Plate Restaurant, Shoreditch - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: Modern English
Style Points: 4/5
Location: Shoreditch
Price: ££
Overall: 4/5

My favourite time to visit a restaurant for dinner is always during the middle of the working week when I can take a few hours to unwind and recap on the previous few (usually hectic!) days with some fabulous food and gorgeous cocktails. This week the restaurant of choice for my evening of relaxation and contemplation was Plate Restaurant located in the boutique hotel M by Montcalm in Shoreditch.

The restaurant occupies the ground and mezzanine floors with nice open views of Old Street for people watching and seeing the construction of nearby skyscrapers up close. The ground floor is the bar area and has a cosy yet modern feel to it, with comfy fabric and leathers sofas, a great space for meetings and catching up on emails.

The mezzanine floor is where the restaurant dining takes place and is a large open space with a lovely cocktail bar.

The menu itself is the work of Arnaud Stevens, Plate’s owner and creative head chef, who has worked with the likes of Pierre Koffmann, Gordon Ramsay and Tom Aitken. It is a compact menu yet full of British comfort food favourites with a little French finesse that will keep everyone happy including starters like Pork, pistachio and Pancetta terrine and Salt baked beetroot salad and mains such as Meantime Ale glazed half chicken with maple & lemon thyme and Crispy Atlantic cod tail with tartare sauce and triple cooked chips. Our lovely French waiter advised us on his favourite items from the dinner menu as well as the cocktail menu and we were more than happy to go with his recommendations.

Food?

To start, we opted for Plate’s Signature Bread Flight - Sourdough, Brioche & Marmite bread with a selection of whipped and seasonal butters, Asparagus Veloute with crispy Quails egg and wild garlic, and Classic Salmon Gravadlax with Marmite bread, shallot butter and cucumber relish.

The breads came on a rustic wooden log plate and the breads themselves were warm and brought with it that lovely fresh bread smell. Marmite is of course a love it or hate it ingredient and although I’m quite firmly in the hate it category I actually really liked the Marmite bread. My favourite though was definitely the Mushroom Brioche which had a woody, almost truffle smell and taste which never a bad thing. The butters that accompanied the breads were onion, balsamic and whipped and all were lovely and very distinct from one another.

The asparagus veloute creamy, light and refreshing and the crispy Quails egg added another dimension to the dish in terms of both flavour and texture. It was a good dish overall and packed with asparagus flavour even if a little on the salty side.

The cured salmon was beautiful and tasted great with the cucumber relish that had Scandinavian flavours of dill, mustard and lemon.  

To accompany our starters, we chose a couple of cocktails that had fruity flavours of mango and pineapple that we hoped would put us in the Summer mood. Both cocktails were fabulous and really refreshing.

For mains, we tried the Salted Atlantic cod with smoked celeriac & mussel sauce, braised chicory and hazelnut, and the LDF Beef ‘Dirty’ burger with spiced rib on a brioche bun with Sriracha mayo, dill pickle and pickled onions.

I have to start with the burger first. For a burger that costs £18.50 I had a lot of expectations and thankfully I was not let down. This was a ‘proper’ burger, full of big fresh ingredients including a giant burger patty that was incredibly juicy and packed with flavour. The spiced rib was more sweet than spicy but it was lovely nonetheless and went perfectly with the rest of the ingredients. The burger also came with plenty of crispy skin-on fries as all burgers should and I have to say it was one of the tastiest burgers I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Moving on to the cod and again I was not let down. The cod was incredibly meaty yet soft and tender and the celeriac and mussel sauce worked superbly with the fish. I ordered some Sriracha fries on the side thinking it would sriracha mayonnaise but I was wrong! However, the sriracha sauce wasn’t too spicy and had a really nice flavour.

We also had some more cocktails of course, this time I opted for an Irish Coffee with Baileys and double cream and my guest went for a New York Harlem which had rum, orange bitters and egg whites. With a mixologist working in the ground floor bar it was no surprise that the cocktails were very tasty and distinct in taste.

When the dessert menu was put in front of us I knew exactly what we were ordering! Chocolate caramel fondant with cardamom ice cream and salted almond praline and Sticky toffee pudding with Madagascan vanilla ice cream. If you’ve ever watched Masterchef you’ll know that fondant is a dangerous dessert to attempt as it has to be cooked for the perfect amount of time to get that delectable melting chocolate middle. Luckily for all parties involved, this fondant was cooked to perfection and had the oozing chocolate middle that is a chocolate lovers’ idea of heaven. The cardamom ice cream was a lovely twist to the dessert to cut through the chocolate and the salted almond praline gave the dessert some much needed texture against the soft components.

Now, the sticky toffee pudding, my favourite pudding of all time. For yet another time, I was not let down by the hard working chefs in the back. The dessert was the definition of a comforting British dessert. The devilishly delicious pudding was swimming in a sweet toffee sauce that had the warming flavours of date and treacle. I happily ate all the pudding and was quite sad when I looked down at my dish to find an empty plate staring back at me. Suddenly, the name of the restaurant made complete sense to me!

Price?

With starters priced between £7-8, mains starting from £16 and desserts at £7, the prices are very reasonable and the portions are healthy. You won’t feel shortchanged and more importantly you’ll feel full and content when the bill arrives.

Overall?

My mid-week dinner at Plate was a fabulous experience. The cocktails and food were all of a high standard and the service was impeccable. If you’re looking for a new restaurant then I highly recommend Plate restaurant and if you do decide to make a reservation make sure to try the ‘Dirty’ Burger and the Sticky Toffee Pudding, you can thank me later ;)

Book your table at Plate Restaurant.
Address: 151-157 City Rd, Hoxton, London EC1V 1JH
Closest tube station: Old Street

Special thanks to Plate restaurant for their hospitality!