Nestled in picturesque Neal’s yard in Covent Garden (if you haven’t instagramed a picture of the colourful wild café, you’re not hipster enough) is a Narnia of a restaurant called Nat∙ive. I have been yearning to go and try the food here ever since I heard the murmurs of its opening. Conjured up in the wonderful minds of Ivan (River Cottage HQ) and Imogen this little place is a foodies dream.
I have heard time and again how bland, boring, unimaginative and dull British cuisine is. This place is British and I am not talking a fancy fish and chip shop that places a piece of parsley on your fried plaice, and charges you an extra tenner for the privilege. I’m talking British grub at its finest. Nat∙ive describes itself as wild British cooking, taking the country’s best wild food that is native to the UK and basically making it taste like it fluttered down from food heaven, especially to be eaten by you. This place has given British cuisine a new identity, and that identity is YUMMY! Next time a person says ‘ergh British food, I don’t want no spotted dick’ shove a plate of a Nat∙ive main course in their face, and bask in your mic drop moment.
I took my mother to Nat∙ive for her mother’s day meal this year. The menu is small and seasonal and is determined by supply, this small fact already got me excited. When we arrived we were greeted by an incredibly friendly waiting staff and the kitchen. The kitchen is in full view to the public; you can even have a seat at the chefs table, which is a bench table that spans the width of the kitchen. To give you a bit more context, this place is small and the kitchen takes up the majority of the upstairs area only fitting two small tables for 2 and the chef’s table. We were seated upstairs by the window, and extremely near to the heart of the restaurant (by now I was really excited) I mean in my head I was in chefs table territory, I just had a table and the actual chefs table in my way. I could only describe it as almost seeing a really famous celebrity, but actually only seeing the back of their head.
There is more seating downstairs but we were more than happy with where we were placed, and I didn’t even actually venture down to check out the décor. I shall do this next time I visit (yea I’m going back…. Maybe tomorrow and every day after that). The other thing I love about this place is that it doesn’t give off an air of opulence. It’s rustic and earthy with wooden tables and plants running down the staircase, it just feels really natural with its main focus being the quality of the food and its ingredients. The Menu is not at all overly complicated, you can pick between a 2 course dinner for £28 or 3 course dinner for £35 which I think is incredibly reasonable. We had the choice of 3 courses and a glass of prosecco as I had managed to find a great deal on bookatable. Each course has a choice of three meals so you are not sitting leafing through pages of menu trying to decide what you want to eat.
To start I had the Wild Boar Ragu with buttered salsify, native curds and pickled walnuts. The Ragu was melt in the mouth perfection, flavoursome and although a game meat was delicate but yet packed a punch. It basically gave my mouth a lot of feelings, which were all good. The buttered salsify was crunchy and creamy adding the perfect texture to the dish, which was rounded off nicely with the native curds and the pickled walnuts. The starter had the perfect combination of salty, sweet and sour, I was actually dancing in my chair while I was eating!
Main course I went for the South Downs Venison with English turnips & tops, pine salt, smoked potato and bone marrow crumb. Chef cooked the meat to perfection; I could cut through it like butter! virtual high five to chef on that one. The smoked potato was so smooth and creamy and complimented the venison perfectly. But the bone marrow crumb OMG! That stuff needs to be put in a bag and sold as a beer snack because it was AMAZING!! Salty, crunchy, meaty and moreish. I would not be offended if they had offered me a bowl of the stuff to snack on in between courses. The pickled turnip added the right amount of acidity to the dish, which cut through the bold meatiness of the venison perfectly, and the turnip tops added a nice texture and dimension to the dish.
My favourite seasonal food for this time of year is rhubarb. Technically a vegetable but it makes some sweet sweet puds. So you could only imagine the mouth-watering that happened when I spotted rhubarb on the dessert menu. Rhubarb and rosemary compote, meadow sweet cream and coriander honeycomb was the dessert I was going for and it was banging!! I have never thought of using rosemary in a dessert before, I have always associated it with savoury foods but surprisingly it worked so well in the compote working more as a compliment to the earthy rhubarb flavour, and almost working as a rhubarb flavour amplifier. The cream was thick and delectable and could only be described as a warm ice cream, and who doesn’t love honeycomb? This dessert makes you channel Homer Simpson’s dribbling while he’s thinking about doughnuts. The only disappointing thing about this dessert is that it was not a bigger portion because I could have necked two bowls of it.
Nat∙ive is one of the best places I have visited so far this year, and I am going to make it my go to restaurant for friendly meet ups, all those first dates I go on (like 1 a year… I’m so single) when I am celebrating my forever alone moments by going and having dinner alone. All the special occasions you can wear a hat to, basically every waking moment my stomach requires food. This is a great place if you enjoy good honest food – this place is all about the ingredients. I would recommend this place if you are having a meal as a couple it has a nice comforting huggable atmosphere. This is a great place for friends to catch up with a glass of prosecco and several plates of rhubarb compote. It’s a brilliant place to take that friend that sticks their tongue out at British food, just to give them the experience of what real British cuisine is all about. Pick up the phone and reserve a table now before it becomes difficult to do so, and if you can try and get on the chefs table, now that would be a night to remember – and if you get that table, take me too.
Happy dining xx
Stilettos, Tiaras and Beer 