DINE OUT THE PEARLY QUEEN LONDON • THEPEARLYQUEEN.COM


AT HIS LATEST OPENING, CHEF TOM BROWN SHOWS OFF SOME SERIOUSLY SKILFUL SEAFOOD COOKERY


In the 1870s, enterprising street sweeper Henry Croft decided to do something unusual: he started wearing a suit adorned with a galaxy of mother of pearl buttons. This get-up, he found, was handy for attracting attention and fi lling the charitable coff ers, while he collected money for working class East Enders. And so were born the Pearly Kings and Queens, after which Tom Brown’s latest opening is named. Former Great British Menu fi nalist Brown


is no stranger to East London. His Michelin- starred restaurant, Cornerstone, is in Hackney Wick, while The Pearly Queen is on Commercial Street in Spitalfi elds — the spiritual home of the cockney geezer. Alas, the geezers have long since gone, and on the Friday lunchtime I visit, my fellow diners — presumably from the glossy high-rise offi ces nearby — don’t seem the type to know the words to Knees Up Mother Brown. It makes sense, though, as you’d probably want to be on a city slicker’s salary to dine


122 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL


here. A single baked scallop swimming in coral butter and a touch of lime — meaty and exquisitely cooked though it is — costs £12.50. The main courses range from £21 to £55. The cheapest wine is Amélie le Blanc at £37. This fl ies up to a puligny-montrachet at £217 a bottle. It’s not a place for those who are faint of wallet. It is, however, one of the best restaurants to open in East London in a long time. Brown earned his stripes working with fi sh


cookery king Nathan Outlaw, and Cornerstone is very much a fi sh and seafood restaurant. All this experience with the ocean’s bounty is evident at his new oyster bar, and its with oysters we start. The fi rst, dressed in horseradish and juiced celery, is fresh as morning dew. Then comes a deep-fried crispy buff alo oyster swaddled in ranch dressing. It’s deserving of a love song. An oyster pâté with champagne jelly falls a little fl at, but in contrast


the chalk stream trout tartare — crowned with bitter winter leaves — is superb. It tastes so fresh I wouldn’t be surprised if it was pulled out of the river this morning. My main is monkfi sh, which is cooked and


served on the bone and has the shimmer of a diamond — or a pearl, perhaps. It’s doused in roast chicken butter sauce and attended by half a fi eld’s worth of chanterelle mushrooms. Next is a cuttlefi sh moussaka. It looks like a fi esta of beige and brown at fi rst, strongly reminding me of my dad’s sheepskin jacket from the 1980s. But looks can be deceiving. The toupee of parmesan gives way to an interior of tomato, aubergine, potato and fi sh. If God himself had gone into cheffi ng I know this cuttlefi sh moussaka would be top of the bill. This restaurant is a pearl borne from the grit of the East End. And my goodness what a pearl it is. Three courses for two people around £265, including a bottle of wine and two glasses of champagne. Samuel Muston


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132