The Water House Project
Bethnal Green, London
What began as a supper club in Gabriel Waterhouse's east London flat has settled into the light-filled, modern-industrial ground-floor space at the Empress Works by Regent’s Canal. Pleasingly, the chef (ex-Galvin La Chapelle) hasn’t abandoned those supper club roots, so come for lunch (12.30pm) or dinner (7pm) to enjoy a set menu (up to 10 courses in the evening) with carefully paired drinks. Snacks set the tone, perhaps a tiny tartlet of Scottish lobster, the delicacy of the shellfish amplified by preserved lemon, tarragon and kaffir lime gel, or a diminutive hot cross bun filled with slow-cooked Herdwick lamb shoulder mixed sweetly with a plum, date and fig chutney. You might share a table (it’s not compulsory, but that’s the sociable vibe here), and Gabriel and his team host the whole show with easy informality. Beautiful ingredients are handled deftly, resulting in dishes that are inventive, refined without being fussy, and shot through with vigorous Nordic-inflected flavours. Highlights from an October visit included a lusciously rich autumn truffle custard, brûléed with brown sugar to add bitter-sweet notes to the savouriness, with roasted hen of the woods mushrooms, a pickled walnut reduction, puffed barley and a flurry of shaved walnuts, while the consommé of chestnut and morel mushrooms offered as this dish's non-alcoholic pairing was a standout for its robust intensity. Fallow deer from Aynhoe Park, cured in juniper, seared and served with parsnip purée and pickled blackberry, was a lusty celebration of seasonal earthiness. Two sauces (chocolate and a luxurious venison jus) merged happily on the plate to be mopped up with brioche that had been brushed with maple syrup and draped with a ripple of lardo – glorious, especially with a glass of La Petite Julia, Petit Verdot from Château Julia’s tiny Haut-Médoc winery. Dessert defies sweet convention triumphantly in the guise of a goat's cheese parfait with fermented blackcurrant juice (tempered with a little stock syrup) alongside the prettiest linseed cracker with caramelised walnuts, quince jelly and thyme leaves. The honeyed notes and mouth-watering acidity of a late-harvest Riesling from the Mosel is the perfect final sip.
