Been meaning to try Konstam for a few months after catching one or two of the BBC’s Urban Chef series, but to be honest was put off by the actual reviews I read when it opened. How wrong I was.
Tucked away on what definately used to be the wrong side of the Kings Cross Tracks pre the arrival of the Eurostar extension (indeed it’s still opposite a 24hr massage parlour), lies the Prince Albert - an old Truman, Buxton & Hanbury pub that’s now home to Oliver Rowe’s Konstam restaurant.
Building on the success of the Konstam cafe just round the corner, this new venture was setup with a unique (for London) vision - source all of the required ingredients from within the M25 or Tube map. (And no, nipping down to the Chingford Tesco’s doesn’t count). On the face of it, an improbable undertaking. Sourcing fine ingredients for a restaurant is hard enough without making life hard on yourself by limiting your suppliers to a defined area, and one that we’ve done rather a splendid job of concreting over these past hundred years. But think about it, and you begin to relaise that it’s a pretty big catchment area, and in parts at least there’s a fair amount of greenery still poking through the paving.
The first thing that grabs you when you arrive is the Thomas Heatherwick interior - dominated by a chandelier system constructed from miles and miles of that spherical ball-bearing chain stuff so popular in 80’s bathrooms. There’s a Flickr view here. It’s certainly eye-catching, but in my opinion a tad claustrophobic in such a small place, and one that fights against the open-plan design that allows anyone to be able to watch their meal being prepared in the central kitchen. But that’s just me.
Enough already, how was the food?
Actually pretty bloody good! We started with a Barley salad with Stratford smoked Mackerel and Horseradish and Deep-fried Courgette flowers stuffed with Norbury Blue Cheese, followed by portions of Roast Amersham pork belly, roast potatoes, Quince and Barnet Cavolo Nero and Stansted Duck something-or-other. The Mackeral salad was very moreish - three big fat fingers of mackeral sat atop a pile of barley grains in a horseradish dressing. The Courgette flowers were wonderfully crunch, and the cheese wonderfully gooey. Yum!
The main courses didn’t disappoint either. The pork was perfect - beautifully tender meat falling apart on the fork, with a generous layer of sticky crackling just about keeping it all together. The roast potatoes were just right - crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, the sweet quince a clever Apple-sauce substitute, but it was the Cavola Nero that really won me over that night - so much so a second helping was ordered with the subsequent cheese course! The Stansted duck was well done - almost like a confit - and served with a selection of roasted winter veg and dollop of damson jelly.
Desserts were a selection of cheeses (complete with extra Cavolo Nero - much to Oliver’s quizzical looks - ta mate!) and Tower Hill Honeycomb, and a homemade herb ice-cream with more of those Quinces. The standout for me was the Tower Hill honeycomb. I’ve heard of the infamous Tower Bridge beehives before, but never tasted the fruits of all those busy bees’ labours. The slice I had was explosive in its floral taste - each mouthful changed slightly - almost as if you could taste the different flowers that had gone into the honey. A really subl,imne experience, and oen that worked really well witht he salty goats cheese and sharp Norbury Blue. All of this was washed down with a couple of bottles of splendid house red - from a vineyard in Dorking, Surrey no less.
At £35 a head including service, even the bill went down well. Goes to show that you shouldn’t always believe the reviews. Except this one that is. Konstam is a great dining experience, and a worthy cause to support. Give it a go.
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