Let’s just cut to the chase…
High Timber is flawless.
My first (of many an inevitable) evening at High Timber was spent shoe-horned between two work trips. I hoped for a feed more promising than that of my unappreciated refrigerator and little more. The feed was, indeed, actually better than anything I could produce from a fridge filled with ingredients required to make my favourite foods.
Things High Timber offers that my – albeit somewhat skilled – cooking and dining room cannot:
1. An aged and grass-fed fillet steak so tender and flavourful I didn’t dare taint it with my guilty bearnaise-pleasured inclinations. It was, without question, the best fillet steak I have ever eaten. (Tip: Get the smaller fillet, medium rare, and leave room for the accompanying basket of golden chips before your fellow diners steal them all from you.)
2. A refined selection of South African-influenced treats; biltong croquettes with peppadew ketchup, Rooibos tea-smoked salmon with rye bread & horseradish, flavourfil slices of seared Foie Gras & beef carpaccio (with truffle & parmesan, et al. This is the kind of restaurant you want to visit in a group so you’re able to taste a little bit of everything. Head chef Mircel McSween is knowingly experimental.
3. A romantic and tourist-free view of The Shard and Millennium Bridge.
4. A wine cellar so impossibly well-curated you could get drunk on the selection alone.
5. A glass-panelled cheese room stocked with the best of the best. Try as I might, my painstakingly OCD-riddled homemade cheese boards are a far cry from the unique selection High Timber can throw together in seconds.
6. A bottle of Cape Winemakers Guild winemaker Gary Jordan’s 2007 smoky Bordeaux-style ‘Jordan Sophia‘ blend.
7. A sommelier/host/affineur/helpful companion to meet your every smile-serviced need without missing a beat. (Thank you, Ryan.)
…and that’s just the starter list.
It is – at most – once a year that I find a restaurant I truly fall for, but High Timber is the easiest proverbial right-swipe I’ve called in a long time. My new favourite restaurant in London.
