Over the weekend we headed to The Dairy in Clapham for a wonderful lunch of superb, innovative, little treats. We were there for a 21st birthday but all agreed that the food alone would have been worth celebrating.
It’s an unassuming little bistro on the edge of Clapham Common with stripped down walls and ‘reclaimed’ furniture. The restaurant has a friendly, laid back feel to it, but the food is up there with anything you’ll find at a fussier fine dining establishment. Head chef Robin Gill has distinguished experience, having worked at Noma (the world’s best restaurant) and alongside Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (a 3 BBS Tick venue!) and brings all of that to The Dairy.
You get small but very creative dishes, using the finest produce and including a selection of ingredients that come from their own urban garden. The plates are, as they tell you, all about the quality rather than quantity of ingredients, so you need and get to sample a few more plates than you would with a standard three course meal. When I say the dishes are small I mean the portions rather than the physical dishes which are mostly heavy stone bowls. These looked great but must give the serving staff a good workout hauling them around. The menus is divided into Garden, Sea, and Land as well as Sweets and Snacks, which are slightly smaller. They suggest ordering three of four dishes each but feeling particularly greedy we opted for two snacks, two mains and dessert. All of it was absolutely terrific.
Personal favourites from our table included the wood pigeon tartare, bantam egg with wild mushrooms and the suckling pig belly and cheek. The dessert was perfect, with almost everyone opting for a gorgeous malted barley ice cream with salted caramel and cacao. The meal is also sandwiched with two lovely extras. Before you’re food arrives you get delicious sour dough bread served with a smoked bone marrow butter, dolloped onto a large pebble. Then, with the bill, comes a lovely selection of melt in the mouth biscuits, jellies and sugary things. This really is a special place for fun and experimental food.
The access may be more problematic. First things first: there’s no adapted toilet for less able customers. The door to the unadapted toilets was also on the narrow side and space is limited. There are also two steps in the restaurant – one at the entrance and another further along. They’re not huge steps but they would certainly require some expert manoeuvring. We asked them about the access while we were there and they said that they could open the double doors at the entrance to help wheelchair users in and they clearly have done this in the past. Many wheelchair users could be OK with this but it would be made a lot easier if they had a portable ramp.
If you are able to get inside and can go a while without using the toilet this is a highly recommended restaurant, but from an access perspective we have to deduct marks. The Dairy gets 1.5 BBS Ticks.
