The Sunday Times Magazine - UK (2022-06-05)

the wrinkly skin, is sheer
luxury, just as they are.
Hake Kiev, cousin to the
chicken version but formed
from a parcel of fish, is haute
comfort food, its buttery centre
pungent with three-cornered
leek butter and kale. It’s kind
of a key theme here, comfort
meets poshness. So squid ink
linguine with palourde clams,
dramatically murky, are
illuminated by orange jewels
of keta. But there’s also fish pie.
And anyone who puts lobster
and chips on their menu has
every kind of right idea.
You know what? Spoilt
bastard that I am, I find I like
Goddard & Gibbs a lot more
than I first thought. It isn’t
a flawless meal — that
disappointing mackerel; and
they could have told us,
when ordering a side dish of
tenderstem broccoli with chilli
and lemon, that the tempura
was entirely the same vegetable.

Overall it’s better than my

grudging initial “fine”. If

someone were to take me here

for lunch, or suggest it as a place

for a cordial business chat, I’d

be clam-happy. It’s pleasurable

rather than jaw-dropping, jolly

rather than transcendent. The

most disruptive thing about the

place is a large central sculpture

— I think it’s a sculpture —

that looks carved out of mature

cheddar. There’s a pleasing,

unstressy wine bar attached

(I find myself weirdly drawn

to words like “pleasing” and

“neat” for this review. Just

you wait — I’ll be heading

towards a “nice” any minute

now.) It’s quite non-east

London, the room bright and

airy, opened out since its days

as Hoi Polloi. Sometimes you

don’t need disruptive, anyway.

You just need the gentler joys

of nice. Told you n

Twitter: @marinaoloughlin

Insta: @marinagpoloughlin

PLATE OF

THE NATION

Merchant

Gourmet Zingy

Korean-Style

Grains

In my constant quest for a

speedy and delicious WFH

lunch, I often fall upon

Merchant Gourmet. Its

pouches of grains and pulses

— lentils, quinoa, wild rice,

kidney beans, adzuki, given

treatments such as Mexican,

Cajun and Spanish — are the

perfect base for all manner

of additions. The branding

might be a bit worthy, but

the product is first class.

This one — “Korean-style”,

an earthy combination of

wheatberries and black

barley with edamame beans

and “gochujang-style paste”

— is new to me. A fridge

forage delivers up eggs and

some wiry Polish kabanos

sausage. Stir-fried with peas,

a fried egg on top, it’s yet

another of my disgraceful

cultural mash-ups. But it’s

also an absolute winner,

the grains supremely nutty

and chewy, the sausage

adding smokiness and a

base note of porky funk. This

is definitely going into the

“takes less than five minutes”

lunchtime repertoire. MO’L

From £1.50 at supermarkets;

merchant-gourmet.com

HOW MUCH?

Starters £6-£16

Mains £16-£40

Total for two, including

drinks and 12.5 per cent

service charge £145

But there’s effort, creativity

and some terrific produce. The

occasional dish even dazzles:

something described as a

“sardine sausage roll” is a work

of brilliance: light, buttery

pastry folded around a boned

sardine with cauliflower puree,

fat raisins and capers adding

almost Sicilian sweetness and

zip. And rarely do I pine for a

pudding, but I’ll come back

for the doughnut glazed with

miso caramel, dusted with

peanut and topped with malt

ice cream, a lurid homage to

Snickers and Maltesers. Neat

cocktails too.

The Sunday Times Magazine • 45