2010 Review: “It deserves to succeed!”, say local fans of this slightly “sterile” new-build yearling, at the north End of Islington; service may be “erratic”, but the food is “interesting” (and desserts can be “memorable”).
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We don’t like knocking brave new first-time ventures, but we would have to admit that we were underwhelmed by our visit to this hard-edged north London newcomer. It didn’t help that this is a n...
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Press Reviews (2)
Jay Rayner (21st April 2008)
The critic reviews a “quirky neighbourhood place in the arse end of… Islington”. It’s “a simple place of hard surfaces: dark tiled floors, a wall of white, a wall of glass”. The fare it offers is “not cheap, but… it is accomplished”. “Cruse 9 may sound like a rackety gay sauna. It turns out to be a rather nice restaurant that gives fusion food a good name.”
Fay Maschler (2nd April 2008)
3/5 stars
The critic reviews a bravely-sited newcomer (owned by the son of Hampstead’s long-established Villa Bianca Hampstead), whose Moroccan-born chef boasts Swiss training and experience in the MPW empire. She finds a menu that’s “confidently long and complex” (and “with an unusually thoughtful breadth of choice for vegetarians”), though realisation is slightly uneven. In the “traffic jam of chain restaurants” which is Islington, however, the critic finds this “an individual enterprise into which palpable love and attention is being poured [and which] deserves to be welcomed with open arms”.
Jay Rayner (21st April 2008)
Fay Maschler (2nd April 2008)
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