The Dairy
Modern European
15 The Pavement, SW4 0HY
£££
Clapham favourite The Dairy has been around for a while now, but still manages to feel decidedly new and fresh. Despite not having much publicity on opening, The Dairy has managed to build and maintain a fabulous reputation: despite opening over 5 years ago you still require a booking at dinner and weekends. Informal surroundings, causal staff and mismatched furniture to match, you feel as though you are stepping into a vegan café or hipster coffee hangout rather than a culinary palace, but this just adds to The Dairy’s modest yet self-assured charm.
The dishes are served up on heavy-duty stoneware which compliments the food and reminds me of the scene in Shrek where Fiona dishes up a fried egg on a slab of slate: true rustic style. Upon arriving we are greeted with a Sunday taster menu, not for the fussy eater as there are no options. Luckily for mother and I we are the opposite of fussy eaters and the diverse menu sounds like a sensory thrill. We decide to not get any drinks, due to the warm weather and the fact we’re both a big hungover (it’s coming home…) but this works in our favour and manages to keep the cost down to £37 per person.
Deliciously small surprises keep arriving, and despite being aware of the menu you are still shocked at the amount delivered. To start, some radishes on a bed of pesto-like sauce but richer, garnished with herbs and bursting with flavour. Homemade sourdough arrives in little sacks, amongst the best I’ve tasted with an indulgent and creamy smoked bone marrow infused butter accompaniment. For the table, you are delivered pate en croute, dooncastle oysters and grezzina courgette salad. Surprisingly, the courgette salad was my favourite, with subtle hints of goat’s cheese and a myriad of different textures: I could have had another 4 plates and still craved more.
Fronds of swiss chard leaf with a shockingly purple stem were a slight let down and on the rather chewy side, but still stood their purpose in a purely decorative fashion. They enveloped a perfectly rare (but also slightly tough) serving of roast beef which was placed upon what I think was pureed potato mash but tasted more like a heavenly cream sauce. Accompanying the meat was a dish of borlotti & piatone beans and vesuvio tomatoes. These were, without a doubt, the best tomatoes I’ve tasted. The beans also shone; mixed with more crunchy greens and drenched in a garlicky sauce, therefore saving them from the fibrous density they so often have.
To top it all off we were given an Almond and Apricot Tart: perfectly sharp, flavoursome without being too rich and not too heavy. This was teamed with some ewe’s milk sorbet which I’m still not sure if I rated or not, but you’ve got to give it to them - The Dairy is anything but ordinary. Overall, the meal was fantastic, and for the 8 plates which are dished out, it really is worth the £37. Overall, The Dairy serves up exquisite small plates which will satisfying your thirst but leave you wanting more.
OVERALL RATING: *****
http://the-dairy.co.uk/
