On Monday evening I walked over to the King’s Road to meet a friend for an early supper before watching Norma in the Curzon cinema, live from the Royal Opera House (RoHo).
An ongoing pleasure of living in London is seeing something new. This time it was this rather elaborate house in Harrington Gardens, where W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert lived in the 1880s. Its flamboyant, ornate exterior evokes Flemish or German townhouses; mad Dutch Gothic I’d say.
If you look at the apex of the gables there is a ship. It was suggested to Gilbert that this is an allusion to HMS Pinafore. He retorted “Sir, I do not put my trademark on my house”. In fact Gilbert wanted to allude to his descent from Elizabethan seafarer, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The flamboyant exterior continues inside and there are some pictures on the RIBA website architecture.com.
We met at Rabbit on the King’s Road, the first visit for both of us, chosen for its proximity to the cinema. It’s an attractive place although the tables are small and packed-in. You might think yourself in a village pub – rus in urbe.
So far so good. I didn’t choose the “Daily Loosener” thinking it would be imprudent before a three hour session watching Norma. The menu is a type that has become fashionable in recent years. There is a Venetian-themed chain, Polpo, tapas places and Rabbit likewise offers small plates to graze. We had four “Mouthfuls” each to start. They came on wooden boards and were the sort of things you might see at a smart drinks party and they were small mouthfuls.
Then we had broad bean hummus, grilled courgettes, cured grouse and two plates of rabbit tagliatelle. I am not usually too keen on grouse but their cured grouse was delicious; tender, with a good gamey flavour. To drink we had one G&T, a bottle of water and two 375 ml carafes of wine (a white Rioja and a chilled Chinon, both excellent). They had a Brangelina rosé (£46). They will soon have it in half bottles.
Neither of us have big appetites which was fortunate. The food was very good in terms of presentation and, more importantly, taste but there wasn’t much of it. It cost £116.89 and I felt that I’d just eaten the emperor’s new clothes. Here is the menu in full.
DAILY LOOSENER – COTTONTAIL COOLER 9.0
ADNAMS GIN, CUCUMBER, ROSEMARY & SAGE, SODA
MOUTHFULS 1.5 EACH
MUSHROOM MARMITE ECLAIR, CONFIT EGG YOLK
CONFIT RABBIT, CRISP BREAD, TARRAGON
CHICKPEA PILLOW, HAKE RILLETTES, LEMON, DILL
BEETROOT CRISP, GOATS CHEESE, PEAR, SORREL
NUTBOURNE CURED MEAT
CHORIZO, LABNEH, CRISP BREAD & KALE 8.0
CURED GROUSE, ROWAN BERRY PUREE, FAVA BEANS, BURNT BUTTER 9.0
MALLARD TERRINE, GOLDEN GRAPES, CORIANDER & HONEY 6.0
48 HOUR PROVED WILD YEAST BREAD, SHALLOT BUTTER 2.5
SLOW COOKING – BRAISED AND MARINATED
BROAD BEAN HUMMUS, MINT, LEMON & ALE CRISP 6.5
LAMB CHIPS, LEMON, PARSLEY, HARISSA 8.0
PAN-FRIED GOAT’S CHEESE, WALNUTS, HONEY & THYME 7.5
GRILLED COURGETTES, ROMESCO SAUCE, CRISPY DUMPLINGS 8.5
CONFIT RABBIT TAGLIATELLE, LEMON & THYME 10.0
BRAISED PIG’S CHEEK, LEMON, SPINACH & NUTMEG 10.0
FAST COOKING – GRILLED AND RAW
RYE BAY SCALLOP, GARLIC BUTTER, BRIOCHE CRUMB 6.0
KOHLRABI CARPACCIO, GARDEN PESTO, SUNFLOWER SEEDS & NASTURTIUM 7.5
TEMPURA MARROW, SWEET CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE 7.5
DOVER SOLE, LEMON VERBENA, BURNT BUTTER 11.0
ROASTED HAKE, PEPPERONATA, ROUILLE, SAMPHIRE, CAPERS 13.0
WOOD PIGEON, RAINBOW CARROT TARTE TARTIN & GIROLLES 12.5
NUTBOURNE LAMB, SAGE GNOCCHI, PEAS, MINT & SPINACH 12.0
Rabbit is additionally famous for having a manager with a shotgun & a dislike of Black cabs. There was a very amusing altercation & they nearly were closed down.
Did not make the portions bigger or bill smaller ….
I believe the manager is now is pastures new.
Angus,
I have just referred to that fount of all knowledge – Daily Mail Online – and it was apparently one of the three Gladwin brothers who own Rabbit, The Shed (older readers will remember it as The Ark in Notting Hill) and so on who went a bit crazy. In their picture he has a side-by-side 12 bore boxlock that looks as if it may be of Spanish origin. In my opinion a 28 bore would be more sporting in the confines of the King’s Road.
agreed ! – I am sure he merely had it to keep the urban foxes at bay….
I always liked those houses when I lived round the corner in my first London flat:- Rosary gardens for 7 years. The houses are very splendid if a bit mad. I think then they were used as flats, but by now be single, very larges houses again?
A variation on Pont Street Dutch perhaps. I think two are single houses, one an outpost of an American university and one seems to be an architect’s office. They really are splendid and back onto a communal garden at the back. There is another outpost of similar houses on Collingham Gardens, some single and some divided into flats.
Have you worked out the cost of each mouthful? How large is a mouthful? Isn’t the general rule that the more expensive the restaurant the smaller the portions?
We really ought to stop meeting like this. Last Saturday, in an improbable charity shop I picked up a life of Walter Ralegh. This evening, soaking in a bath, I read some early pages which relate the educational effect on young Walter of his half-brother… Sir Humphrey Gilbert. I used to know a bit of Tudor history, but the intellectual excitement of the swashbuckling explorers is a constant wonder and nicely told in the Stephen Coote biography.
Loved that reference to Miraval being available soon in half
bottles!