Innovative food is coming back to Shoreditch – but is Iron Bloom a proper restaurant or just another a Nathan Barley sterotype? TB heads down to the birthplace of the hipster to find out if it’s totally awesome or totally Mexico.
Rating: Four stars
Cuisine: British tapas with innovative twists
In a word: Bold
Appeals to: The original hipsters, now fully marured and full of cash having sold their startups who want flavour and aren’t bothered about cost or quantity.
Introduction
Dining at Iron Bloom is a lot like having dinner in the Cystal Maze’s industrial zone. The exposed pipework, unassuming dark brown steel entrance doors, and dim lighting making for a dark and moody dytopian setting. I half expected Richard O’Brien to take my order using slightly inappropriate innuendos.
In the grand scheme of things, Iron Bloom is actually a rather important restaurant. To fully understand why you have to appreciate the Shoreditch eatery timeline. It’s quite simple, first there was an explosion of high quality, niche and specialist restaurants and cafes, serving excellent innovative dishes and authentic street food from all four corners of the earth. Established to service the expanding horizons of the globally connected start-up community, it thrived and became the catalyst for a growing multicutural micro cuisine sector across London. Then it all went south – the chains came in, the indpendents left, and the place became full to the brim of places selling ribs, chicken, and upmarket fast food. Today, the quality and innovation is coming back – and Iron Bloom is taking point.
“Good food is coming back, fast food is leaving” says the owner, William Knowles-Mofford. “Independents like Iron Bloom are key to attracting people back to Shoreditch for great food.” It’s a bold claim. Can the menu match the ambition?
The menu
Massive it isn’t, brilliant it is. This is a collection of small starters, sharing plates and personal mains that doesn’t look long but requires serious time and concentration to comprehend. It’s a collection of individual dishes shot through with unique combinations and innoavtive individualism. Smoked Cod’s Roe Cumpet, Devils on Horseback, Whole Roasted Quail; Three Bird Steamed Suet Pudding – it’s all interesting and it all sparks conversation. That’s the sign of a great menu. It’s all very British but arranged in an unusual manner with care and attention. Frankly I want it all – but that would be taking the piss.
The food
We plump for Devils on Horseback (how well can you pull off a classic when your menu is full of new-fangled arrangements?); Almond Welsh Rarebit (championed by our waitress as a shining star in the menu); and smoked watermelon brisket (how could you not?) for the first round.
Smoked Watermelon Brisket – who comes up with this stuff? There is no meat involved. It’s a watermelon, smoked for four days solid until it takes on a meaty flavour and texture, and a solid charr on the outside. It’s served in three slices – looking to all intent and purpose as a very rare chateaubriand. It cuts like meat and when you masticate on the first piece it tastes beefy and feels like meat. Then it breaks down and the fruit comes through, offering a juicy sweet finish that is simply like nothing I’ve ever tasted. It’s cetainly weird but its one of those dishes everyone has to try simply because someone had the balls to come up with it and stick it on a menu. Akin to the vegan burger that bleeds, this is the vegan juicy steak. Madness. But brilliant.
Should the Rarebit have been recommended. Most definately. Good call. I’ve had rarebit many times. It’s usually fine – just not full of flavour. The stout tends to dampen the other flavours, leaving a musky smell and a subduded taste. This is different – it’s bursting with savoury goodness. Again, there is a lot of meaty salty flavour coming through. We learn later that this is down largely to the combination of beef dripping bread and vegan cashew cheese. I can see and taste some grilled onion in there too. The whole thing is perfectly balanced and hugely filling. But it’s not a big dish. This works given the depth of flavour and the complexity of the dishes themselves. They have clearly been designed to satisfy on a number of levels beyond size alone.
Our mains are limited to three choices – wagyu burger, veggie burger, or lamb shank. William explains that all these dishes used to be on the ‘sharing plates’ section of the menu but too many people struggled to understand how to share it and so they had to adjust the menu accordingly.
I opt for the burger. It’s otherworldly. It’s small and vibrant – served in a colourful blue bun to draw attention away from its size. (Apparently Iron Bloom can make them pink, blue, black or green depending on what natural ingredients they use). Bit into it and it converts from a tasty meat patty into meaty grassy elixir. It just dissoves into something that trickles down your throught like a potion for pure indulgence. I’ve eaten a lot of burgers – this is right up there. Make it 50% bigger and it would probably win awards.
My colleague orders the lamb. It’s unexpectadly ordinary. It’s a slow cooked lamb shank, with mash, red cabbage, and beaten swede. At first is a disappointment. It’s got little flavour and it feels out of kilter with the rest of the offerings then it becomes clear what’s going on. Everything else on the menu is so well-flavoured and so beautifully presented, that this, perfectly acceptable main course, tastes bland and looks ordinary in comparison. Iron Bloom has recalibrated our senses over the past 45 minutes and now normal food is no longer good enough. But why is it on the menu? It sticks out like a sore thumb. William says its about broader appeal. They need something on the menu that can accomodate the less adventurous. Not everyone who comes in will want something off the hook. In that sense it meets the brief. But it feels like a compromise on a menu with so much obvious sparkle.
There is a choice for dessert – you can either have it or not. There is only one and it changes weekly. This week its a bread and butter pudding in a pool of melted milk chocolate with a white and milk chocolate fondant on the top. It’s small but frankly we can’t even get through it when it’s shared between us. It’s crisp on the top and creamy through the middle. The pool of melted cholocate is a veritable lake. It’s considerable, rich, sticky and wonderful. It’s probably overkill but for a meal like this, that’s kind of ok.
The verdict
There is substance to William’s claim. Iron Bloom is independent, it is quality, and it is going to help Shoreditch reclaim its foodie mojo. William and his partner’s background running a successful speakeasy cocktail bar and some of the experimentation and verve that come from making great drinks has filtered into the menu we saw today. Combining flavours, styles and twists to create new ideas on the plate – it’s worth taking a trip back to Shoreditch. Quality independent food is coming home.
Details
46 Great Eastern Road, London, EC2A 3EP
www.ironbloomshoreditch.co.uk
@ironbloomEC2A