Cocktails and lunch.
The last person I saw prior to the first lockdown was my dear friend Anis (motivational speaker, improv actor just to mention a few of her talents) and her artist wife Jen.
So it was extra special to get to share lunch in real life again at Wild by Tart with Anis. It’s somewhere that I had wanted to visit for awhile, so it was lovely to be invited. I am very aware how fortunate I am. So with that caveat in mind, that I was a guest, I’ll share my experience with you however my thoughts and words are my own.
I loved the space, I do love the mix of industrial and reinvention, I love seeing the girders and the buildings previous life as power station and coal store before being converted into this restaurant. It has a really spacious seating area, with both communal tables and more intimate areas tucked away. There’s a shop with lovely homeware bits and a takeaway option if you just want to grab and go. The back wall is lined with the chef area and prep stations, a pizza oven and open shelving, so you can spy on all the comings and goings of the food and staff.
We had a delightful waitress who recommended drinks, food and even gave us an off menu cocktail to try. The food we chose was all good but my favourite was the flat bread, I would never normally choose anchovies but that salty hit combined with the purple sprouting broccoli, red onion, olives and mozzarella was delicious.
The Pollock, tomato & coconut curry with cashew tarka (the process of frying spices in oil/ghee) had a surprising depth of flavour and that left over sauce was mopped up with the flatbread crusts. The Kohlrabi, blood orange and smoked macadamia with ginger vinaigrette, was fresh, light, crunchy and felt virtuous. Our fourth dish was the polenta, smoked leeks, hazelnut and Pecorino. I really love polenta, it’s something I’ve not been able to perfect at home - although I haven’t tried that hard - so I assumed - and I was right that their dish would be a good one. Smooth as silk and full of flavour with a satisfying crunch from the nuts.
We had to have cocktails, it had been two years after all and I didn’t unfortunately note down Anis’s, only that it had rhubarb and I enjoyed my sip! I had the Mexicananas - Centenario Plata, Verde Momento Mezcal with pineapple, lime, and aquafaba, unusual, interesting and just the right side of sweet and very nice to sip.
I would go again, any day - I’d recommend it to anyone stepping of the train at Victoria - I don’t think you’d pick a dish that would disappoint.
Thank you very much for having us x
