changing east London and maintained its tenure for more than a decade. With a precise MO of taking Scottish seafood and fusing it with Spanish technique, there’s a charm to the space as soon as you walk through the door and take a high seat at the open kitchen bar. A clutch of oysters and fresh seafood sits on ice behind the counter; between 4pm and 5pm, they shut the kitchen so that staff can sit down together for a meal. It’s unpretentious but rings with authenticity.
Their tortilla, studded with fat, juicy prawns inside its oozing midst, levels up a classic dish. Hot fried slices of aubergine are drizzled with sugar cane honey and studded with walnuts. However it’s their tuna tartare, infused with sesame and accompanied by a fresh avocado mousse, that is Escocesa’s standout. Fresh, zingy with lime, and spiked with thin slivers of crispbread, they’ve not reinvented the wheel but honed in on the essence of its simple genius. Fresh, light fish balanced with nutty savouriness and citrus piquancy; under the blessed blast of a fan, for a brief moment I felt like I was on the continent rather than a few tube stops away from the City.
This month’s special mention - though not in London and not fished from the sea - must also go to Martin Carabott of Sussex’s Gravetye Manor, and his winning garden salad, picked as part of Chapel Down’s Taste of England menu. The most impossibly pretty plate I have possibly ever seen, showcasing a stunning mix of 25 vegetables, herbs and edible flowers, I’ve already booked to dine there properly as Carabott is clearly the Monet of the herbaceous world.
Escocesa, 67 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0AR. Book a table.