Andy Hayler's Profile Page

Over the years I have Bruno Loubet’s food many times. After training as a chef in France, including in the navy, he moved to London in the 1980s (where he started in 1982 at Gastronome One before moving to Petit Blanc in 1986 (after a stint under Raymond Blanc at le Manoir au Quat’ Saisons). My first experience of his food was at The Four Seasons in 1989, where he earned a Michelin star at the age of 29. I also enjoyed his food at Bistro Bruno in Soho, which he opened in 1992, and at his later venture l’Odeon in Regent Street.  In 2002 he moved to Brisbane, where he was head chef of three separate restaurants, before returning to London to open here in February 2010.

The dining room here is in the Zetter hotel in Clerkenwell, and has a pleasant space with an attractive bar, open kitchen and slightly cramped tables, with chairs that are not designed for you to linger. The menu is firmly in bistro territory, with starters £6.50 - £8, main courses at £14 - £18, vegetables at £3.50 or £4 and deserts at £5 - £6.50. The wine list is decent though has little to set the pulse racing. Willunga Shiraz/Viognier 2006 was £23 for a wine you can buy for around £7 in the shops, Dog Point Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc 2007 was £46 compared to a retail price of about £15, while at the upper end of the list, Brunello Constanti 2004 was £80 for a wine that will set you back around £40 or so to buy. Krug non-vintage champagne is a relative bargain at £150 given that you can pay as much as £120 retail for this these days (though it can be bought in the trade for around £75).

Bread is made from scratch, which in principle is excellent but this version badly lacked salt, and the texture was disappointing. For reasons that elude me the bread was served in a flower pot; I suppose some marketing person thinks this is clever: flour/flower?!? Truly, it is not, but I care less about the silly way to serve it than the fact that the bread was poor; I really like places to make their own bread, but if you cannot make good bread, then it is better to buy some (2/10).

I began with pressed seared tuna, served prettily enough in a lattice of lardo di Colonatta and green apple puree. This was a pleasant dish, the tuna having good colour, the green apple puree a sensible idea but oddly lacking in acidity, though I am unconvinced about the merits of pairing of the tuna with the lardo (3/10). Potted shrimps and mackerel with a cucumber salad with Melba toast were a mushy paste with greasy Melba toast and cucumber that was not properly pickled (1/10). Mauricette snails and meatballs with mushrooms were not well received by my knowledgeable dining companion.

For main course, hare royale was served with onion ravioli, pumpkin and dried mandarin puree. I ate this exact dish barely a week before at the Greenhouse, and sadly there was no comparison. The hare here was dried out, the ravioli slightly soggy, and the dish had no hint of the delightful richness that it should have (barely 1/10). Beef daube Provencale at least had beef that, while a cheap cut, was tender, but seemed to entirely lack seasoning. It was served in a pot with tomatoes and root vegetables, and presented with a plate of mousseline potatoes that were unfortunately cold by the time they arrived at the table (perhaps 2/10). Vegetable and goat cheese pithivier had perfectly competent pastry, but the vegetables (primarily artichoke and courgette) were just a tasteless mush that desperately needed seasoning (1/10 only because of the pastry). A side dish of gratin dauphinoise had soggy potatoes and lacked both cheese taste and, again, seasoning.

For dessert, Valrhona chocolate tartlet was the best of the ones tried, with an ordinary caramel and salted butter ice cream (2/10). Apple and quince millefeuille with chilled orange blossom sabayon was simply tasteless, with disappointing texture (barely 1/10).

Service was pleasant if pushy, with repeated nudges towards ordering extra vegetables and drinks, though attention wandered once the order was placed. A dropped fork was ignored, and wine topping up was patchy. The bill came to £74 a head with modest wine and no pre-dinner drinks.

Overall I was very disappointed by this meal, partly because I know from the past that the chef (who was present) is capable of much better than this. The basic bistro formula is fine, but then you need to actually execute well given the cheap ingredients, and there were technical issues at each course. Prices are set at a level that suggests a much higher level of cooking than appeared this evening.  I had just hoped for so much better from a chef whose food I used to really enjoy.

Pinchitos is situated in a quiet, somewhat run-down location near Old Street station (there is now another branch in Bayley Street too). The room has an open kitchen on one side, and a mix of wooden and stone floor. There is exposed brickwork, and rather tatty blue upholstery. The tapas menu is supplemented by a long list of daily specials, with tapas dishes ranging from £.50 - £10, most around the £5 mark. The fairly short Spanish wine list starts at £17.50, and features selections such as Inurrietta 2006 at £19.50 for a wine that costs as much as £12 retail, Vina Esmerelda Gewürztraminer 2008 at £19.50 for a wine that will set you back around £9 in the shops, and Bodegas Mas Alta 2005 at £40 for a wine that you can purchase for around £15 in the shops. 

A classic tortilla was quite good, served on a bed of somewhat superfluous salad leaves and with reasonable texture (2/10). Garlic prawns were correctly cooked, tasted acceptable, though perhaps a little more garlic in the oil they were cooked with would have been beneficial (2/10). Heuvos rotos was a mix of chips, egg and chorizo, and was rather greasy, though comforting enough (1/10). Patatas bravas featured potatoes that were a little soggy, served with an odd-tasting spicy tomato sauce where too much smoked paprika had been added, giving a burnt off-note without delivering much spice (0/10). Service was friendly enough, though there was much confusion as to where their Iberico ham was sourced from. 

Overall the bill came to £19.50 for four tapas dishes and a coffee, which is not excessive but is hardly a real bargain either given the cost of the ingredients used. It seemed a decent enough local place.

I have been here once before and had mostly decent food but dismal service, so I was curious to see whether anything had changed.  Popadoms are fried and served with beetroot pickle as well as the usual mango chutney and mint chutney.  I tried cauliflower chill fry (£3.95) which consisted of pieces of cauliflower tossed with curry leaves, yoghurt and a little green chilli – the texture of the cauliflower was reasonable (1/10).  Potato bonda (£2.50) was a pair of deep fried balls of potato flavoured with ginger, curry leaves and chillies, but this was rather soggy (0/10). 

Sea bass pollicchathu (£10.50) had a pair of sea bass fillets marinated with spices, then wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled.  The fish was cooked a little long, but the banana leaf managed to keep much of the moisture in the fish, and the spicy marinade, though it did not have the vibrant flavours of freshly ground spices, was adequate (1/10).  Parippu cheera (£3.95) was a pleasant mix of lentils and spinach, garlic and shallots (1/10).  Only aloo mutter (£3.95) was a let-down, the potatoes badly over-cooked, though the peas were OK (0/10).  Paratha (£1.75) was quite good, with no hint of greasiness (2/10).  A prawn curry (£8.50) had prawns that were cooked correctly, resting in a sauce flavoured with coconut milk.

Service was unrecognisable from our previous visit, and indeed our waiter from last time was nowhere to be seen.  Instead we were served by two pleasant young Indian waiters, one of whom in particular was very impressive: efficient, attentive and alert.  The bill is quite fair here; we ended up with more food than we could eat, and even with drinks the cost was only just over £25 a head. Sadly they have the same weird lighting, which gives everything a slight violet tinge, like something from a 50s sci-fi film.