Trinity

Clapham seems to be where its at these days.
Initially it seemed a bit of trek from Isilington where we were based, but the Northern line is a wonderful thing and we were there including walking time in 40 mins.
My good friend John who lives locally, has been there a few times and really enjoyed it. That, and the good looking menu made Trinity an easy choice for one of our evening meals.

We were joined by John and Will and Nina whose impending nuptials we were in the big smoke to celebrate later on that week.

My first impressions were that we were in the twin sister of La Trompette, which is not a bad thing. The decor, lay out, vibe and service were very similar. I had read about the cover charge for water and bread so was not taken unawares and given that the bread was very good and freely given, did not grudge it that much.


The whipped butter deserves a picture of it's own, the whipped nature making it very light, but way too easy to eat too much of.



The food reminded me of the Ledbury, again not a bad thing, and given the pedigree of Adam Byatt should not be that much of a surprise (both he and Brett Graham came form the mothership, the Square). Inventive and much more interesting than any of the fare you can get up in Scotland these days. There is a leaning towards asian flavours that makes a welcome change to the familiar French/Scottish interpretation of things that we are used to.

John had the charred mackerel which again was similar in concept to the one we had last year in the Ledbury:


Will the seared tuna, sashimi grade cut



HI the cauliflower soup, a choice no doubt influenced by the inclusion of truffle butter tortellini.



Nina had the terrine of chicken and foie which was gargantuan in size with discernible pieces of both.



I had the pepper crust beef fillet which actually turned out to be a very good carpaccio.



The menu had changed since they emailed it to me, and I was disappointed to find the veal had been taken off. That as well as the fact that by 8.30pm they were already sold out of the caremelised Halibut meant that I went for my 3rd choice of the Duck.
There were some things that seemed a bit superfluous such as the piece of pak choi on my plate of Aylesbury duck, and I really didn't like the Pastilla which I found to be oily. However, the quality and execution of the duck could not be faulted.



Ninas walnut gnocchi had us admitting that these days the vegetarian options are sometimes more enticing than the meat based ones:



We did of course order two portions of chips and bone marrow.



John's slow cooked belly pork had a good combination of textures provided by the pickled walnut to help cut through the richness of the belly fat and black pudding, but unfortunately no photo.
HI's bavette elicited sounds of happiness




We had eaten so much we passed on pudding which says more about our ages and the portion size, than the lack of anything appealing.

The bill was quite helpfully divided into food and booze and we spent almost as much on drink as we did food, which says something, what, I am not quite sure!
I would go back, as its not quite far as Chiswick and if we cut out the booze it could be quite a reasonably priced meal for the quality of produce and service.