James Cochran EC3 – Michelin Star Chef Opens New Venue
As part of our festive guides, we’ve been roaming around London looking for the best places for you to dine in. With St Patrick’s Day coming up swiftly – line your stomach ahead of your favourite holiday’s drinking fest at James Cochran‘s newly open restaurant in East London.
The Michelin star chef recently opened his new venue and the menu is nothing short of awe-inducing. Mixing his expertise as a culinary expert, Cochran coined a multitude of dishes inspired by traditional British Cuisine, but with an exceptional modern twist.
For 2 people, we highly recommend the Vegetarian tasting menu and the A La Carte testing menu with a side of white wine. As far as the wine goes, James Cochran‘s fantastically trained staff is the best to reach out to in terms of recommendations. Apart from the stellar food, the staff is also incredibly helpful and highly well acquainted with the needs of the customer.
Both tasting menus come with 6 dishes each – do not fret as they’re small in size and big in flavour! I suggest that it’s best if you share them in between 2 people, as you can have a taste of both worlds. There’s hardly anything to miss from James’s menu. As mentioned – 6 courses each for 2 tasting menus equal a total of 12 delicious dishes for you to enjoy. If that’s not a treat – I don’t know what is!
We’ve picked our favourites out of all – although it was a very difficult mission to accomplish.
From the regular tasting menu, what definitely caught our eyes and taste buds was the Cured Cornish mackerel, kombu, Szechuan, burnt butter, coal roasted turnip. The roasted turnip gives it a fresh touch and the cornish mackerel was cooked to perfection! Not that it needs extra stars, but it gets 5 from us!
As far as the vegetarian options go, the Jerusalem artichokes, mushroom marmalade, crispy hen’s egg were absolutely awe-inducing. It’s incredible how James Cochran managed to be such a versatile chef – combining British cuisine with a multitude of external influences, leaving the end result in something worthy of applause.
Here is the full menu below:
6-Course Tasting Menu- £60
Warm Cornish rock oyster, smoked bacon foam, rosemary butter
*****
Cured Cornish mackerel, kombu, Szechuan, burnt butter, coal roasted turnip
*****
Charcoal roasted Harrietsham leeks, onions, miso, sorrel
*****
Celeriac, apple, winter truffle, douglas fir
*****
Roast haunch of Berkshire venison, pumpkin puree, ginger foam, smoked
bone marrow, pickled mushrooms
*****
Chocolate, nougat, peanuts, caramel, banana ice cream
*****
(OPTIONAL COURSE, £6 SUPPLEMENT)
Selection of British cheeses, oat cakes,fruit loaf
6-Course Vegetarian Tasting Menu- £50
Salsify fritter, whipped Ragstone goat’s cheese, olive crumb
*****
Charcoal roasted Harrietsham leeks, onions, miso, sorrel
*****
Cheltenham beetroots, grains, pomegranate, goat’s curd
*****
Jerusalem artichokes, mushroom marmalade, crispy hen’s egg
*****
Celeriac, douglas fir, winter truffle, apple
*****
Baked walnut tart,pear, burnt butter, frozen walnuts, goat’s curd
*****
(OPTIONAL COURSE, £6 SUPPLEMENT)
Selection of British cheeses, oat cakes,fruit loaf
James Cochran is open for Lunch from 12 to 3pm every day apart from Sundays and Saturdays. Dinner can be served from 6pm to 10pm every day apart from Sundays. We suggest you book quickly as it’s very busy this time of year.