Sitting at the chef’s counter can be an exciting way to enjoy food; getting a glimpse into their process and a front seat view of where the magic happens. It can also mean your meal ends up feeling less intimate, with a certain amount of pressure to engage with the correct amount of oohs and ahhs. Not to mention pretending to enjoy something you don’t.
One of Jason Atherton’s latest restaurants (among five he’s opened in as many months), has nailed the formula with several forward-facing, slightly elevated tables for two that offer an uninterrupted vista of the open kitchen. You can see everything that’s going on while still having your own cosy little nook to devour your food. It’s the first I’ve seen of this kind and hope to see more.
Three Darlings, named in honour of Atherton’s three daughters, describes itself as a “very English bristo”, a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that the menu doesn’t lend itself to one particular cuisine, taking inspiration from Spain, Italy, Japan and China, to name a few.
It’s also one of those slightly overcomplicated ones that makes it impossible to order from unless you have it explained to you. Fortunately, our waiter, who spent the last seven years at Dinner by Heston and The Fat Duck, was so knowledgeable that this was a welcome exercise rather than a boorish one.
It’s a little hard to choose, as so much of it sounds great, but not as though it’d all necessarily go together. So we discard all ideas of what goes with what and follow our hearts’ – or stomachs’ – desires.
A wood-fired Orkney scallop is juicy, fat and seared perfectly. The Rockefeller with fermented miso sauce it comes swimming in is decadent, umami and has a lovely breadcrumb crunch. Smooth and scrumptious chicken liver parfait is spread onto squares of toasted brioche and arrives with a little glass dish of vinegary pickles to offset the fatty richness.
There are oysters with a garishly green topping of apple, cucumber and jalapeno, a fresh and lively combination that really sings. Alternatively, you can top them with Three Darlings’s fermented house hot sauce which is made from their food waste. Sustainable, spicy and sapid.
The cooking is extremely well executed, particularly when it comes to the meat; octopus drizzled in sobrasada is texturally perfect, a little smoky and a firm customer favourite by all accounts, though its butter bean aioli friend is a tad forgettable; lamb belly with chimichurri and labneh is fantastically unctuous and buttery; and char siu beef ribs with Szechuan pepper are a surprising standout, resulting in my boyfriend making a noise I’d never heard before in my life.
There’s a softness to the vibe evident in everything from the velvety pink and green chairs to the fashiony illustrations on the menu. There’s really quite a lot of pink everywhere, actually. Atherton and his wife, Ihra, told Restaurant Online this is because “Chelsea is a very female-driven environment. At no point should Three Darlings feel masculine or scary.” I can’t say I’ve ever felt scared in a restaurant, but this place located just off Pavillion Road has managed to avoid it nonetheless. Must be all the pink.
Even the dishes that don’t work as well (smoked potatoes that are just a little too blackened for my liking; a slightly underseasoned katsu curry skate wing schnitzel that leaves you wondering, “well, if it ain’t broke...”) are still very good and are probably someone’s cup of tea. But with a menu this expansive it’d be impressive if you ended up adoring everything.
Though many of the flavours are tried and tested greats we know and love, as with the apple-y oyster, there’s another revelation. It turns out vanilla soft serve and Umai caviar make very happy bedfellows. Something about the salty fish roe and sweet ice cream just works. Apparently Heston once discovered that caviar and white chocolate were chemically similar in their high levels of amines, inspiring this dish.
There’s loads to try and we just touched the sides of what’s on offer. Another dish that caught my eye from our clear view of the kitchen was a wagyu sausage roll that looked like a really splendid beef wellington. Basically, there’s something here for everyone. I left realising it doesn’t matter if a menu needs explaining if it’s full of this many treats.
Three Darlings, 241B Pavilion Rd, London, SW1X 0BP | www.threedarlingslondon.com | 020 7993 3253
