The Sunday Times
Charlotte Ivers enjoyed what was “very nearly a nice dinner” at this outpost of a Tel Aviv restaurant whose food has “touches of Israeli cooking but owes more to Italy and Greece than its home city”.
Dishes of “delightfully crunchy” Brussels sprouts, fried whole, of “fresh and tangy” yellowtail sashimi with tabbouleh, yoghurt, pomegranate, pistachios, and of bucatini calamari in a white wine butter sauce were all good. But the roasted potato salad served with smoked pink trout “reminded me of the time I left a dauphinoise in the fridge for several hours pre-cooking and it turned brown and sad”.
But the high prices – trout and sad potatoes at £32, pasta at £35 – and the “fusty gentlemen’s club” location played against the “buzzy and supercool” reputation of the Tel Aviv original – as did the overbearing American-style service and “constant faffing with napkins. At one point, we were asked: ‘How was your first bite?’”
Perhaps, Charlotte wondered, Claro is not really aimed at British customers: “us Brits can’t afford a nice dinner, and restaurants must appeal to those who take their salary in dollars to survive”.
Charlotte Ivers - 2024-11-24The Observer
Jay Rayner “thrilled to some of the best dishes I have eaten this year” at this London venture from Tel Aviv-based chef Ran Shmueli, which offers “smart, at times complex but most of all delicious” eastern Mediterranean cooking with Middle Eastern influences, in a converted former bank.
Jay’s favourite dishes were all plant-based, starting with a chilli tasting plate that involved multiple variations: “Each has heat, but there is subtlety here too; a recognition that chillies are a family, but not identical”. Deep-fried Brussels sprouts served with caper aioli were “a seriously nickable idea”, while the menu highlight “takes pumpkin and turns it into a tap-dancing, high-kicking Broadway star”. It came as a slab of pumpkin blackened on the outside with a sweet and fudgy centre, plus a citrus-boosted pumpkin purée, plus some lightly pickled pumpkin plus finally toasted pumpkin seeds on top. “When you start shouting ‘encore’ at your emptied plate, you know something serious has happened.”
If not exactly ruined, Jay’s experience of Claro was certainly undermined by the cascade of gushing emails that was triggered by his booking: acknowledgement and confirmation emails (“perfectly reasonable”) were followed by excitement-raising and exuberant promises, then thanks for coming and a plea for feedback. Six emails in all, which left him feeling as if he was “dealing with an objectively beautiful but desperately insecure person who is just gagging for affirmation”.
Proprietors and guest relations managers across the land, please take note.
Jay Rayner - 2024-12-15
