Frederick's — Restaurant in London

Today, I went with my family to a hidden gem of a restaurant, Frederick's, located on the antique street in Angel.

🏺 I used to work near Angel and often wandered around Camden Passage. This street has many antique shops, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, there's an antique market where you can find some real treasures.

🥂 From the outside, Frederick's looks like a pub, but inside it’s quite spacious, with large private rooms perfect for hosting parties. The atmosphere and service are both excellent.

Starters

🍯 Chicken Liver Pâté with Crispy Breadsticks

The chicken liver pâté was absolutely delicious! Rich, smooth, and sweet, it melted on the tongue as soon as it touched, while the crispy breadsticks added a delightful texture.

🐚 Pan-Seared Scallops

The scallops were pan-seared in butter, developing a lovely Maillard-browned crust. Paired with a meat purée and vegetable sauce, they were sweet and flavourful.

Mains 🥩 Chateaubriand Steak Chateaubriand is made from a large cut of fillet (beef tenderloin), sandwiched between two smaller pieces of meat that are discarded after cooking. We ordered it medium-rare, and it was perfectly cooked, displaying a beautiful gradient of colour. It came with a Jerusalem artichoke and rocket salad (you can choose different sides). The waitress kindly asked if we wanted any extra sauces, and we chose horseradish sauce. The sharp, fiery kick was a heavenly match for the steak.

🍄 Mushroom Risotto Topped with enoki mushroom tempura, the risotto was rich and flavourful, absorbing all the essence of European mushrooms. It was soft, warm, and something even Chinese parents would love.

🍞 The waitress kept refilling our bread basket, and before we knew it, we were too full, so we didn’t...

I was faced with quite a challenge of finding a place to eat for three generations. My grandparents are not much for novelties, unlike me and my partner, my sister is vegetarian and my parents sometimes feel adventurous, but often stick with what they know they like.

Fredrick’s turned out to be right in the middle - enough classics, but also some of more interesting combinations.

We all ended up enjoying the meal. Between all of us we had fish, steak, duck, lamb, tofu and chicken and there wasn’t a crumb left on any of the plates!

I really appreciated how seasonal the menu felt - lots of root vegetables, beans, kale and lentils. Even desserts were very autumnal!

Overall - if you’re looking for a culinary extravaganza, that might not be the right place for the occasion. However, the cooking is great, the ingredients are fantastic - what’s more to like? The menu allows everybody to choose something they will enjoy. Not everything in the world needs to be a sensory overload.

I felt like the prices weren’t too overboard for what was on the plate. Sure - it’s on the slightly higher end of prices than some of the other places in Islington, but I genuinely feel that the product deserves it.

I especially enjoyed my starter of scallops with onion purée and lentils - really nice combo! Finally no peas and lardons on my scallops! :)

Also the fig and almond tart with cinnamon ice cream! That was heaven. The recommended wine pairing wasn’t available, but I got offered something that I can’t remember anymore that was so so so delicious with that dessert. It was just perfectly harmonious experience. Thank you...

I've visited Fredricks on many occasions over the years, it must be over 30 times. For me the restaurants number one asset is its lovely ambience. The spacious dining room is like a conservatory with lots of light and vibrant colourful art is hung on the walls. There is a small outdoor area too. The wine and cocktails are very nice, whilst the resident wine expert is a funny knowledgeable guy (if he is still there, he didnt seem to be in last time). In fact the staff are all generally friendly and helpful. What I find lets this restaurant down is the food. The descriptions on the menu are mouth watering but the dishes themselves are often a bit disappointing. What I had last time was quite bland and lacking in flavour, the fish was also rather dry - overall definitely not what I’d call a taste sensation (or what I imagined from reading the menu). My wife was also let down by her main course which was too sweet and again she felt the description wasn’t representative of what arrived on her plate. Of course over the years I have had some nice meals at Fredricks but feel I’ve been dissatisfied too many times and doubt I’ll return for a while. I recall going with a friend who always eats steak and he sent it back, though they returned the meat to chef and re presented it he still wasn’t happy. He never wants to go back. Fredricks isn’t cheap, my main course was £32 - not that I mind expensive but it needs to be good for that price. This restaurant has a lot going for it but feel they need to step up their game...