Oldroyd, Angel

I recently checked out Oldroyd in Angel with fellow foodie, Connie. A few days before we were meant to meet we were deciding where we should go for dinner. Always wanting to try somewhere new we both suggested Oldroyd. Although we were only meeting on a Wednesday, this is a popular new spot with minimal seating (it’s teeny tiny) so we could only get a table at 6pm. Yes, that’s right – you can actually book here, hurrah! I arrived a little early and sat at one of the few stools down stairs whilst some diners finished off their late lunches.

Connie arrives and we make our way up to our table. The restaurant is over two levels, there are three or four tables as you enter and then you make your way up the spiral staircase to the main dining area, with only about 7 tables it’s very cosy! But I love it. It really does feel like a friendly neighbourhood restaurant.

The menu at Oldroyd is beautifully compact and consists of small plates, bigger plates, a couple of sides and a few desserts. I especially like these kind of menus because it means you can order a greater number of dishes, trying as much of the menu as you can and then share amongst the table. It’s a great game plan! A lovely carafe of pinot noir ordered we looked through the menu. We had some recommendations in hand, but it was still rather hard to decide because everything sounded so enticing!

The first dishes to arrive were the smoked pork belly and pea croquettas with truffle mayonnaise and a special of the day, sardines on toast. The croquettas were perfectly crispy on the outside but so smooth, creamy and light. A wonderful start to the meal. The sardines were served with slightly sweet and tangy onions, yellow raisins and pine nuts.

Next arrived my favourite dish of the night, the incredible cornish crab tagliarini. If this is on the menu, please order it. I’d be rather upset if you didn’t. The plate is piled high with creamy tagliarini and there is a hint of chilli running through the dish which just lingers long enough before you go for your next mouthful and you’re hit with the delightful crab. It’s unbelievably moreish. We both agreed this was the highlight of the evening.

Picking at the crispy courgette fries (some if the best I’ve had in London, FYI) we realised our meatballs hadn’t turned up – obviously too busy catching up! This was ordered as a recommendation, and I definitely make the recommendation to you too. The lovely large lamb and almond meatballs are served with a delicious romesco sauce sprinkled with slivers of crunchy pickled garlic.

Note that you only get your table for 1.5 hours here. Another result of our non-stop talking was that before we’d got a chance to order dessert they needed our table back… Oops. The restaurant was heaving by the time we left, a great atmosphere in there. They kindly let us move to the tiny bar downstairs to finish our wine and order the infamous chocolate mousse. This chocolate mousse is divine. It is unbelievably light and served with salted pistachio praline and raspberries. The raspberries were nice and sharp and worked perfectly with the rich chocolate. What a way to end a great meal.

The food is delicious, well presented, reasonably priced, you can make reservations and the staff are friendly. These are just 5 reasons why I’ll be returning to Oldroyd.

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