The sister site to The Frog E1, Frog by Adam Handling is the flagship restaurant nestled into Covent Garden on Southampton Street. Offering a slightly more sophisticated setting you can expect the same amount of flair put into the cooking that definitely makes for an entertaining experience.
With 40 covers, the open plan restaurant is stunning. It’s perfectly mapped out for a fine dining experience but without that stuffy atmosphere…no tablecloths, just chatty staff and an incredible eye for detail in every aspect from the drinks coasters to the very cool cutlery to the industrial chic aesthetic.
The menu – we went for the five-course tasting option with paired wines – starts off with snacks. From the amazing looking smoked mussels with red onion and herbs to the delicate smoked cod and caviar crispy bite-sized roll, it paved the way for the style of cooking Adam Handling and his team are about; intricate, masterful and often unexpected, it is wonderfully weird. Asparagus, wild garlic and Spenwood cheese was a light, simple yet enriching starter, followed by BBQ mackerel, potato, apple and burnt leek, which looked so good it seemed cruel to stick a fork in it.
One of our favourite dishes from this menu was the hake, tomato and crab sat in a warm pea jus, which was just incredible. The final dish before the sweet was chicken, broccoli and miso and was so tender and satisfying it didn’t matter if we were starting to fill up, it was too damn interesting to not finish. A choice of three desserts followed with us opting for the chocolate, lemon and muscovado and was presented like a work of art.
[easy-image-collage id=109693]It is real conversational food, complexly put together but in an effortless way. How can we not be impressed? Any self-respecting foodie needs to have Frog by Adam Handling on their go-to list.
34-35 Southampton St, London WC2E 7HF
frogbyadamhandling.com