Not cheap, but spectacularly good. TOM PARKER BOWLES reviews one of London's hottest new restaurants
EATING OUT
Searingly hot restaurant Mountain, in London’s Soho, scales new peaks of excellence, says Tom
Mountain, the new restaurant from Tomos Parry, is all about fire. Of course it is. Show me a place where they aren’t searing everything from prawn cocktails to spotted dick over hand-hewn, copper-coppiced, sustainably sourced binchotan charcoal, and I’ll show you a Pret.
But Mountain is different. Parry didn’t start the fire (it was always burning etc etc), but he certainly helped spark a raging London culinary trend, doing wonderful things to a Basque-meets- Wales menu of whole turbot, butter and potatoes at Brat in Shoreditch. Which he opened after wowing diners and critics alike at Kitty Fisher’s.
Parry’s Vulcan-esque mastery of the flames was matched only by his herculean obsession with the quality of his ingredients.
Upon opening, it was hotter than a hammam in Hades. Still is. And here, at Mountain, he’s done it again. Only this time, things are rather bigger.
Situated on Beak Street in London's Soho, Mountain is ‘sprawling, softly industrial and joyously noisy’, says Tom
The Soho site, once a branch of Byron, is sprawling, softly industrial and joyously noisy, with two open kitchens, an old-school downstairs bar and its own in-house butcher and baker.
Sobrasada – spiced pork with a low chilli growl – is made for him in Majorca and comes grilled, sitting in a gleaming pool of its own fat, topped by a pert, pickled guindilla chilli.
Eat with a billowing pillow of flatbread, puffed up like an ad exec’s ego (albeit a whole lot more appetising), and slathered with homemade butter.
Raw scallops (hand-dived in Cornwall by a man called Fraser) are sliced paper-thin and mixed with delicate wisps of monkfish, all swimming in a peppery, punchy Sicilian olive oil.
I forget the exact producer, but Parry knows him by name. I could listen to him talk ingredients, in that soft Anglesey burr, until the Jersey cows come home.
There’s a purity and precision to the cooking, but a lavish generosity too. Spider crab omelette, slashed open at the table to reveal its oozing interior, has a winsome, ethereal sweetness, yet is gloriously rich too.
Friesian beef sirloin, from an eight-year-old ex-milker, and cooked rare, has a deep, sonorous bellow of flavour, and glorious, buttercup-yellow fat. Whole John Dory, gently smoky, is flawless, both in freshness and technique. Blackcurrant ice cream (foraged, of course) doesn’t so much cleanse as whistle across the palate.
Everything here, from the service to the kitchen brigade, is seamless and assured. Mountain is not cheap, but it is spectacularly good. An instant London classic, from a prodigiously talented chef.
- About £60 per head. Mountain, 16-18 Beak Street, London W1; mountainbeakstreet.com
DRINKS: Charlotte’s pumpkin pairings
The often overlooked gourd presents endless possibilities, with gently sweet flavours that shine out in creamy and spicy savoury dishes: pair with aromatic whites (Chenin Blanc, Viognier) as well as Beaujolais and other fruity reds. For pumpkin-based puds, sweeter whites are a treat.
L-R: AA Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2022 (13%), £16, swig.co.uk and Paul Mas Réserve Viognier 2022 (13%), £10, Tesco
AA Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2022 (13%), £16, swig.co.uk.
Old vines add to the flavourful character of this South African white: stone and tropical fruit notes with subtle herbs and crushed shells.
Paul Mas Réserve Viognier 2022 (13%), £10, Tesco.
From the sunny Pays d’Oc in southern France comes this enticingly peachy and peppery Viognier, with plumpness on the palate lifted by a fresh finish.
L-R: Famille Bougrier Vouvray Demi-Sec, 2022 (11.5%), £10.50, thewine society.com and Cuvée des Vignerons Beaujolais (12.5%), £8.99, waitrose cellar.com
Famille Bougrier Vouvray Demi-Sec, 2022 (11.5%), £10.50, thewine society.com.
Pair this versatile, off-dry Loire Chenin Blanc, full of apricot and honeysuckle notes, with both sweet and spicy pumpkin dishes.
Cuvée des Vignerons Beaujolais (12.5%), £8.99, waitrose cellar.com.
With ripe strawberry hints and a pleasant gravelly finish, this is a quaffable Beaujolais to take the edge off visits from Halloween trick-or-treaters. Best lightly chilled.
