Café Clement, the all-day restaurant inside Nick Jones' new St Clement Hotel at 180 The Thames in central London, has quietly surpassed expectations, proving that its early buzz is backed by substance. Despite opening to a celebrity frenzy in June, the restaurant's cooking is pleasing and careful, with standout dishes like the cheese soufflé and sea bass carpaccio earning particular praise.
A celebrity launch with staying power
Opened in June, Café Clement rocketed to the top of every "sell your grandmother for a terrace table" list in London. Within days, Stanley Tucci, Nick Grimshaw, and Paul Mescal were spotted tucking into oeufs mayonnaise and lobster omelettes, while the hotel itself remained, in many ways, a building site. The hotel isn't due to open fully until early autumn, when a rooftop restaurant, Lunette, will arrive with views and chef Florence Knight at the helm.
The reviewer, Grace Dent, expressed curiosity about how such sizzling places feel on a normal Tuesday two months in, when celebrities are off sunning their bottoms in Tuscany and lunch is not free. The answer, it turns out, is that Café Clement is fun, joyous, and well thought out.
Elegant setting and joyful service
Café Clement is elegant but not overdone: white linen, vintage Cassina chairs, and an open kitchen behind ornate glass screens. The staff, of whom there appear to be about 345, are a joy, hired for their personality and their ability to nail a busy service. There's a south-facing terrace that gives itself to debauchery and a garden out the back.
The menu is broadly European, fancy all-day bistro fare, offering spatchcocked chicken with speck and green bean vinaigrette, Dorset crab with marinated tomatoes and aïoli, and hearty meat and fish casseroles. Pastas and grills feature, plus chocolatey, tarty things on the pudding menu.
Chef Danny Bohan's careful cooking
The food offering is designed to mollify and comfort: steak haché with crinkle-cut chips, roast duck with dripping potatoes, cosmos on the cocktail menu, and a hulking sharing chocolate mousse. Chef Danny Bohan, who spent 20-odd years at the River Cafe, most recently as head chef, works alongside the legacy of Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.
A reader told Dent that his life's ambition was to eat at the River Cafe, where starters run to £51, pastas to £46, and mains to £69. Unfortunately, his partner misunderstood and booked the now defunct Rainforest Café in Piccadilly instead. Dent hopes the errant partner finds out about Café Clement and makes amends by booking a table, because it turns out it's really rather good.
Standout dishes and minor misses
A plate of eggs mayonnaise arrives jammy and generously stuffed, the mayo earthy and mustardy without ever tipping into sickly. The cheese soufflé is stunning: upright, luscious, deeply cheesy. A sharply pickly, well-seasoned steak tartare comes free-form on the plate, served with carta di musica Sardinian flatbread. Sea bass carpaccio is simply and beautifully arranged, all sweet and sharp in exactly the right proportions. A side of summer beetroots at £7 is gorgeous: sweet, plump, properly baked, buttery.
Not everything lands, however. The fish casserole is thin and pale, a bouillabaisse in search of a meaning. A side of crinkles, or retro potato wedges, isn't really worth the carbs. The £18 chocolate mousse for two, on the other hand, turns up with the energy of an unstructured brownie and the ability to put you on your back with a sugar high. A fresh, wobbly slice of custard tart is delightful, with a mush of sweet strawberries and more custard.
Café Clement quietly surpasses expectations, and Dent would go back any day. As this stretch of the Thames around 180 The Strand flourishes, it will become even more useful and ridiculously difficult to get into. Come for the celeb rumpus, and, if none of them is there, stay for the oeufs mayonnaise.
