Westerns Laundry

Islington is fortunate to have no shortage of excellent restaurants - Trullo, Fredericks, Bellanger, The Draper’s Arms and The Pig and Butcher, just to name a few. But for me Westerns Laundry stands head and shoulders above the rest. We’ve visited on a few occasions, most recently for lunch, and it never fails to exceed our high expectations. The cooking here is consistently thoughtful and exciting — a collective mix of genuinely interesting dishes built around fresh, seasonal ingredients, with clever flavour combinations, contrasting textures and beautiful presentation. Its refined but deeply satisfying. On this visit, the undisputed coup de grâce was the rabbit: served in a dreamy, gently creamy mustard sauce and cooked to absolute perfection by Jamie. Hats off to Craig, who I understand conceived the dish. The meat was tender and deeply flavourful, with delicate crisp skin and a richness that was beautifully balanced by the sauce. Alongside it, a buttery vol-au-vent filled with torn rabbit added another indulgent layer of texture and flavour. I’ve been fortunate to have had some extraordinary meat dishes in my culinary lifetime — melt-in-the-mouth lechon in Cebu in the Philippines, impossibly soft seekh kebabs in Bademiyas behind the Taj Mumbai, and perfectly pink duck cooked over coals in the markets of Bordeaux. This rabbit is a dish that will stay etched in my memory for a long time. The service at Westerns Laundry is equally impressive: warm, knowledgeable and delightfully unpretentious. Greg and Ali are clearly passionate about their F&B and they always make us feel like we are being welcomed into the home of friends. On this occasion we were also superbly looked after by Iza. We are already looking forward to our next visit.