A Show of Tastes – Made in Camden
A year ago I moved together with my beloved to the city of our dreams, London. Actually, by the time we were only a few months into our relationship we knew that one day we will live in this wonderful city, which we both fell in love with in various opportunities during our teenage years. I was drawn to the fashion, the culture, and the endless different types of people you can stare at (politely), and my beloved was attracted to the clubs, bars and indie scene that grew in the very same streets that are now, weirdly enough, a short walk from our place.
Those streets are in Camden Town. This is one of the more colourful, cheerful and touristic areas in London – because it has a range of markets that can offer something to every person. Fancy a suitcase from the beginning of the previous century? Can’t survive the upcoming winter without a fur leather jacket designed under the influence of the 60s? Hungry for a cheap and greasy spring roll? Mom just threw away your black (totally faded) T-shirt? Here’s where you can fill those gaps or simply buy from an endless selection of bric-a-brac that you will never understand why you bought this in the first place.
But with all due respect to shopping in London, this blog is about food and restaurants, and I’m happy to announce that there is a wonderful place where you can eat after the fun-but-tiring walk among the stalls and millions of people that visit Camden Town every day. If you start your day here at the Camden Town tube station and keep on walking to the north the full length of Camden High Street, you will end up in front of another important London landmark – the Roundhouse. This place used to be the venue for shows by bands and artists that some of us wish they were born early enough to see, and today keeps hosting shows by the biggest artists of our times, as well as exhibitions, parties, and even weddings.
Not too long ago, a restaurant was opened inside this round and curious building, named Made in Camden. At first sight, the restaurant looks simple, and even reminded me those cafeterias that sell overpriced items at concert halls, but (surprise surprise), it turned out that it’s soo tasty here!!
I must confess that part of the fun in coming here is the fact that the place is 4 minutes walk from home, and even this while walking slowly.
We arrived on a Sunday evening to celebrate a friend’s birthday and we were s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g. The place wasn’t as jammed as in every other night, probably because there was no show playing on that evening (usually the place is packed, and you should book in advance). The restaurant was only half full and I must admit that it was great; I wasn’t in the mood for noise and hustle and bustle, a quiet evening was just what I needed.
19:30: Finally we found the entrance! Sounds silly but it’s not trivial for the average person to find the door (looks like an emergency exit). A nice French waiter takes us to our table in a pleasant corner from where we can see the street.
We got the menus and for a change I felt like having a cocktail. I never know the name of the cocktail I want, and even if I will read the list of ingredients of each drink from the menu a million times, I will not be able to say if I will love or not what I will get. So, what I do, is ask for ‘something fruity without a strong taste of alcohol’, and this way I have no idea what’s the name of the cocktail (even if they tell me I never bother to remember) but I’m having a drink that I like it’s taste – and I always have the option to return it if I don’t like it – after all, in such a case it’s obvious that the barman wasn’t spot-on the taste I defined (I’m so naive, I know).
The waiter understood what I was looking for and I got a cocktail named Alcolfrotic – a gin, lychee, orange zest, lemon juice and elder flower cordial (£8). It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t ‘fall off my chair’, neither. On to my beloved who picked the wine (each person should stick to what he understands better...) – a bottle of Chilean Carmenere, a light and pleasant red wine that gently smoothed the way for the courses that came later on (£23).
Did I mention already that we were hungry? The waiter recommended that we order a few starters to share between the four of us, and one main for each person. The waiter recommends therefore we shall obey. In total we ordered 6 starters, 4 mains and 2 desserts for 4 people – you’re welcome to join our indulgence (or at least read all about it)!
MD, the birthday girl, desired the cauliflower soup (£4.5), that went very well with a cold windy evening with temperatures that hint of the coming London winter like we had that day. The soup was thick with a strong creamy flavour, which got a freshening boost from the olive oil and chilli garnished that was added to it just before serving.
GD ordered 2 starters – the first was curried chicken liver with toasted brioche, tzatziki, pomegranate, flaked almond (£7). It may seem like a slightly odd combination of tastes... but even for me, as a person who doesn’t like curry at all, the chicken liver was made wonderfully – it wasn’t too dry, it was fresh, and the rest of the dish’s ingredients flattered it. The dish combined a few textures – which is a feature I love very much in a dish. We got everything in this dish – crunchiness, softness, sour, sweet, Eastern flavour, and more.
GD’s second starter was grilled onglet steak with tomato and onion compote, and gorgonzola dauphinoise (gratin with a very good mouldy cheese)(£8). Can there be anything less than excellent in those ingredients? I can’t see how could I possibly say anything bad. The meat was soft and delicate (onglet requires long cooking), the compote was sweetish and flavoured with black pepper that stabbed the mouth pleasantly, and the term ‘comfort food’ was invented to describe this gratin in my opinion.
My beloved also ordered 2 starters, focusing on pork. The first starter was Spanish pork rilette with fennel and sour cherry chutney, and mustard alioli (£6.5). My beloved is a great fan of terrines and their likes, and will always order them if they’re found in the menu. This dish was an example to how a rilette (which is a kind of terrine) can be a meaty paste without any need of fat or other add-ons that don’t always contribute to the texture or the taste of the dish. It was clear the chef knew what he was doing – you don’t always need to follow all the rules of the French neo-Modern cuisine and cook the terrine ‘by the book’, you can also cook in a simple, un-assuming way, and honour the diner with a fat-clear meat, seasoned and cooked as it should be. The additional spreads flattered the rilette, one bite was sweetish, the other mildly spicy, and of course you could combine the two.
The beloved’s second starter was slow roast pork belly with braised red cabbage, and quince, garlic and maple puree (£8). The tricky part in preparing this dish is the piece of fat that is placed on top of the meat, which is supposed to be crispy and crackling in your mouth (indeed ‘crackling’ is the proper name of this piece). The fat was indeed crispy, the meat melted in our mouths, and together with the sweetness of the garlic and maple we all had a feast of tastes. Mmmm mmm mmm!
I had a saffron & orange pickled mackerel with beetroot jam and wasabi potato salad (£7.5). The fish was a little bit too dry to my liking, probably it was cooked for one minute too long, but the rest of the dish’s ingredients made up for it. The wasabi exploded in my mouth, and the beetroot jam was sweet, moisturized the fish and successfully added the ‘liveliness’ it needed so much.
20:30: We’re done... staring at the empty plates in front of us, wondering if we can order the same all over again – but on the other hand, if those were the starters, what awaits us down the line? Expectations are high...
20:40: Ta-daam! The mains are the main thing.
GD and I decided to order the same dish – seared duck breast with orange & star anise marinade, red wine glaze, and sweet potato mash (£16). When you cook a duck, there’s nothing more important than making sure it’s not overcooked – and here as well the chef didn’t make any mistakes. The duck was pinkish exactly like it should be, soft meat suitably dressed by the orange and spoiled by the red wine glaze. The sweet potato mash was creamy and not too heavy, and even the green leaves got the olive oil they deserved. Yummy.
My beloved ordered pan-fried hake with Israeli cous cous (that’s how it’s in the menu, I swear), that turned out to be the same food we had in kindergarten (it’s proper name is actually Ptitim http://israelity.com/2009/09/24/ptitim/ or Orzo in Italy), cherry tomato and lemongrass relish (£15). The fish was full of taste, moist, and ‘crumbled’ exactly like you expect from a fish as soon as you touch it with a fork. The ‘cous cous’ enjoyed the slightly sour sauce, and the tomatoes added another layer of juiciness to the dish.
The birthday girl indulged herself with a braised beef short-rib in Asian dressing that was served with fried rice and Adzuki beans (£15). I guess I won’t surprise anybody by saying that the meat was made wonderfully, slid out of the bone easily, and it was a pleasure to finish the dish with the rice that soaked the sweetish dressing.
21:30: How can we leave this place without having dessert?
Here our dilemmas started in earnest. We don’t really relate to all those puddings and other super-heavy desserts that are so common here in the UK. We debated for relatively long time, and eventually decided to order only 2 desserts for the four of us.
The first was a dulce de leche hotcake with blackberry sauce and coconut sorbet (£6). The cake was too condensed to my liking and had a slightly floury taste. The dulce de leche was great and in the right temperature and went very well with the ice-cream sorbet.
The second dessert we had was a chocolate marquise that came with a mint and rum profiterole (£6). I didn’t even have time to blink and the chocolate marquise vanished into thin air. My friends eliminated it even before I had time to say ‘Lady Gaga’!!! I think they liked it...
I’m almost speechless: all dishes, starters as well as mains, were a top-class meal for us, with tastes you don’t meet in any other place. I can say that I would be happy to shake the hand of the chef at MADE IN CAMDEN; I think he did a great job in putting the dishes together, mixing the tastes and the ability to turn ‘regular’ ingredients into specials that leave you looking for more. The restaurant doesn’t suffer from an overdose of self-esteem, but respects the diner with a simple decor, ample service and food that I’m already waiting to get back to. Well done.
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