Acorn House

Niamheen

Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow 2nd September 2008

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Acorn House in King’s Cross has been on my radar for sometime. As London’s first truly eco-friendly training restaurant, it has had alot of press attention, with the Evening Standard’s Fay Maschler declaring that ”All Restaurants should emulate” it and Giles Coren of The Times saying that it’s “The most important restaurant to open in London in the past 200 years”. It’s also less than 10 minutes from my workplace and has been recommended by colleagues and friends. In the OFM food awards in 2007 it won best newcomer.

Established by chef Arthur Potts Dawson and manager James Grainger-Smith both formerly of Fifteen in Shoreditch, it’s a social enterprise created by the Shoreditch Trust which delivers hands on training to the local community. The food is centred around health, training, community and the environment. They aim to be the most recyclable restaurant in London, by allowing as much as 80% of its waste to be recycled. In cooperation with the local councils and London Remade it will test out new waste management strategies in a restaurant environment, it offers reusable cutlery and all takeaway containers are eco-sensitive and they offer customers options of serving sizes to allow for differing appetites which creates less food waste. They have their own site for storage of dry recyclables with space for a ‘PIG’ compostor and a wormery providing soil for the restaurant and the roof of the storage area is used to grow herbs (and potentially grow insect attracting plants) in the centre of Kings Cross. Added to all of this, the restaurant and the recycling site act as an educational resource for the public, schools and a new breed of trainee chefs. When it comes to the food itself, the menus are seasonal with ingredients sourced from small independent suppliers, they buy fair trade where possible, locally and never use air freight, they have a strict fish purchasing policy and demand positive animal husbandry.

All that sounds great, truly an inspiration for other restaurants, but, what of the food? I’ve availed of their takeway lunch a number of times, usually the half panini and small soup for £5, always flavoursome and healthy. So, why didn’t I eat there properly until this week? I think it’s one of those situations where it’s just down the road and I can go anytime (even if I subsequently don’t) and, ever the procrastinator I put it on the long finger. This week, however, I finally went there for lunch with some colleagues.

I like the interior of Acorn House, it’s bright and airy with a relaxed elegance. We got a nice round table by the open kitchen at the back and started off with some olives and bread. I started to peruse their January menu. There were two soups on offer: pumpkin, thyme and pancetta & celeriac, chestnut & horseradish. They sounded delicious, but time was short so I decided not to get one - I will definitely be trying them for a take-away lunch soon though. There’s also cured meat selections (including the sublime San Daniele ham) and salads on offer, which, again, look great but I had my eye on the fish dish - chargrilled organic salmon with cardamom and horseradish served with 2 salads. It was a popular dish - most of us had it with others opting for the duck confit, the ravioli with chard, mascarpone & fried sage or the tartine with pumpkin, mascarpone and stilton (changed from the option on the menu which was tartine with pumpkin, ricotta & onion marmalade).

Before I start, I am not sure about the diner choosing the salad accompanying their main course, I wonder if the chef is best placed to do this? It reminds me of create-your-own pizzas which, having once worked in a pizza restaurant, I can testify are often chosen badly. However, it is nice to have the choice, if you can trust yourself. It’s January, and, (I am supposed to be) all about health and recuperation, so I decided to go for the beetroot with parsley, as beetroot helps your liver deal with xmas party stresses (I had a few of those!), and for the second one broccoli with almonds.

How was it? The fish was cooked perfectly - tender and moist, the cardamom and horseradish was a really unusual accompaniment and quite nice. The duck confit went down a treat as did the ravioli, but, the tartine was proclaimed too rich. The salads were really great: wholesome and healthy.

So, next for dessert. I opted for the ginger pudding with dark rum and double cream. It was wonderfully light. Other choices were the flourless chocolate cake with cardamom ice cream and Eccles Cake with Vanilla Custard. Everyone was really pleased with their choice, it was a lovely end to the meal.

So, what did I think? Very good food but at £16 for a fish main course and £6.50 for a dessert it needs to be excellent. But it is sustainable, eco-friendly and a friend to the local community, and this, it seems, comes at a price. I think it’s worth it.

ricoeurian

mixed salads... mixed quality 24th July 2008

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I've been to Acorn five times now and am still unsure if this place is great or overrated - 2 awesome meals, 2 not so good, 1 crappy. So maybe on balance it's not so good.

The menu changes a bit each time you go, especially the salads, which always have descriptions that are one part challenge, one part intrigue.

Ingredients (and general philosophy) are organic.

Things I've loved about Acorn House: my first meal there... the humungous round board of meats and cheeses platter to share that we ordered for a party of ten... the organic UK ales.

Things I've *not* loved about AH: some of the prices... that more recently lovely tasty tender baby vegetables in the salads have become more leggy grown-up vegetables... that I had to ask for some carrots to be put into my beetroot and carrot salad... that the veggie pie was just ghastly and sickeningly rich.

Maybe you'll be lucky and have a fantastic meal (as I have done) or maybe you'll be unlucky and pay a lot for an unspectacular meal (as I have also done).

squirrel

The Squirrel would have preferred Acorns 27th October 2007

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Maybe we were disappointed because we were expecting so much? Maybe we are just way too critical and everyone else who has given The Acorn 4 or 5 stars is right and we are wrong? Hmmm.

The Squirrel and her worse half thought long and hard about where to take the worse half's parents. The aim was to find great food, a comfortable, cozy, quiet place.

The Squirrel arrived late, partly because The Acorn doesn't have a proper sign on it's door. For the optically challenged, who wear badly fitting contact lenses out of sheer vanity, this must be annoying.

The Squirrel arrived to find Mrs P sitting on a bizarre church pew type seat and Mr P Sr and Jr sitting on very uncomfortable looking, designer, plastic chairs, drinking beer that they hadn't really ordered, but they didn't want to make a fuss.

The menu is minimalist, as one would expect, given The Acorn's ethics. The bread and butter was nice, but we had to hold our bread in our hands, since the Acorn doesn't appear to do side plates.

The starters were fine. The soup in particular was very hearty and filling, Mrs P said.

The mains were also fine. Well prepared, but just not particularly extraordinary.

Then the tables next to us started filling up and we lost any desire to continue with a dessert; the dining room is strangely designed and the tables are too close together. So you struggle to hear your own conversation as you listen in on the private conversations of your neighbours.

We left without ordering dessert or coffee or tea. To be honest, we just wanted to go somewhere comfortable where we could have a proper bottle of wine, or a wider choice of beers, and where we could settle down for a good chat.

The staff were lovely, and you could definitely tell that there was some training going on. It was also nice to see into the kitchen, so to speak.

We paid about £35 a head - given that there was no dessert and we each had a small bottle of beer, this seems unjustified.

All in all we couldn't understand the hype and we regretted our choice. The Squirrel hates to be so down on a place that has received such great reviews, but in this case it can't be helped.

flojo

3rd July 2007

1 found this helpful

Went for a meal here ages ago, food was very nice and I like it's ethics!

LondonistMatt

They don't serve acorns 7th June 2007

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It's true. I asked. They do furnish every customer with a packet of seeds though. What am I going to do with seeds? I live in a second-floor flat with no space for a window box. Perhaps I could plant them in the carpet. Then I could use a lawn mower rather than a hoover to clean the floor. Actually, that's not a bad idea.

Before you get your seeds, there's the small matter of the food itself. Now, I've been four times, and always go for the multi-salad option. It really bamboozles the uninitiated. Like, why am I ordering four salads? That's how they do things in here. You pick three or four salads and they all come heaped on top of one another in a precarious pile not usually seen outside of all-you-can-eat buffets.

Also, the manager looks really familiar. Maybe because I've been four times and he has the same facial features each time. But I'm sure I know him from somewhere else.

In summary: a good place to recollect what fenugreek is.

belinda

I think The Times got it right! 25th May 2007

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We went to the Acorn for dinner and I could not find one fault with this place.

Super-friendly helpful staff who actually enjoy what they do (or seem to). Fabulous cocktails, great wine and delicious fresh inventive food.
We were a table of 8 and all had 3 courses and everyone loved every dish that was served.

Food was fresh and tasty with a great selection for vegetarians. I would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone.

k_thrn

From Little Acorns 24th May 2007

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According to the Times' Acorn House is the most important restaurant to open in London in 200 years because it is London's first truly environmentally sustainable restaurant. The restaurant is built from organic and recycled materials, it composts or recycles 100 per cent of its wastes, demands positive animal husbandry, avoids industrial farming, uses green electricity, buys Fairtrade where possible and never uses airfreight. Wow!

I haven't tried it sooner because the prices edge on the higher limit for my lunchtime budget. But I recently discovered they do a lunch deal of soup and half a sandwich for about £6.00. I tried the beetroot soup with cardamom and sour cream and a bresaolo and goats cheese sandwich on brown bread. It being a sunny day I decided to enjoy my meal in a local sunny square so I can't really comment on a full dining experience at Acorn House. But from what I observed the staff seemed friendly and cheery and seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. Service for takeaway could have been a little quicker but I was enjoying looking around. The restaurant was bright and airy and the food was great. The colour of the beetroot soup was rich and bright. I've never seen anything more pink - which I chalk up to the quality of the ingredients. Absolutely delicious! The bresaolo was sweet and musty and went perfectly with the buttery goats cheese. Total bill, with a bottle of water came to a little over £7. My only criticism would be that the portions could have been a little bigger for the price.

Based on this experience I'll definitely check Acorn House out properly soon. So expect another follow up review.

Niamheen at 24/05/07

You beat me to it! :-)

Lacrimosa at 03/07/07

Interesting! I've passed this place a couple of times and wondered about it. Thanks for the info.

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