Rabbiting on – Rabbit Restaurant, Kings Road, London
Rabbit
172, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4UP
Rabbit is the latest eaterie to grace the once uniquely, quirky and boutique area of Chelsea. And, according to our charming and attentive waitress, it’s very much a family-run business. The headquarters are based at the Gladwin’s vineyard in Nutbourne, West Sussex, where Ma and Pa Gladwin make the wine and son, Gregory, farms and forages. Meanwhile back in London a second son, Oliver, is the chef while a third, Richard, runs the restaurant (the latest in their repertoire, the first being The Shed in Notting Hill).
Meanwhile, back in the King’s Road, GB has to wait just a whisker too long to be seated. But, it’s worth it. Continuing the trend of contemporary restaurants, the Rabbit menu doesn’t follow the well-worn path of starter, main course and pudding – it’s more of a British tapas, sharing venture (for two people they recommend four to five dishes), followed by pudding and/or cheese (we’ll come to that in a minute).
GB’s suggestions would be to start with “Mouthfuls”, bite-size (think canapés) morsels of pure flavour. We loved the Brown Crab bomb and Woodcok Paté in particular were taste sensations to whet the appetite for further dishes.
This was followed by a selection of dishes recommended by the waitress who told us that where possible, they try to match the ingredients as they would find them in the natural world – in a whatever grows together, goes together philosophy. These dishes included (in no particular order) Black Summer Truffle, Wild Mushroom Ragu, which was an earthy, texturally meaty affair. Swiftly after came the Hake – the perfect combo of crispy skin, flaky fish and creamy mussels. The Grilled Leeks meanwhile were beautifully caramelized, while the Rabbit Ravioli were seeped in a rich and meaty sauce.
Due to the sharing nature of the dishes served, conversation naturally starts around this novelty factor, then gains momentum, and soon opinions and curious chatter are matched in volume by the background music creating an atmosphere of appreciative fun.
Beneath the corrugated ceiling, the walls are decorated with quirky finds – partial animal trophies, wood saved from trees fallen in the forests of the south Downs, and some frisky little abstract landscapes.
Meanwhile, the food slips down, almost too quickly and, in our case, is teamed with an apple fresh and blossom fragrant rosé sparkling wine.
But, and it’s a big but, we haven’t had dessert yet. Dismissing the fact that GB no longer has stomach capacity for a wafer thin mint, let alone a fortifying British pud, we embark on a dish of Jerusalem Artichoke ice cream, chocolate crumb and grilled white chocolate. That’s it, the sharing’s over. This is an inventive and sublime concoction of creamy coolness, crisp dark chocolate nestling against great big globs of salty caramel deliciousness. And if that wasn’t enough, the cheese platter was a piquant yet earthy selection, one wedge of which was made the fair hands of Blur’s bass player, Alex James.
So could Rabbit renew the much lamented departure of the unique, diverse feel that was once the pride of the King’s Road – you bet your little, fluffy white scut it could.
Rabbit
172, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4UP
020 3750 0172
