Hill & Szrok
Hackney, London
*William Gleave (formerly at P Franco and Peg) has replaced Ella Gibbons as head chef.*
Offering a very particular type of warmth and comfort (the kind that comes from good bistro cooking, stylish hard surfaces and the glow of knowing your meat was carefully reared and respectfully cooked), Hill & Szrok becomes a candlelit butcher's shop with benefits in the evening (Wednesday to Saturday). On our last visit, every dish from the kitchen of the self-titled Cookshop was strong, from a plate of pickles via pork rillettes balanced with citrus and fennel on toasted sourdough to broccolini with a deep, rich yellow hollandaise and the crunch of smoked almonds. As you might expect from an outfit that prides itself on whole-carcass butchery, the meat side of things lives up to the context, with a generously cut Suffolk pork chop ('best dish of the evening') given maximum flavour from both fat and bone, cooked bang-on and served with grilled hispi cabbage and shrimp butter. Seasonal puddings might be a warmly spiced walnut cake with poached pears, and there's a neat selection of wines by the glass (from £7).
