Sessions Arts Club

Fashionable fool-house

Scallop, mandarin & turnip

Sessions Arts Club is the most talked-about restaurant launch of 2021. It is already one of the hardest restaurants to score a table in London and it only opens Wednesday to Friday. It is housed in a grand Grade II* listed building with a hidden-ish door, along with a classic old lift that takes you to a beautiful classy dining room. It also has a celebrity chef in charge of the kitchen in the name of Florence Knight and the venue has gathered overwhelming positive reviews from all the major news media. The menu has an Italian feel to it, and most are in small plates format that encourages the guests to share.

Pane carasau, cicoria & bottarga

Panisse, lemon thyme & sea salt

Eel, potato, egg & horseradish

The dishes come as soon as is ready from the kitchen with no particular order. The house signature: The eel and potato dish was enjoyable but nothing special for me. It was a confit potato layered with eel which worked well as a seasoning and is topped with a runny egg. For a piece of potato with a few garnishes that set you back £18? It was all a bit too much for me. The panisse dish followed a similar pattern, the soft chickpea filling was unremarkable and it lacked a crispy surface. £9 for a plate of un-crispy chips? Daynight robbery.  The pollock dish was the only dish on the day actually had a higher cooking standard, it was soft and cooked perfectly, and the salsify and sea purslane worked well which offered a peppery and umami buttery taste. However, the seasoning was too aggressive as it was extremely salty. 

Pollock, salsify, sea purslane & roe

Rabbit, cabbage, cotechino & mustard

Ginger cake & cream

Perhaps due to the media hype, I was expecting so much from Sessions Arts Club. However, the food was just simply average for me, nothing offensive but it was really nothing to sing home about either. The main issue I have is the price, I paid more than £65 for food alone per person but I am getting average bistro level cooking, it was just not worth it at all. The restaurant might have a lovely dining room and the service was great, but charging such a premium cost for average food was a joke for me. I would imagine people would still flood in for a table as the place is so fashionable now.

Food 2.5/5


Average cost without drinks and services:
£65

Old Sessions House, 24 Clerkenwell Grn, London EC1R 0NA

https://sessionsartsclub.com/