Specialising in game and wild British ingredients, John Doe is a top-notch restaurant on Golborne Road producing food far more interesting that your average neighbourhood spot. The place itself has a great pared back modern design and we loved eating up at the stainless steel counter that surrounds the open kitchen and watching the chefs at work. Head chef and co-owner Mark Blatchford told us how there isn’t a gas cooker in sight in the restaurant – everything is done in charcoal ovens and grills, giving a smokey BBQ flavour to a lot of the dishes.
The menus change regularly but venison is a big focus and we absolutely loved the venison tartare which had a richer, deeper flavour than the classic beef version. The venison burger is one of John Doe’s signature dishes but we decided to switch it up and went for lamb breast and leg served with cauliflower, pomegranate and hazelnuts for the main course. The chargrilled flavours of the lamb and cauliflower really went well together, and was nicely freshened up by the pomegranate seeds. Not wanting to focus solely on meat we also had a fresh tomato and burrata salad starter and a goat cheese tart for the main, both of which were simple but very well done. Dessert was an epic Eton Mess which disappeared in seconds.
John Doe is a great spot to grab lunch or dinner if you’re in the area and sitting up at the counter chatting to the chefs adds another really fun element to the experience which we’d definitely recommend doing.
46 Golborne road, W10 5PR
www.johndoerestaurants.com