Until now I've avoided the area around London's O2 like a veritable plague. I'm not a fan of crowds, and especially the kind of crowds that would frequent the O2. However, stepping out of the Stansted airport sized North Greenwich station is, to be fair, impressive – the views, the architecture. Standing out in a sea of chain bars and restaurants, Stevie Parle’s new project CRAFT LONDON in partnership with Tom Dixon, is a beacon of beauty. It’s spread over three floors, with its own roastery, in-house curing rooms, a shop, the restaurant and a wraparound bar on the third floor – with its own hives, fruit trees and vegetable and salad beds. All in all, a dream project for Stevie and Tom, with what will be more or less a self sufficient business.
Cocktails aren't the usual old classics – a Gnarled Negroni included Aquavit and Wiltshire Damson vodka, and a Lavender Air Mail featured home produced honey and lavender from the garden pots. As dusk falls and the lights of Canary Wharf and Greenwich come on, it’s truly the most glamourous of bars.
Sitting down to eat in the sapphire and copper dining room, with its open kitchen and wood fired oven at one end, we were presented with the most incredible breads and Craft’s home made butter – it was a carb feast impossible to resist, so we had two lots! A teensy drop scone with duck liver parfait and damsons went down a storm, together with the three native oysters with rhubarb and broad bean flowers – each dish a painterly masterpiece.
Barely having room for anything else, we bravely soldiered on – wood grilled scallops with anchovy and cauliflower, and chicken in broth with curd dumplings, pickled alexanders and kombucha egg was a great combo of the most English ingredients and Asian techniques. I thank God that the waiter insisted we order the fireplace potatoes. No word of a lie, these were the BEST potatoes I have ever eaten (being Scottish, I have had at least my fair share) – sliced like mini armadillos and wood roasted with that butter again. I have been craving them ever since.
Obviously there was no space for puddings, even though Baked Nutmeg Spelt Pudding with pickled Japanese Roses was a sore temptation – instead we ended with an Old Fashioned Buzz – Craft’s own coffee infused bourbon with golden syrup – and left this wonderful with a golden glow and indeed a great buzz. I will be on that Jubilee Line on a regular basis, but nothing, I repeat nothing, will tempt me into the O2.
**+44 (0) 20 8465 5910 **
By Marc Morgan