Cinder - Belsize Park — Restaurant in London

We like to eat out at restaurants that seem to have an interesting ethos and menu, as we are decent home cooks so like to have different flavours and pairings when we go out.

Cinder delivered in every aspect.

From the start, where we were warmly greeted and sat at the table, and offered water straight away, to the very end where we were bid goodbye and see you soon, and everything in between.

We started with the tomato salad, which looked simple as it came out, but was anything but in taste. The freshness of the sweet tomatoes, the creamy nutiness of the tahini, the smokiness of the aubergine, all combined into a beautiful marriage of flavours.

This was swiftly followed by the flatbread, pillowy soft and warm, and a garlic tahini dip that I would've drunk it from the dish if I'd been alone....

For the fish course, we opted to share the seabass ceviche. This was the standout star in a series of superb dishes. The amounts of layered flavours was sublime, with every bite having a multitude of tastes.The addition of jalapeno is genius, giving it a subtle hint of heat that brings out the freshness of the fish, and is balanced by the citrus.

We also enjoyed the lamb, which managed to have a charred barbeque flavour with a hint of sweetness, and the chicken thighs, which were juicy and delicious.

The accompanying potatoes were crisp yet fluffy, and I think I ate three quarters of them before my dining companion even got a look in!

We rounded off with a delightful chocolate mousse, which came with a very good brownie and praline crumble top, and was cut through with a light creme fraiche drizzle.

Our thanks to the chef, Jake Finn, and his brigade, who we could hear in the kitchen and it seemed like they were very well organised, and all the waiting staff.

Congratulations to everyone involved on a superb evening, we will be...

📍@cinder_london at @thegrovehotel

Starters 🥬Hispi cabbage, chilli, red onion and pine nut salad 🍅Grilled flat bread with confit garlic tahini and burnt tomato salsa - For my bread lovers, you will appreciate the simplicity of fresh, warm bread and this was exactly that.

Mains 🐟Whole sea bream with fennel, radish and fresh herbs (for 2 people) - The fish was exceptionally well cooked and was for sure my favourite dish. Plank salmon paired with pickled cucumber and shallots - Again, the fish was cooked to perfection.

Sides 🥔Triple cooked new potatoes in black lime salt - Nice addition to our mains, however, I prefer my potatoes a little more fluffy. Green beans, confit shallot vinaigrette

Dessert Chocolate mousse with cake crumbles, salted praline and crème fraiche - Incredibly smooth in texture, the toppings were a nice touch😋 🫐Lemon posset, blueberry compote

⭐️Google rating - 4.5 🙋🏻‍♀️My rating - 4.7

Sadly, it was the last day of the @cinder_london pop up at the Grove today. But, you will be pleased to know they have a restaurant in Belsize Park (London). I would certainly recommend visiting, the food was almost faultless.

May I add @thegrovehotel has created a beautiful space at The Potting Shed bringing an element of outside in with the wide range of plants and lots of natural lighting. I hope to see more pop ups here over the coming year👀

If you loved what you saw here, check out my instructions -...

I brought my friend to the Cinder pop-up at The Grove, Hertfordshire as a treat. We arrived after quite a walk from reception to the garden location but found nobody at the reception. The chef patron came out of the kitchen and worked out how/where to seat us. Considering the theme of the restaurant is to have many sharing plates, our table was quite small. We ordered a bottle of rosé Crémant and some nibbles. Wine came straight away but we had to chase for the nibbles 50 minutes later to be told they were delivered to another table by which point we’d basically finished our bottle of Crémant. Meanwhile my friend was sat under a climber plant that seemed determined to live in her hair. When we eventually got some food it was really very good, though difficult to fit all of our plates on the table. We were asked if we wanted another bottle with clearly no room to place it and when my friend asked if they had an ice bucket and stand the answer was no, so we had to wait to order our next bottle until we’d eaten enough to pile some plates up. We also found our waitress super friendly but slightly over-familiar - a 20 minute conversation was a bit much. We’d never heard of this restaurant before but expected more from The Grove. We fed back to the manager at the end but ultimately left feeling...