Aquum Review
Aquum, recently relaunched in September and when a fellow ONIN London reporter attended the event she didn’t have the best experience. I thought I’d give it a try and head down on Tuesday night with a plus one and give Aquum a chance to impress. After initial confusion because my booking had been lost, we were all good to go. The bar and restaurant was empty given that it was a Tuesday night, one of their quieter evenings of the week.
Being seated in the corner booth, my friend and I were given menus to peruse while we started on an assorted Bread Basket of a mix of organic sourdough, focaccia and koulouri rusk and Tzatziki and Aubergine Dips. As the manager informed us, the bread and the dips are made daily and you could really taste how fresh they both were.
Given that we were enjoying the dips and bread so much, we became engaged in conversation and had to be reminded by the manager to actually order our meal. We ended up choosing a selection of Halloumi Martini v GF (A modern twist on the classic Cypriot dish, served with a herb and tomato essence), Cretan Dakos v (Cretan barley rusk with tomatoes and sour myzithra cheese. Think ‘Greek Bruschetta’), Courgette Pancakes v (A Mediterranean treat delicately towered with feta cheese, cream myzithra cheese from Crete and cumin sauce) and Spinach Pie v (Homemade fila pastry with feta cheese and herbs). The Courgette Pancakes were the standout of these dishes. The creamy myzithra cheese was phenomenal! I liked the sharing aspect of these dishes as it meant that diners could order a variety of different options and get to try a bit of everything.
For our mains, which my friend and I also shared. We ordered the Lemon-Oregano Chicken (Layered on puree mash potatoes with a lemon olive oil and oregano drizzle) and Pork Fillet Steak GF (With celeriac puree and sweet wine sauce). The chicken thigh and drumstick was perfectly cooked and just fell off the bone. So juicy and succulent that it’s making my mouth water just thinking about it now. The Pork Fillet Steak was just as tasty especially with the sweet wine sauce.
Dessert was the only course, I didn’t want to share with my friend as the manager recommended they have the ‘Galaktompoureko’(A Greek delight. Creamy sabayon, caramelised cinnamon pastry flakes and sour cherry compote). They loved the cinnamon flaky pastry and the creamy custard like dessert, but not being a fan of cinnamon I didn’t even try this. I went with the Deconstructed Banana Cheesecake (Almond crumble with mascarpone mouse and salted caramel toffee). Now this was more my kind of dessert. I’ve never really gotten used to the idea of deconstructed cheesecakes. Whatever the point of them is, this Cheesecake was delicious. The salted caramel and banana perfectly complimented the crisp crumple of the biscuit base. I was nice enough to give my friend a taste of this. It was a hard decision to make though as I wanted to be greedy and eat it all myself.
We washed our dinner down with four of the cocktails from Aquum’s updated cocktail menu and we did enjoy these. They didn’t leave me with that buzz that cocktails usually do so I did wonder whether they were watered down slightly. Especially as I had the Zombie and this cocktail is one that I generally only need one to have me feeling like I should be dancing the night away.
I had a lovely evening dining with my friend at Aquum. With my friend declaring it ‘a solid 8 out of 10’. Good food and good company were definitely the order of the night. If Aquum can continue to deliver the same amount of service and food quality to all diners, Tuesdays will no longer be as quiet as it was that night. Aquum are also introducing their new bottomless brunch this weekend. So exciting times ahead!
Reporter: Tegan LeBon
Twitter and Instagram: @toogs1
Aquum: 68-70 Clapham High St, London SW4 7UL
020 7627 2726
https://www.instagram.com/aquum/
https://www.facebook.com/aquum
