The Chancery

The Chancery is the sister restaurant to The Clerkenwell, so if our last experience was anything to go by, we were in for a good time.

Food

Generally, the food was well presented and the flavours worked well together. We started off with some cheese sticks, which were very cheesy but not very crunchy. A small basket of wholegrain and sun-dried tomato bread (average) were provided as well.

An amuse-bouche of parsnip veloute relied a little too much on salt for its flavour, the natural sweetness of the parsnip is masked somehow, but at least it’s not foam!

Before too long, our entrees proper arrived. Crisp fillet of red mullet, beetroot carpaccio, quails egg salad, shallot and caper dressing looked wonderful on the plate, and I was very pleased with the way the skin of the mullet had been rendered crisp. The mullet too, had a wonderful flavour and firm flesh. The eggs were done until the yolk has just set, I would have liked mine a bit more runny so it would run into the wonderful beetroot carpaccio. The Assiette of rabbit served three ways was mostly well done. The best of the three was the rabbit terrain, retaining the gamey flavour of the rabbit. The rabbit soup didn’t taste like rabbit at all, and was a bit boring. The rissole was a little too rough made with rabbit meat, but had a nice crunchy flavour that worked well with the fig jam.

My main of Line-caught sea bass, spider crab and crushed new potatoes in a shellfish bouillabaisse sauce was let down by the quality of the fish, which was mushy. The bouillabaisse sauce was wonderful, a smattering of clams and mussels completed the picture. The potato disc didn’t really go with the dish though. Slokky’s Cannon of lamb with a turmeric crust, celeriac puree, baby turnips and thyme jus was a better choice. The lamb was juicy, the sauce reduced very well. The accompaniment married well with the sauce.

After our plates were hastily snatched away, we were given pre-dessert of apricot and Armagnac jelly. It didn’t quite cleanse the palate but was an excellent dessert in itself, the sweetness of the apricot nicely balancing the slight bitterness of the jelly. I was very pleased with my Prune custard tart, with elderflower and rose scented sabayon. The shell was of excellent pastry, the filling is a mixture of custard and prunes. I had never had this combination before, and it worked very well. One alcoholic prune added to the mix. I really like the sabayon, it really brings out the prune flavour. Slokky’s Caramelised apple tart tatin, vanilla ice cream was pretty boring. I found it had too much caramelisation, so it was over-whelming the apples and the pastry.

I was very full after this, but since Coffee and petit fours were included in the price, Slokky decided to test drive their cappuccino, which was, as expected, terrible. I had long ago written off ever having good coffees, so got some peppermint tea, which I could see, was from a Twining teabag. Petit fours weren’t that exciting, consisting of brownie and marshmallow, and tasted like brownie and marshmallow.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

It’s quite an intimate space, with only room for around 50 diners, plus a bar area located in the basement level. On the night we were there, there was a large group filling the back room. The front room was empty when we dined at 7pm, although it did gradually start to fill from about 8pm. They chose to stick us in the worst table in the whole restaurant though ,smack bang in the middle of the walkway, when we could have sat at one of the empty tables.

Décor wise, it is very dark, with only tiny tealight candles providing a light source. Otherwise, it’s the same old wooden tables and high back chairs.

Rating - 1

Service

I had read on Toptable that people were complaining that the service was slow. Maybe they were trying too hard to counter that, but I could only describe the service as fast. As soon as I put down my fork, the waiter whisked my plate away. They also removed the bread plates while we were in the middle of eating. We felt like we were really being rushed, but as they started to get more busy, the service slowed down considerably, since they only had 2 waiters servicing the whole restaurant.

The male waiter was charming (probably an Italian), but I asked for the menu and the bill, of which he didn’t deliver, so it was all looks and no substance. The lady did better, being polite, but not really putting in the extra care or anticipating our needs.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

We got 50% discount off the normal £34 for 3 courses + coffee and petit fours + all the extras, so great value for London.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 10

Info

9 Cursitor St
London
EC4A 1LL
Phone+44 (0) 20 7831 4000
Website