We were lucky enough to get a table at the soft opening of Oldroyd, found nestled on Upper Street, Islington. Oldroyd is a new venture for the formidable chef Tom Oldroyd from the London restaurant chain Polpo. Oldroyd serves British and Mediterranean inspired tapas style dishes, with plenty of the ingredients locally sourced. We had some peach bellinis because we were sitting in the sun, perfect not too sweet. While Lewis dived in and order all the starters, which were wonderful. We love sharing food anyway so for it to be a social norm makes life a lot easier, the smoked pork crocettas with truffle mayo were, one of my highlights. We also had the smoked cod roe with summer radishes and the seaweed cider salami.
For the mains we shared the crab linguine, lamb and almond meatballs with pickled garlic, veal with smoked anchovies, the monk fish with tapenade and fennel and the courgette fries (oh, and a bottle of red). Each dish has been so well though through, the flavours put together really work. Honestly tough to choose a favourite, each dish had so many qualities.
Dessert was chocolate mouse, salted pistachio praline and raspberries. The quality was great.. but the flavours are a safe favourite, for me not as inventive as the rest of the menu.
A restaurant that has a great selection of small plates using fresh, locally sourced, seasonal produce what more can you want? http://www.oldroydlondon.com