I have absolutely no idea where you will find a better value-for-money, exceptional culinary experience!
Steven Edwards, Masterchef Professionals Winner 2013, is on a mission to make high end, fine dining an accessible regular occurrence rather than a “special occasion” event, with his 5-course, £50 tasting menu and let me tell you, this is no budget experience.
From the minute you pull up outside the former bank, the dramatic matt black aesthetic, coupled with striking art work just screams cool. Maybe a little flicker of will this be a ‘style over substance’ experience washed over me but that could not be further from the truth.
Etch. BY STEVEN EDWARDS is cool. The dedication to the overall dining experience and food is second to none and gave me serious flashbacks to Frog by Adam Handling in Covent Garden. Which is one of my favourite restaurants but about four times the price!
Downstairs etch has its own cocktail bar; Ink, where you can go for drinks if you fancy an atmospheric tipple pre dinner, it is open to non-diners but booking is essential. Just a drink would obviously be madness considering what is happening upstairs.
The ethos here is ethically, sustainably sourced local ingredients. Nothing that unusual, but the execution here is really special. Real care and consideration have gone into each dish and they all shine with pride, as do the staff.
The Dippy Egg, made me want to buy a water bath so I can continuously eat the jammy bit all of the time. It was just heavenly. The Turbot with Parsnip and Tarragon was a particular favourite of mine with the sweetness and aniseed giving superb balance to the dish and made me ponder why Tarragon is so underused.
The 5-course tasting menu does have supplementary courses if you wish to extend the menu to 7 courses which I highly recommend you do. Even the cheese course had its own grape sorbet and pickled fennel which took me right back to Christmas Day. The Scallop with Chicken Broth and Dashi was the best scallop I have had in a really long time.
My guest had lots of allergies and upmost care was taken with her meal, replacement dishes and I know for a fact that she loved the experience as much as I did and didn’t have to worry or be made to feel she was missing out at all.
I always think it’s a sign of great leadership when it feels like all the staff are engaged and genuinely excited to share the experience. It often comes from them knowing they are about to delight and etch most certainly did on every level.
Review and Images by Emmie Blower @emmiebhungry
Feature image and image of Steven Edwards courtesy of Justin de Souza
