Grain Store, Kings Cross

This is one from the archives... I actually took Freddie to Grain Store for his birthday just before Christmas. I had been meaning to go to both Grain Store and it's neighbouring restaurant Caravan for a while, and after facing a two hour wait the one time I tried to go to Caravan, luckily with Grain Store I had more luck.

Located in an old grain store (see what they did there?) in a newly developed and now trendy part of Kings Cross, this restaurant aims to showcase vegetables in a way that is original and basically not boring. Although not a vegetarian restaurant, there are plently of options if you do swing that way so you might want to check it out. The menu at the time was very Winter themed and quite unusual- steak and chips this ain't.

Inside, the decor is both modern and cosy, with an open kitchen and bar area

To start, we had foccacia with dukkah and olive oil, which disappeared in approximately 7 seconds...although I did manage to get a quick snap before Freddie snarfed it all. Look at his hands ready in anticipation!! It was good, as good as bread before your dinner can be. You're basically just eating it to preoccupy yourself until the main event starts... or in my case consuming half a loaf of bread without realising. Senseless carbs!

For the main, I went for squid steak au poivre with roast potatoes, garlic confit and pumpkin puree. I chose it partly because I have never had squid in steak form before and was quite curious to see what it was like, partly for the roast potatoes. OK mostly for the roast potatoes.

It was actually really delicious and really original. The pumpkin puree was a surprise hit and I think the dish could have benefited for a bit more. Freddie had a special that I can't remember the name of, but was basically sausages and mash.

He reported that it was "unexpectedly good". High praise indeed. Because we were clearly rather hungry we also shared some chips with a very very lurid green garlic mayonnaise, which were actually amazing. Got to love chips on the side... totally unnecessary but totally good. 

It was around this time that I noticed that I was blending into the wall hanging... awkward.

Cool bathroom vibes too... see I told you, funky vegetables!

Last but by no means least we got a pudding, something which had caught my eye much earlier. Sweet potato donuts!! Whaaaaat! Served with citrus curd and dill and vodka ice cream. Double whaaaat!!

Unfortunately they just tasted like normal donuts with slightly weird ice cream. Probably not worth all the commotion. But still, cool concept. Using avocado/sweet potato as the base for sweet treats seems to be all the rage these days and I don't hate it.

All in all, it was a really tasty meal. Original concepts done really well. Would I come back? Not sure... it wasn't cheap and there are SO many other places on my list to try. I would recommend it however and definitely wouldn't object to being taken here again. Cos obviously I get taken to restaurants all the time!