Victoria Smith visited the beautiful Erpingham House pop-up at Cloud Twelve Eatery in London and this is what she thought!
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During the month of Veganuary, renowned vegan restaurant Erpingham House is hosting a pop-up at Cloud Twelve in Notting Hill, London.
Joining its other venues in Brighton, Edinburgh and Norwich, the Erpingham House London pop-up is its fourth location across the UK, cementing its domination in the South-East.
Known for its Instagrammable pink interior and top-quality plant-based cuisine, Erpingham House has certainly made a name for itself.
So when Erpingham House London kindly invited me down to try out their vibrant and innovative vegan menu, I just had to say yes.
Starter
I started off the evening with a glass of the house rosé, which both matched the interior and ensured that the meal was off to a good start.
My friend opted for a Chaga mushroom tea blend, which had properties that were beneficial for defence, skin and energy.
For starters, we ordered two small plates to share: the Skinny Beetroot Hummus and the Whipped Tofu Parfait, both served with lightly toasted sourdough bread.
Of the two dishes, we both preferred the Whipped Tofu Parfait. The parfait itself was deliciously creamy and reminded us of pâté, and it paired absolutely perfectly with a beetroot and caper chutney.
It also featured some dressed kale and a sea buckthorn puree, the latter I had never tried before and had a surprisingly fruity flavour that added depth to the dish.
The Skinny Beetroot Hummus was also delicious, and only just pipped to the post by the parfait. The hummus itself had a lovely earthy flavour from beetroot, sweetened by balsamic glaze and given saltiness from crumbled vegan feta.
There was also added texture from the nutty dukkah, and it was further enhanced by paper-thin broccoli crisps that had a delicate flavour and demonstrated the creativity of plant-based cuisine.
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Main Course
For our main course, I opted for the Textures of Potato, while my friend tried the Seitan Filet Mignon “en croute”.
The textures of potato was a truly innovative dish, featuring six varieties of potato on one plate. The main element of the dish was the blue cheese gnocchi seasoned with potato skin salt.
This was absolutely delicious and the salt cut through the intense creaminess to balance it out. The gnocchi was also paired with a matchstick potato salad, a truffle espuma and crispy potato paper.
Of these elements, the matchstick potato was my least favourite – not sure I’m sold on pickled potato! However, the crispy potato paper was revolutionary and truffle espuma gave an umami flavour.
The dish was finished off with a mini jug of potato milk béchamel – something I’ve been wanting to try since potato milk became a thing – and it was actually really tasty. Overall a delicious and interesting plate.
The Seitan Filet Mignon ‘en croute’ was equally as good, featuring a deliciously meaty seitan filet encased in a forest mushroom duxelles and perfectly crisp puff pastry.
Also on the plate was fondant potatoes topped with pickled blackberry, sea buckthorn caviar, and a rich truffle and port jus for pouring over.
Dessert
For dessert, we shared the Cultured Blackberry Chocolate Cheesecake served with almond mousse and fresh mint. While this dish was the most beautiful to look at, it was our least favourite of the evening.
The cheesecake itself was lovely and creamy, but not quite sweet or chocolatey enough for us. However, the almond mousse was absolutely delicious and did help to balance the dessert.
Overall, the visit to Erpingham House was fantastic and I would definitely recommend it. The food was delicious, and it was great to try new flavours and textures that I wouldn’t normally experience.
Thank you to Erpingham House for inviting us!
If you’re feeling hungry for more, you can drool over Erpinham House London’s vegan menu here.
Looking for the best vegan restaurants in London to visit?
Check out our guide to the best vegan restaurants in London.