Back out for lunch and since we're celebrating Cohen's new job (you can now find him tending front-of-house down at Oscar Restaurant on The Strand most nights) we though we'd check out the recent changes at Clarence.
A lot has happened since we went to Clarence Bistro for lunch last month. On the Bistro side the menu has changed, the Express Lunch deal has gone and there are more various set menu options. But the real action has been in the bar...
It's only a week or two old now but the Clarence bar has been rebranded. Once an Asian fusion affair, it is now Bar Centrale, describing itself as “A bar straight out of a Piazza in any bustling Italian City. Fast. Fun. Casual.”
And I must confess, to my slight surprise, that description turned out to be right on the money.
From the friendly welcome by one of two clearly Italian waitstaff to the whole look of the room, the classy menus and drinks lists, to the actual food and drinks, Cohen and I liked everything about it. Bar Centrale immediately leaps to the front of the queue if you fancy a trip to Italy without leaving town.
The menu is a mix of small sharing plates, including beef carpaccio, Kingfish crudo, croquettes, breads, cured meats and other Italian treats. There are a couple of larger plates but the main deal is pizzas, again absolutely authentic both in flavours and execution. You won't find Thai Curry pizza here or Greek pizza – this is the proper stuff.
Most impressive of all though is the drinks list, with bespoke cocktails divided by season into different styles, a full page exploring the history of Negronis, a page of specific G&T pours, and a good collection of wine, much of it Italian.
We started with cocktails,
Cohen the Mezcal No-Groni - Mezcal, Campari, Umeshu, Fernet,
Grapefruit bitters, $19 - and me a Welcome To Sorrento - Gin, Italicus,
lemon juice, champagne syrup, egg white, burnt absinthe, $19. (The No-Groni in the pic had been pre-sipped. Sorry. It looked so good...)
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| Mezcal No-Groni |
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| Welcome To Sorrento |
The barman - clearly an experienced
mixologist - talked us through them and even brought over a sample of
some rum he has been ageing in the Umeshu barrel (Umeshu is a
Japanese plum wine). He obviously takes great pride in these
cocktails and they were both excellent, particularly the No-Groni
which was remarkably smoky and complex and well-balanced. BTW, Italicus is a Bergamot liqueur, and this is the only place in the Bay to stock it.
Food-wise we shared some prawns and had a pizza. Specifically, we had Gamberi - Black Tiger Prawns, Confit Garlic, Olive Oil, Chili, $24, and Salsiccia e Radicchio - Pizza with Tomato, Mozzarella, Homemade Pork Sausage, Bitter Leaves, Fennel Seeds, Oregano, $24. I didn't actually spot any chili in the prawns which wasn't a problem because the oily garlicky sauce was lovely.
The pizza, to my surprise didn't actually feature radiccio (perhaps I was being a little literal in my Italian translation) but was instead strewn with rocket (arugula to you Americans). It was a pretty damn good pizza too, great light crust, slightly charred at the edges, tasty homemade sausage and the fennel seeds giving it a nice lift.
After that I could have happily sat there all afternoon and tried the rest of the cocktail list. But we'll have to do that another time. Several times I'd imagine...
Looks like they’ve made some good changes - congratulations to Cohen on the new job🥳
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