Bellanger - A French-Alsatian Restaurant in Islington by Corbyn & King

Words and Photography by Caroline Ghera and Luiz Hara

Name: Bellanger

Where: 9 Islington Green, London N1 2XH, http://www.bellanger.co.uk

Cost: Average spend per person is £35 (not including drinks). Bellanger has a comprehensive all-day a la carte menu including Tarte Flamblées (£4.95 - £8.85), Oysters (£12.75 - £16.50 for a half-dozen), Salads and Sandwiches (£5.50 - £11.50), “Les Pots” or Hot Stews (£14 - £18 for one person) Fish and Meats (£12.50 - £24.75), and Desserts (£4.75 - £7.75). The restaurant also has a breakfast menu while brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays.

About: Bellanger is the latest addition to restaurateurs Corbin & King portfolio of popular London eateries, many of these inspired by the grand Parisian brasseries of the early 20th century. The Wolseley and The Delaunay, at the higher end within the group, are established institutions in London, while Colbert in Chelsea, The Colony Grill at the Beaumond Hotel, and Fischer's in Marylebone attract a faithful following that includes among its regulars various London chefs and food critics. At the other end of the scale, Brasserie Zédel offers classic French cuisine as an affordable experience.

The newcomer Bellanger, whose name is inspired (as in the other Corbin and King restaurants) by a piece of automotive history - the Société des Automobiles Bellanger Frères which manufactured French cars from 1912 to 1925 - brings to Islington a menu with all the old French classics but with a focus on hearty Alsatian cuisine.

The interior was designed by Shayne Brady, who previously created several of Bellanger’s sister restaurants under David Collins. The spacious restaurant is divided into a buzzy and more luminous front area with a gorgeous bar, perfect for solo diners; while quieter, cosier booths, small tables and larger group areas can be found towards the back. The Parisian cafe ambience is brought to life with use of glossy dark woods, antiqued mirrors, brass fittings and a fine attention to detail, such as the typical Alsatian green stemmed wine goblets on every table.

What We Ate: We decided to focus on the typically Alsatian dishes for which Bellanger is quickly gaining a reputation. For starters, we chose two of their Tarte Flambées - a crispy and paper-thin oval-shaped baked pastry, smeared with a faint layer of crème fraîche and finished with a choice of toppings. Larger than we had expected, our first Tarte Flambée was goat’s cheese, honey and thyme (£5.50), a deliciously light and satisfying combination that due to its thin nature was promptly consumed.

As our second Tarte Flambée we chose champignons and fine herbs (£7.00): a fine example of buttery and fragrant chanterelles and girolles mixed with fresh herbs, at the same time light and fresh but containing a mouth-watering depth of flavour. Even those who do not particularly like mushrooms should give this a try, no other nation can cook mushrooms like the French!

Moving on to the main course, I could not resist the Choucroute a l’Alsacienne (£16.00).

Brought to the table in a richly decorated ceramic pot, the lid was lifted to reveal an authentic porky feast: a mix of flavourful frankfurter, two choices of garlic sausages with meltingly tender pork belly and ham hock that fell apart into soft chunks at the touch of the fork, all sitting on top of sauerkraut which had a good balance of sharpness and saltiness. Altogether, the dish was very well accomplished and perfect on a very cold winter evening.

A second identical ceramic pot also reached our table but this time containing Coq au Riesling (£14.00). Tender pieces of chicken mixed with more mushrooms, fresh herbs, Riesling wine and cream created a delightful and much more enjoyable white version to Coq au Vin. A recipe I would certainly like to recreate at home.

By now we were already feeling quite full but could not finish the meal without giving some of the desserts a try. We started with a feather-light textured Baba cake, served with passion fruit purée and whipped cream (£7.00). The Baba was then soaked with a generous dose of rum at the table. The mix of textures and flavours worked really well but I thought it was a little too heavy on the alcohol.

Our second dessert was the Caramelised Banana with Melted Chocolate Tarte Flambée (£4.75). It too proved to be a highly indulgent choice with bananas that were perfectly caramelised but maintained a pleasantly firm texture, on top of which milk chocolate was melted with abandonment with a further flourish of double cream.

What We Drank: Bellanger has an extensive wine list which includes a good range of choices by the glass (£6.75 - £14.75), a few half bottles (£24.00-£59.00) and full bottles from £22.50 to £295.00.

Sticking to the Alsace region, and after tasting a couple of different options, we settled on a bottle of Pinot Blanc, La Cabane, 2014, Domaine Leon Boesch (£41.00). A biodynamic wine created from 70% Pinox Auxerrois and 30% Pinot Blanc, it sported a zesty, clear cut, with notes of lemon and spice which stood up well to the meaty Choucroute and the flavourful buttery character of our meal.

Likes: The Tarte Flambées were some good I found them almost addictive. The thought of returning to Bellanger to try out the other flavours is indeed very tempting. Altogether the menu is competently executed with reasonably priced dishes. The stylish retro decor is warm and welcoming.

Dislikes: On a week night with the restaurant a third full, we were given the worst possible table at the back of the restaurant in a totally empty room, I just wonder why? They promptly moved us to another table as I requested. The wine list has been expertly put together but few bottles come below the £35 tag.

Verdict: Bellanger with its Tarte Flambées is a good addition to the Islington restaurant scene, with a restaurant that brings affordable high-quality French cooking that can appeal equally to solo diners, couples or family meals. Recommended.

Sutton and Sons - Great British Fish & Chips (and Much More) Now in Islington

Name: Sutton and Sons Fish & Chips (Islington Branch)

Where: 356 Essex Road, London N1 3PD, http://www.suttonandsons.co.uk/

Cost: Sutton & Sons’ eat-in menu offers traditional British fish and chips fare as well as a selection of interesting small bites and a number of daily specials. The Fish & Chip section includes battered scampi at £7.95, cod, haddock and other fish at £9.95, or monkfish at £12.95, with hand-cut chips at £2.75. 

Small Bites features king prawns in tempura batter £4.50, Cromer crab on toast £5.95, ½ dozen Maldon oysters £8.50, and Moules Mariniere £4.50 among other offerings. If you fancy something other than battered fish, the daily specials may include whole sea bass with herb butter £12.50, lobster sub & chips £12.90 or grilled tuna or swordfish £9.50. Set price menus for lunch are also available at £6.50, as well as smaller servings for the kids menu at £5.75 for cod and chips. The take away menu is cheaper.

About: A North London institution, Sutton and Sons Fishmongers was founded by husband & wife duo, Danny and Hana Sutton in Stoke Newington 17 years ago. In 2010 they opened their first Fish & Chips restaurant just across the street from their shop with a second, smaller branch, largely for home and office deliveries, opened at Boxpark Shoreditch a few years later.

More recently, a new Islington restaurant opened on Essex Road. Decked out in smart black and white tiles, with Tolix style chairs and wooden tables, subdued lighting and discrete jazz/rock on the sound system, it's an enjoyable spot to eat in, or wait for your takeaway to be prepared. All their food, whether eaten on the premises or for takeaway, is freshly cooked to order.

The fish is responsibly sourced, and is supplied to all 3 restaurants from their own fishmongers in Stoke Newington, so it couldn’t be fresher. Hana – aka Mrs Sutton – makes a range of home-made pickles and desserts exclusively for the restaurants which are rapidly gaining a deserved North London following!

What We Ate: We started with a couple of the small bites selection - Cromer crab on toast (£5.95) was beautifully presented and delicious, with a generous portion of shredded fresh crab meat seasoned with finely chopped red chilli, red onion and parsley.

The restaurant's own-made smoked haddock and cod fish cakes (£4.95) were also very good - the fish and potato filling was deliciously creamy (more akin to a Japanese Korokke) seasoned with mustard seeds, in a crispy batter, and served with an excellent, fresh tartare sauce (made on the premises).

And of course battered fish had to be ordered – I opted though for the monkfish and chips (£12.95) as opposed to cod on this occasion.

With a super fine, crisp batter and meaty flesh, the monkish was outstandingly good, served alongside proper chips, thick cut and perfectly fried - crispy on the outside but soft and meltingly tender on the inside.

The lobster sub and fries (£12.90) served in a buttered brioche bun was filled to the brim with large pieces of meaty lobster and seasoned with a delicious Mary Rose sauce spiked with paprika – heaven!

We had a side serving of Mrs Sutton's homemade pickles too - quail eggs, balsamic shallots and red onion rings (£2.25). If you get to try these babies when you visit Sutton and Sons, you will never go back to the jarred, ready-made variety, I assure you! They were sweet, sour and beautifully delicate, with a great hit of clove and cinnamon in the onion rings. They worked a treat as a palate cleanser between courses and at the end of the meal.

What We Drank: The restaurant serves red, white and rose wines by the glass or bottle, including a Picpoul de Pinet for £19.50, and an Argentinian Malbec for £18.50.  The Renard Barnier Champagne is priced at a very reasonable £34.50. Beers come from Hackney Brewery, as well as Fullers others. On our visit, we opted for the Fullers London Pride (£4.25 for 500ml), and the Hackney Brewery American Pale Ale (£4.50 for 500ml).

Likes: Top quality, super fresh fish and seafood, perfectly cooked proper chips, a good selection of wines and craft beers at sensible prices. We loved the Cromer crab toasties, the lobster sub, the fantastic chips, the super delicate and crispy fish batter, the sweet pickles…. the list goes go….

Dislikes: What's not to like?

Verdict: In a sea of chain and other lamentable restaurant options on Upper Street, Sutton and Sons is a very welcome addition to the dining scene in Islington. From cod & chips to whole grilled seabass or lobster subs, they do it all, and they do it well. And it is great value for money too. Very highly recommended.   

Le Coq – Islington’s New Neighbourhood Rotisserie

Words & Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Le Coq 

Where: 292-294 St Paul’s Road, Islington, London, N1 2LH 
http://www.le-coq.co.uk/

Cost: Le Coq offers a brief and affordable menu - 2 or 3 courses for £17 or £22 (Mon-Sat) with a choice of three starters and three desserts, and a single main course, using chicken from the rotisserie (a vegetarian alternative is available if requested). On Sundays, a greater choice of mains is available, and the meals are priced higher at £21 for 2-, and £26 for 3 courses. 

Drinks are also very reasonably priced. All cocktails are £5, the draught beer, 1936, is £4, and wine begins at £13 for a ½ litre carafe.

About: Le Coq is a “neighbourhood rotisserie restaurant” on St Paul’s Road, close to Highbury & Islington Station. As its name suggests, chicken is at the heart of this restaurant’s offering. The flaming rotisserie is the first thing you see on entering, and the familiar smell of roasting chicken fills the small dining room.

Though the menu is short, Le Coq emphasises that its ingredients are carefully sourced. The free-range chicken is supplied by the highly acclaimed Sutton Hoo farm in Suffolk. Living up to the restaurant’s market atmosphere, many of the other ingredients are sourced from local businesses. The noticeably fresh bread comes from the Better Health Bakery in Haggerston, a social enterprise that helps to train people recovering from poor mental health. The charcuterie comes from Islington’s Cobble Lane Cured, and the cheese from the long-established La Fromagerie.

What We Ate: We started with two of the three starters on the menu: roast chicory with smoked ricotta and honey, and salmon gravlax with cucumber. The chicory salad brought the smokiness of the ricotta and the tartness of the chicory together with sweet walnuts and honey. This enjoyable combination could have been improved by a little more honey and ricotta, to avoid the lingering bitterness of the chicory, however.

The salmon gravlax was simpler and better executed. The salmon was soft, and the salad of cucumber and rocket brought out the sharpness of the simple lemon dressing, making it a great prelude to the rotisserie chicken.

That rotisserie chicken is the restaurant’s star attraction. It is served as part of a different main course each week, and on this occasion was served with hispi cabbage, bacon and hazelnuts. A small jug of roasting juices and a pot of tarragon mayonnaise were also served alongside it, and we ordered a further two sides of roast potatoes (£3.75), a simple side salad of dressed green leaves (£2.75) and a small serving of harissa yoghurt (£1.75).

The flavoursome Sutton Hoo chicken is undeniably well-sourced and tastes excellently of itself. Its flavour is also appreciated in the roast potatoes, which are roasted in the chicken fat, and seasoned with lemon, olive oil and thyme. The addition of the chicken fat gives them a thicker casing that resounds with the flavours of the rotisserie. No trip to Le Coq would be complete without a portion!

One of the downsides of serving rotisserie chicken is that it is difficult to achieve a really crispy chicken skin. Le Coq compensates for this, however, by supplying texture throughout the rest of the course. The sizeable chunk of hispi cabbage was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and never mushy. Extra crunch came from the hazelnuts and bacon, and of course the roast potatoes, which were so delicious they made it onto every forkful!

Texture was better catered to than seasoning. Whilst the roasting juices provided a flavoursome gravy that kept the dish from having the heaviness of a roast dinner, the tarragon mayonnaise was tangy rather than rich in flavour, and jarred with the rest of the course. The harissa yoghurt was a better accompaniment, but the absence of salt and pepper on the table meant that it was difficult to make smaller adjustments to the taste. 

For dessert, we shared the Le Coq Mince Pie and an ice cream made with dark chocolate, PX and raisin. The eponymous mince pie was served with clotted cream and a squirrel-shaped biscuit, and the mincemeat itself tasted strongly of cloves, giving a festive aroma and warm flavour that reflected the homeliness of Le Coq’s cooking.

The dark chocolate gave a similarly strong flavour to the ice cream. With Moro’s famous Malaga raisin ice cream with PX available down the road at Exmouth Market, Le Coq’s faces strict competition. The dark chocolate makes this a very different dessert, and though it smothers the raisins, it stands up to the PX to make a very rich ice cream. 

What We Drank: Le Coq’s dedication to careful sourcing extends to the beer, the Swiss 1936. At a reasonable £4 for a Pilsner glass, it is a great opportunity to try this uncommon beer from draught. Made with Swiss mountain water and organic hops, and with notes of lemon and grass, it is both a refreshing aperitif, and a good accompaniment to the restaurant’s chicken.

Cocktails are only £5, and the negroni we tried was strong and well made, making it fantastic value and almost certainly the cheapest negroni around Upper Street.

Wine is similarly good value, and the decision to offer house wines in carafes of 500ml and 1 litre will undoubtedly help to maintain the neighbourhood atmosphere. We went for a bottle of the Wiengut Von Winning 2012 Riesling from Pfalz in Germany. That year, this wine was awarded ‘Best New Comer’ by the Gault&Millau Wine Guide, and with its refreshingly acidity and dryness, it tasted like a worthy winner.

Likes: The quality of the chicken and the brilliance of the roast potatoes mean that Le Coq definitely excels in what they offer. In addition, the choice of £5 cocktails and litre carafes are an added bonus.

Dislikes: Whilst the more permanent fixtures of the menu are strong, some of the dishes we had lacked consistency - the imbalance of the chicory salad, and the lack of salt in the main course, were a little disappointing. 

Verdict: “Neighbourhood rotisserie” Le Coq truly is an asset to the local community. With well-sourced ingredients and a reliable roasting technique alongside a constantly changing menu, it could make a regular haunt or a friendly haven from nearby Upper Street.