Princess of Shoreditch

"Having seen Ruth on Great British Menu we were delighted to hear the news that she was to become head chef of the fine dining restaurant upstairs at the Princess of Shoreditch in east london. This would also be a great location for us to be able to visit as it’s on Paul Street and only a ten minute walk from Liverpool Street station. Unfortunately due to the current situation we were unable to get here any sooner than on saturday. But I’m delighted to say it was worth the wait. Now to the day itself which started as I said arriving into London on the train and taking the leisurely walk along paul street until we came to the pub. We entered to receive a nice welcome from Josh before taking a seat at the bar to enjoy some pre lunch drinks and snacks. These included a Gin & Elderflower Fizz , the Queen’s Negroni , Pork Scratching’s with Apple Sauce & Home Smoked Nuts. It was nice chatting to Josh who is the general manager of the group that owns four pubs as he gave us a good insight to how the Princess of Shoreditch is different to the other three. Now it was time to head up the spiral staircase to the dining room on the first floor. You could see straight how they’ve put in a lot of work to create a lovely dining area where all the tables are nicely spaced out. We took our seats before being greeted by restaurant manager Hayley who it was excellent and a delight to talk to throughout our lunch. There are only two menu choices to choose from which are the short five course or long eight course Tasting Menu with the option of an additional Cheese Course and yes we opted for the eight course. We then chose a bottle of the 2017 Mirabeau Rose from the Cotes de Provence that paired perfectly with a majority of the dishes. Our first course was a couple of fabulous little Snacks. A Mackerel , yorkshire parkin & gooseberry along with a Chicken Liver , yoghurt , pistachio & raisin. This was followed by a selection of bread , crackers and two types of butter marmite & tomato. Now we moved to the second course British Corn which was a Charcoal and hazelnut praline with pickled mushrooms & nectarine. An interesting combination that worked perfectly and definitely one of the highlights of the day. We followed this with a delightful refreshing Red Mullet Ceviche with isle of wight tomato , yorkshire fettle , olive & fennel. Our next course was the Cheese and Onion a Berkswell & Truffle Agnolotti with spring onion , kohlrabi & bacon foam which a fabulous rich and creamy combination. This was followed by the main event the Salt Aged Duck with artichoke , chicory , cherry , potato and a heavenly duck leg terrine and probably my dish of the day. We then opted to have the additional Cheese Course to share which featured a Lyburn Gold , Kentish Blue , Bath Soft along with a malt loaf , carrot & fennel chutney & dried grapes. Our palate was then refreshed with a Gin & Tonic with elderflower , cucumber & dill. Now it was time to finish with a fabulous dessert English Strawberry with goat’s curd , sparkling wine & basil. We ended our lunch with Petit Fours of cashew & miso choux bun as well as hand tempered chocolate with passionfruit. These were brought to us along with a little surprise by Ruth herself which gave us the chance to have a quick chat and personally thank her a for a fantastic lunch. This brought to an end a fantastic lunch and one that I would highly recommend. If you didn’t fancy having a tasting menu then I would certainly recommend looking at the bar menu downstairs which also looked very appetising and by the sound of it a Sunday roast seems to be a good idea as well. This is something we’ll probably try on our next visit which I’m sure won’t be that far away. Thank You Ruth and all the team for a fantastic lunch and look forward to seeing you all again soon"