Bryn Williams at Somerset House

It’s B’s birthday, so we’ve been to the Charlie Brown exhibition at Somerset House, and are then on to Bryn Williams – my father’s name.   I hadn’t realised by the eponymous chef also cooks at Odette’s in Primrose Hill, somewhere I’d recently been told was excellent.

We arrive a little early but are shown through the attractive bar and a couple of large, empty rooms to our table in the last room along. We have a booth by the window, which on this sunny day, overlooking the river and Waterloo Bridge, is a very attractive spot.  There is one table of 8 and about 8 other punters in there.

 There is a “Detox” set menu, but naturally we pass over this quickly.  The wine list unsurprisingly goes up fairly quickly (SB £34, Malbec £36), so we settle for the house Trebbiano at £23.

 The a la carte menu seems very veggie-oriented, but looking a bit closer there are other options too. For starters, B orders “heritage” beetroot with cured organic salmon and smoked rosemary mayonnaise, while I go for a starter sized tuna niçoise.  Our choices for mains are grilled hispi cabbage – with piglet belly – and boulangere potatoes – with slow cooked lamb.

 

Once we’ve ordered, we also get some soda bread, which comes encrusted with wheatgerm (I think) and butter with sea salt.  This is just one roll, but it is lovely; however, we’ve not eaten half of it before our starters arrive.

 B’s beetroot is three slices in different colours – yellow, red and black. The cured salmon is very pink, looking like beetroot has already bled into it.   The mayonnaise works very well with the salmon, and the beetroot is crisp, al dente.

 My salad, with yellowfin tuna, is also very flavourful and fresh. The tuna is cooked nicely pink, the egg and anchovy sharp, the tapanade a good complement and the beans also al dente. There is no unifying dressing or sauce, so the flavour of each the item shines through clearly.

 

Main courses also arrive quickly and are similarly sparse.  Cabbage, pork belly, apple sauce. The cabbage nicely singed and with some flavour; the pork (piglet – really?) belly perhaps a little dry on top, but good otherwise – no crackling though; cider apple sauce is a valuable, peppery addition to the pork.

 The slow-cooked lamb is what many places would call “pulled” – shredded pieces of meat rather than a solid steak. It is very full-on lamb flavour, perhaps a little fatty – it needs wine to wash it down. The sauce is not a big plus, but the caponata does give some good contrast. The potatoes (with onion) in their separate pot are very good indeed.

We opt out of desserts – nothing specifically appeals – to finish our second bottle. And the waitress suggests we might like to take the rest of the bread away. Both waitresses have been very attentive and friendly. The total is a pretty modest £120 including service. Lots of flavour for that money.