View all newsletters
Have the short, sharp Spear's newsletter delivered to your inbox each week
  1. Wealth
December 27, 2019

Lyle’s Shoreditch restaurant review: ‘Delivered in spades’

By Edwin Smith

Watch out, West End – Shoreditch is muscling in on the fine dining scene, with Lyle’s leading the way, writes Edwin Smith

The world’s centre of gravity has shifted eastwards in recent years. That’s uncontroversial. According to some, the same is true of London’s culinary scene. That, on the other hand, might raise some eyebrows.

The Ledbury in Notting Hill, Bibendum on the Fulham Road, Wiltons on Jermyn Street and Gymkhana in Mayfair have produced some of the capital’s finest grub.

But when the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was published this autumn, it only contained two representatives from London – and both are in Shoreditch. One is the Clove Club; the other has, until recently, been less recognised.

Lyle’s is the brainchild of James Lowe, the head chef and co-owner who sharpened his skills in the kitchens of Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Fergus Henderson’s St John Bread & Wine. His own place is on Shoreditch High Street. When buses stop outside, the passengers on the top deck peer in through the windows. The floors are polished concrete, the walls are whitewashed, and when Spear’s went there was a piece of electrical tape reinforcing the pipe running from the toilet cistern to the bowl.

The focus, rightly, is on the food. For dinner, guests are offered a tasting menu that changes according to seasonal availability. On the night of Spear’s visit, there was beautifully savoury pumpkin soup with pleasantly woody cob nuts, mutton with slightly underwhelming Tarbais beans, and tender mackerel with cabbage and sweet quince purée.

But the best dish was deep-fried mussels coated in a fantastic buckwheat batter and served with tarragon mayonnaise. Like Lyle’s, it wasn’t much to look at, but it delivered in spades.

Read more

Content from our partners
High-flyers: TAG Aviation explains that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey
Finding a purpose for family wealth during uncertainty 
Porto Montenegro: Adriatic Elegance Tailored to You

YOPO Review: Culinary hedonism reaches new highs in Fitzrovia

Les Platanes review: A very welcome French bistro in Mayfair

How Caravan took over London: William Sitwell meets the founders

Select and enter your email address The short, sharp email newsletter from Spear’s
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network