The Frog

Sometimes food provides not just great tastes, but also a great experience. Such is the reward if an evening at The Frog. You may have to save for a while to afford such a treat, but it will prove more than worth it. In a great atmosphere, within which we were made to feel special, we enjoyed

the rich variety and art of the taster menu, each course explained at the table for us by its chef. Truly memorable.

Food was amazing but service was poor.  There is front of house staff that takes orders and brings checks.  Food is brought to the table by the chefs.  Useful if you have questions  about preparation or ingredients but the kitchen staff don't offer a lot of commentary.  Front of house staff seem to have all had training in avoiding eye contact with customers.  It's nice nonetheless to have fine dining standard food in a casual establishment.  It's probably more comfortable to sit in the covered outside area unless you want to watch the chefs in action in the open kitchen.  The restaurant is not well ventilated so you can smell the deep fat fryer.

We ordered three starters from the Snacks section of the menu.  I would encourage people to order the bread and chicken butter.  The spongy spelt bread served us well for mopping up delicious sauces throughout the meal.  The chicken butter was strange but intriguing having been infused with chicken skin and topped with crumbled chicken crackling.  Doughnuts, cheese, truffle was good too.  Two small beignets filled with cheese sauce and sprinkled with massive amounts of grated cheese and a little shaved truffle.  There was also a little sprinkle of powdered blackened leek which added smokiness.  Our last snack was disappointingly dull and a tiny portion.  Potato,  aubergine, miso were two little rolls of crisp potato filled with aubergine puree flavored with miso.

The dish of cauliflower, kimchee, harissa was the first of our  bigger dishes from the British Tapas section of the menu to arrive.  I think even cauliflower haters would like this.  Florettes had been roasted to an aggressively brown level of toastiness.  These were draped with slices of homemade kimchi which were sweeter and milder than commercial varieties.  There were dots of harissa spiked mayo and onion puree on the plate.  Fantastic flavor.

Our orders of burnt beef, and lamb with mash arrived at the same time.  As the lamb dish was rich, we were advised to start with the beef.  I loved this.  I'd actually seen this dish cooked by Adam Handling on an episode of Saturday Kitchen.  Medium rare bavette steak had been seared at an extremely high temperature and was very flavorful as a result.  Chewy Jerusalem artichokes had been first roasted and then deep fried.  As garnish there was garlicky sour cream and pickled baby onion that had been charred with a blow torch.   A sprinkle of the charred leek powder was a finishing touch.  A beautiful combination of meatiness, earthiness, acidity, smokiness and pungency.

The lamb shoulder was meltingly soft and didn't need to be cut with a knife.  It was served with a sweetish ragout of minced lamb and tomato.  Accompaniments were creamy mash, lamb jus flavored with mint oil and burnt onion.  My companion, who loves comfort food, raved about this dish.  For my taste, I preferred the clean and zingy flavor of the steak.

We were too full to sample any of the spectacular looking desserts being delivered to other tables. 

The cheapest bottle of wine here is £30 so we opted for two glasses of house red at £6 and two bottles of South African pear cider for the same price.  The pear cider was very dry and not too bubbly, so perfect for pairing with food.  A better deal than the wine.  A very filling lunch for two, including service and the £24 we spent on drinks came to £87.  Very reasonable considering the staggering quality of the food.

We want to return to try the mac and cheese and some desserts.

For the most part, fine dining is still something to experience in a quiet, immaculately decorated room.  White linen tablecloths, carefully chosen china and shiny, matching cutlery.  Hushed voices discussing the merits of Margaux over Pomerol with an attentive sommelier on hand to advise.  And, not a chef to be seen, except perhaps through the window to the pass.  Adam Handling’s new restaurant, The Frog, turns all that on its head in a counter to the ever-so-refined setting of his previous restaurant, Caxton Grill in St Ermin’s Hotel.

There seems to be a new trend going around London: Four course tasting menus with snacks. It’s a thing apparently. The first place I had it was at Lyle’s (where I was very impressed the first time, then less so once they obtained their Michelin star) followed by Sager + Wilde Restaurant (of which I’m still very impressed). So when The Frog restaurant came on my radar, I really wanted to try it. It’s started by former Professional Masterchef contestant Adam Handling, and it’s always interesting to see if the food is as good in person as it is on television. (And given previous experiences, it’s definitely a mixed bag.) Since my husband had a work engagement in London, it was the perfect excuse to go and give it a try.

What a great experience this place is, FANTASTIC service and staff knowledge, great food and a great core belief of zero waste. Most people write reviews starting with the food of course? On this occasion the staff, chefs & especially the general manager deserve the plaudits first as they were outstanding offering great recommendations (including an off menu pastry infused negroni drink) and explanations of the dishes. All this with a genuine happiness made it stand out for me. The tasting menu is likely the way to go for most and it won't disappoint the fish dishes were a personal highlight along with the "finger food" I won't ruin the magic much more.........JUST GO!

Amazing place. My friend brought me here as a birthday gift. We took the tasting menu and it was my first time to have such an experience. Food was exquisite. Trying all the food they serve and the experience was amazing. The staff were very professional as they took us through the menu and the food and explained it clearly. The atmosphere is great. I loved the plaice, crab, potato, schnitzel and the steak dishes. The chocolate tofu, cherry pistachio dish was amazing as well and it’s worth trying. The food is worth every penny. I definitely recommend it for someone that likes to try a-lot of dishes at once! ❤️

We tried this in the first week of opening. The space and decor are very nice and the big open kitchen gives the room a good feel. When the restaurant got busy, it became quite noisy, which didn’t bother us too much, but can be too much if you want a quiet evening. The food was very good with a few unexpected dishes. We had picked the taste menu with paired wine. One of the people serving the wine was speaking very fast. It was very difficult to understand what he was explaining which took away from the experience.

Very much enjoyed our tasting menu experience here. It was a pretty leisurely service, which suits me because I don't really mind a long lingering dinner, although one of my dining companions started to get a bit freaked out when we were getting dessert around 10:45pm. Nonetheless I would certainly recommend and look forward to visiting again.

My friends and I had our group Christmas dinner here on a quiet midweek evening before the holidays. Food was incredible value in terms of flavor and presentation, have been many places before with similarly complex food for double or triple the price. Definitely planning to go back again.