Little known fact: in between writing Animal Farm and 1984, George Orwell wrote a treatise on ‘the perfect pub’ – and it was inspired by The Compton Arms.
So, to put it mildly, the place has a lot to live up to. But by filling their kitchen with residencies like Rake, they can’t be accused of not trying.
Rake is a modern British restaurant concept helmed by a hyper-talented trio of chefs—Jay Claus, Peter Ward, and Syrus Pickhaver. Their collective CVs boast top-tier spots like Brat, ACME Fire Cult, and Quo Vadis, and it bloody well shows. They’re hot on the heels of a residency at the now closed, The Gun in Hackney (which was, pun massively intended, banging).
Pull up a pew at one of the pub’s simple, Victorian-style wooden tables, and you can expect to peruse a regularly-changing menu of dishes including an inventive oyster rarebit, some Cumberland sausage-spiced lardo that practically melts in your mouth, glorious steamed crab claws with laver & bacon, and eminently snackable beer-battered cockles and clams. But the standout? That’d be the ray wing tenders stacked on a house-made crumpet drizzled in hot golden syrup. It sounds like it was cooked up in a fever dream, but it’s absolutely delicious.
While Rake’s taken over the kitchen, the bar remains constant: this cosy Islington backstreet hideaway has a full run of the regulars now that it’s a freehouse. Try their Compton lager, or dip into the lists of biodynamic wines and cocktails (including no less than three different negronis) made from locally sourced spirits.
Those, plus the food, make quite a cocktail.
NOTE: Compton Arms is open Tuesday – Sunday (kitchen closed Mon & Tues). You can find out more, and book a table for dining at the Compton Arms website.
Compton Arms | 4 Compton Avenue, London, N1 2XD
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