Social Eating House

Work in progress

I love Pollen Street Social, I just really enjoy the calm and relaxing atmosphere while the food is not short of quality. So when Jason Atherton decided to open up Social Eating house and install his ex head chef Paul Hood from PSS to head up the operation, it was a no brainier to pay a visit. I love the décor with that curtain at the front door, it adds a real theatre feel to it and the interior design of the place with that modern vintage look is one of the best I've seen so far in London.

Social Eating house

I had two cocktails before the food which were a contrast in quality. First the thermo-nuclear Daiquiri. I found it nothing but gimmicky with that glowing green cube inside the drink while the drink itself was average at best, not enough lime juice in my view and the absinthe overshadowed the rum. The lime garnish on the other hand was very carelessly cut. If it were a plate of food I am sure Paul wouldn't allow it to go out from the kitchen. The "Wt' Jam In" on the other hand was a real winner, pretty much a rum mint julep with a twist, skilfully blended, refreshing with great aroma.

Wt' Jam In & Thermo-Nuclear Daiquiri

Bread

We went for the set lunch menu, and at £21 for 3 courses, seemed like very good value to me. I cannot stress this enough how chains and "tourist trap" restaurants charge similar prices, so it is important to do some researching beforehand.  For starters I had the salt cod fish cake, lemon butter, chive cream. It was a decent starter, good seasoning and the fish itself was moist and smooth. But I found the lemon butter a little too heavy which overpowered the fish.

salt cod fish cake, lemon butter, chive cream

For main it was slow roasted pork belly, caramelized Choucroute, chacuterie sauce. It was a nicely executed pork belly dish, the diced croute was a thing of beauty with that sweet and earthy taste. The pickled vegetable with the mustard sauce added great depth and a little spicy taste to the finely cooked pork belly, however I think a little more sauce was needed.   

slow roasted pork belly, caramelized Choucroute, chacuterie sauce

Peanut ice cream, salted peanut, chocolate was the highlight of the day, it was a simple dessert but it was a real treat to the taste buds, the salted peanut linked up the ice cream and chocolate nicely, the nutty aroma from the ice cream wasn't overly sweet, simplicity at its best.

peanut ice cream, salted peanut, chocolate

I know it is suppose to be a different concept but I just couldn't help comparing it to PSS. Whilst the food was pretty good, it wasn't even close to the level of PSS. Service was pretty much the same, just lacking the confidence and energy you would expect to see in a restaurant that aspires to reach Michelin level. At the end of the day it is early days for Social Eating House and I think they can only improve, I would definitely come back in the near future once its settled down (and to check out the Blind Pig cocktail bar upstairs of course :D).

Food 2.5/5

Executive chef: 
Paul Hood

What I paid: 
£30 per head

Average cost without drinks and services:
£23 lunch menu
£45 dinner menu


58 Poland Street, London
W1F 7NS

www.socialeatinghouse.com