A second branch of the fantastic Eastern Mediterranean restaurant Carmel would fit anywhere…
…but the fact that it’s landed in Central London is particularly sweet.
In case you haven’t found yourself up in Queen’s Park while hungry & in need of a good date spot recently, then you understandably may not have been to the original. But rest assured, it’s excellent. It comes to us from the team behind the also-excellent Berber & Q, made up of chef Josh Katz and his brother Paul, along with wine-shaman Mattia Bianchi.
Here in Fitzrovia, they’ve set up shop in a much larger 95-seater space tucked just behind Oxford Street. Although they’ve effectively doubled the size of the place, it still feels surprisingly intimate, carved into three modestly-sized sections. You’ll walk into a handsome, quasi-industrial space dressed in dark woods, bare plaster & blackened steel. Head into the restaurant’s beating heart, with a series of cosy booths hugging one side, and continue all the way to the back to discover the Green Room. By day, it’s flooded with sunshine, courtesy of the skylights overhead; by night, the abundance of greenery and the cosy candlelit tables for two conspire to give the feel of an oddly romantic jungle. Book ahead for a special occasion, and the team will pull back the bifold doors to convert the place into your very own private dining room.
As with the original, however, the most striking part of the restaurant is the open kitchen, which ensures the whole place is suffused with a lively, dynamic buzz. It’s all the domain of one Jeremy Borrow, former head chef at The Palomar, who’s worked with Josh to channel the spirit of the original Carmel into a menu of new – and really quite delicious – creations.
The idea is still very much to order a couple of dishes to share, so you can mix and match the likes of fragrant scallop crudo, swimming in tomato & chilli peach gazpacho, with the roasted bone marrow – whose rich umami flavour is spiked with fresh gremolata and a chilli & garlic pangrattato. Carmel’s famous sourdough flatbreads have scaled up to match the space, and are scattered here with tarama (cod’s roe) potato & rosemary; asparagus & crab with preserved lemon; and their exceptional za’atar burrata. And then there’s the bigger plates, like the melt-in-the-mouth 24-hour braised short rib, showered in rose petals and chopped pistachio, and a handful of fresh pasta creations unique to Carmel Fitzrovia, like the ‘monster’ prawn tossed onto the grill, then perched on a velvety bed of Greek cheese gnocchi.
Mattia Bianchi’s still heading up the booze here, and he’s put together an impressively wide-reaching wine list of over 150 low-intervention bottles from across the globe, with an emphasis on small growers dotted around the Mediterranean. But to kick off proceedings, we’d highly recommend the negroni with dried lime, sage and rose…
…now that really does smell sweet.
NOTE: Carmel Fitzrovia is open for lunch Tues-Fri, dinner Tues-Sun, and brunch on weekends. You can find out more, and book, HERE.
Previous perk: Nudge Members enjoyed an exclusive preview night before the official opening, with 50% off the food bill. Not yet a Nudge Member? Start a free trial here.
Carmel Fitzrovia | 7-8 Market Place, London W1W 8AG
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