Trivet

Not Fat and not duck

Scallop, barbucine and sesame

When there is a new restaurant opening, one of the first thing I check is the CV of the chef behind it. Whoever is the PR agency behind Trivet, the new opening by Johnny Lake must be one of the easiest jobs as Johnny's record is seriously impressive. You might have encountered him on some of Heston Blumenthal's TV shows in the past, as Heston's right-hand man and the company's Executive Head Chef. I never got the chance to try out Fat Duck so it was a great opportunity for me to test out what Johnny's cooking is all about, with his very own restaurant that he has total control of it. Trivet is located in London Bridge, which lately has somewhat become a popular location for restaurant launches.

Artichoke, sourdough broth and Autumn truffle

Veal sweetbreads, raw mushroom and cumin

Sour cream and onion Puffini, caviar and mirin sabayon

Dante’s Pici Pici pasta, red mullet and artichokes

Grilled celeriac, freekeh and dill

Salt-steamed brill, cocos beans and tarragon oil

Iberico pluma, beetroot and shiitake mushroom

The menu is your classic a la carte format, with five choices for each course. I had the veal sweetbread, which was finely seasoned, with an unusual touch of Eastern spices, along with a mellow earthy note from the mushroom. It was a fairly balanced dish in terms of taste, but lack any sparks to make it exciting. The salt steamed brill was another good, but not remarkable dish. The fish was cooked to the right level, but the lemon element was pretty aggressive and took away the delicate taste of the brill. The other main, roasted pigeon was outstanding. The bittersweet profile of the chervil and persimmon was simply perfect which worked extremely well with the robust flavour of the pigeon. The dessert was also fabulous, the baked potato mille-feuille was light, not overly sweet with a killer smooth texture.

Chicken with a vinegar sauce

Roast pigeon, persimmon and chervil root

Beenleigh blue cheesecake, sorbe fruit and mosto cotto

Chestnut, bergamot and vanilla

Gianduja fondant with white coffee gelato

Almond and cherry tart with cardamom gelato

Hokkaido Potato

The cooking at Trivet was nothing like what you would see from Fat Duck. Instead, it was a contemporary European fine dining venue, with some unusual and smart ingredients combination. I got the chance to taste every single dish from the menu on the day, for me, there were some outstanding dishes, as well as some fairly average ones. Of course, it is early days for Trivet, and it can only get better from there. Right now, it does need some finetuning as you will be looking at paying around the £60 mark for a 3-course meal without drinks and service, and there are a few dishes that really shouldn't be charging at such price.



Food 3/5


Average cost without drinks and services:
£60

36 Snowsfields, Bermondsey, London SE1 3SU

https://trivetrestaurant.co.uk/