Cornus

27c Eccleston Pl

London SW1W 9NF

BY NEAL MARTIN | OCTOBER 18, 2024

The Food:

Sea bass tartar, oyster cream, green apple and shiso

Hand-picked Devon crab, Hass avocado sorbet with wasabi and finger lime

Cornish bluefin tuna, late summer tomatoes, blood peach, smoked almond pesto and basil

Roast Newlyn cod, persillade of Scottish girolles, line-caught squid, crisp potatoes and Alsace bacon

Surrey Hills fallow deer, red cabbage and beetroot with red shiso

Chocolate barquette, Mekonga 70%, Sicilian pistachio and salted caramel

Apricot and chamomile millefeuille, Pompona vanilla, Crème Diplomat and apricot sauce

The Wines:

Cornus: The most important restaurant opening in London for wine lovers in 2024?

Cornus ticks all the boxes, plus a few more that you hadn’t considered. If you want Michelin-starred food with a stupendous bottle of fermented grape juice, then Cornus is hard to beat. No, it is not going to be cheap. What is these days? Even Colonel Sanders upped the prices of his meal deal. But unlike KFC, you are going to want to return.

The Cornus interior

Cornus has two touchstones, restaurants cherished by London’s wine community over the years. First, The Square. Philip Howard’s Mayfair restaurant once played host to the glitterati, Princess Di, Bill Clinton and one Robert Parker Jr. on a rare excursion to Blighty (KFC was fully booked.) Most of all, it was the venue for countless wine dinners hosted by merchants and friends over many years. Howard and co-owner Nigel Platts-Martin sold The Square several years ago. Cornus could lay claim to be The Square 2.0 even if, to the best of my knowledge, neither Platts-Martin nor Howard is directly involved. However, chef Gary Foulkes worked alongside Howard at The Square. His approach to modern European cuisine clearly takes a leaf out of his former employer’s book, the lobster ravioli proudly namechecking his former paymaster’. Those familiar with Howard’s cooking will know what to expect: decadent aromas and flavors, meticulous sourcing, a presentation that would not look out of place in The National Gallery, and a meal that guarantees you will not leave hungry.

The second reference point is Medlar, which is still going strong. Like The Square, David O’Connor (ex-Chez Bruce and, again, The Square) and Joe Mercer Nairne’s King’s Road restaurant is adored by oenophiles, and I have rung its doorbell brandishing a bottle on numerous occasions. Perhaps it is a surprise that it took 15 years for a sister restaurant to appear. Medlar had an unenviable knack for nurturing some fantastic sommeliers who would gain renown only to be headhunted for a more famed restaurant. Melania Battiston was one such sommelier who returned from a position in Europe to join the team at Cornus. She confesses that she missed putting together lists and working the floor; it is great to see her back.

Cauliflower tartlet

Having not read reviews after Cornus had opened ten weeks earlier, I naively anticipated something along the lines of Medlar. But Cornus clearly aims higher. Medlar is an excellent local bistro. Cornus is a destination restaurant like The Square. It is not cheap. At £155 per person for a seven-course tasting menu, you are going to get a hefty bill with the petits fours. On the other hand, balking the trend towards compulsory tasting menus, it offers à la carte, which means the tasting menu can be tweaked if desired. Certainly, the tasting menu is the best bang for the buck.

Cornus is located in Eccleston Yard in a repurposed warehouse. Diners catch a private lift to the rooftop that lends it a penthouse vibe, cut off from the metropolitan hustle and bustle. There are around 70 covers, including a private dining room. The interior design is pared back with white walls and spartan décor. It is not too noisy but foments a feeling of being somewhere special. The center is dominated by a large bar serving cocktails and pre-prandial sharpeners. Arriving early at 7pm, the restaurant was empty. I wondered whether Cornus suffered the Friday loss of trade since many people work from home that day. But soon, every table was filled with what looked like moneyed locals, a couple brandishing bespoke wine carriers. One woman brought her two dogs, and the waiter did not hesitate to provide a couple of bowls.

Sea bass tartar, oyster cream, green apple and shiso

Upon being seated, fluffy gougeres filled with Gruyere land on our table, warm, light and comforting. There is also a choice of focaccia and sourdough bread, the latter spongy with a lovely crust. A tiny cauliflower tartlet with 96-month Parmesan is a pop-it-in-your-mouth morsel of loveliness, flanked by squid ink wafers that harks back to The Square.

Hand-picked Devon crab, Hass avocado sorbet with wasabi and finger lime

The sea bass tartar is sensational–off the charts–one of the dishes of the year. The fish is half steamed and half roasted, mixed with oyster cream and white soy, shards of Granny Smith, chive and red Shiso leaf on top. The combination of freshness and umami, in particular, is fabulous. This might have been my favorite dish not only that night but also in 2024.

Fortunately, the following courses retain an exceptional standard. The hand-picked crab from Devon is combined with Hass avocado sorbet, known for its creamy texture, and green apple sorbet and wasabi purée, the latter freshly ground rather than squirted from a tube, which makes all the difference. There is just a touch of finger lime under a transparent jelly. I wonder if the wasabi might overwhelm the crab, but it is pitched just perfectly, refreshing the senses with its sharpness and controlled fire.

Cornish bluefin tuna, late summer tomatoes, blood peach, smoked almond pesto and basil

The Cornish bluefin tuna is served with late summer tomatoes from Hubert Lacoste in Provence (bloomin’ expensive, but the apotheosis of all things tomato), blood peach, smoked almond pesto and basil. The tuna is tender and moist, the tomatoes exquisite, and the peaches lend sweetness. This is a perfect combination of intense flavors delivered with a lightness of touch.

Just a cursory glance at the roast Newlyn cod, and you know it is going to hit all the right gustatory buttons. Its almost iridescent whiteness, that perfectly browned surface, and the effortless way it flakes away with the fork make it a standout. The persillade of Scottish girolles and line-caught squid are outstanding foils for the neutrality of the fish, and the crisp potatoes and Alsace bacon lend salinity.

Roast Newlyn cod, persillade of Scottish girolles, line-caught squid, crisp potatoes and Alsace bacon

I swap duck for the Surrey Hills fallow deer because I am in the mood for red meat, which I generally avoid these days, but my metabolism is subliminally suggesting a top-up of iron. Also, it is a chance to eat something local. The deer had been aged for 21 days, seared and oven-roasted. It is rich and gamey, so it is not a dish I would choose every day. But it makes a change and partners the intensity of the red cabbage, beetroot and beetroot purée well, with the addition of red shiso leaves and cinnamon lending subtle spiciness.

Surrey Hills fallow deer, red cabbage and beetroot with red shiso

The desserts are outstanding. Cornus recruited rising star and ex-Cornerstone Kelly Cullen as the pastry chef. The chocolate barquette uses Mekonga, 70% dark chocolate from Vietnam, which is glorious. Partnered with the Sicilian pistachio and salted caramel ice cream, it is an obvious choice, but if it works, then why change it? I have to resist licking my plate. The complimentary dessert of apricot and chamomile millefeuille with Pompona vanilla, crème diplomat and apricot sauce is fine, although the millefeuille was just a little dry.

At a time when restaurants are cutting back on corkage, which incidentally is their right, Cornus does not treat wine lovers as cash cows limited to egregiously marked-up wines whose raison d’être is to offset the marginal profit on food. They offer a very reasonable £45 corkage. In return, I strongly recommend foraging their wine list. Battiston has assiduously assembled an eclectic range that sees classics rubbing shoulders with hipster names (see my Four Horsemen review), all at various price points. There is also an enticing selection by the glass.

Chocolate barquette, Mekonga 70%, Sicilian pistachio and salted caramel

After a complimentary glass of Pol Roger, I order another wine by the glass, the 2022 Wild Ferment Assyrtiko from Skouras in Nemea. “Wild ferment?” I ask. “Not too funky, is it?” Battiston reassures that it is not too “wild” and, indeed, it has a mild-mannered nose with hints of lemon balm and lychee, nicely defined, and perhaps it would benefit by dialing up the Assyrtiko DNA. The palate is well-balanced with a slightly oily texture. With satsuma and apricot touches, quite weighty on the finish, this decent Greek white will give four or five years of drinking pleasure.

I brought the First Growth as it is a special occasion. The 2004 Château Margaux is a vintage that I tasted earlier this year at the château, although here it is a rare chance to savor the wine from neck to punt. What a joy. It is certainly open for business on the nose, leaning towards red rather than black fruit, violet and peony, cedar and light just a touch of tobacco. The palate is initially fleshy and caressing, a sensual Margaux. Yet after 30 minutes, it begins to firm up and reveal more backbone and tannic structure. It has unerring purity with a divine, poised satin-textured finish. This surely stands as one of the wines of the vintage.

Cornus has hit the ground running. It was a pleasure to see familiar faces, including co-owner David O’Connor. It is a place for a special meal, though, at the time of writing, a three-course lunch for £55 per person means Cornus does not price itself out of many people’s pockets. The standard of cooking is amongst the best I have encountered this year. The wine list is enticing. Service is impeccable. The staff makes the whole dining experience pleasurable, serious in their work but not taking themselves seriously. My only quibble is acoustic. The music at the beginning of our dinner featured Michael Bolton, though thankfully, his warbling was turned down once the restaurant filled up.

Anything to do directly or indirectly with Nigel Platts-Martin has one thing in common… You hanker to go back. That is not the case even with the finest restaurants that are mentally ticked off the to-do list, sated with a single visit. But I’m already teeing up a pre-Xmas return.

You know the first sentence I wrote in this review? Replace the question mark with an exclamation mark.

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