Clarke's Restaurant

Restaurant, shop & wholesale bakery run by chef Sally Clarke. Book a table at Clarke's, see a selection of shop products, or browse the wholesale bakery.

Sally Clarke – Restaurant, Shop and Bakery

http://www.sallyclarke.com

Clarke's - London Restaurant Reviews | Hardens

Sally Clarke opened her doors in December 1984 offering daily changing menus, reflecting the best and freshest from the market.

Still today, the lunch and dinner a la carte and set menus are constantly evolving throughout the week, with the changing of the seasons' produce.

Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner every day except Sunday, our set menus are priced as follows:  Lunch £ 27 For 2 or £ 33 For 3 courses.

The 3 course Dinner menu is £ 39 Set amongst the elegant streets of Kensington and just a stone's throw from the vibrant Notting Hill area, this gem of a restaurant has been attracting both locals and vistors to the city for decades.

A welcoming smile will greet you and professional yet friendly staff will serve you,  and a world class wine list will be offered alongside our tempting menus.

Clarke's, London

But that is precisely the conclusion chef Sally Clarke reached three years ago when she began a radical overhaul of her restaurant and shop, a fixture of Kensington Church Street since she first opened there 29 years ago.

It was here that I caught up with Clarke who, despite the continuous self-deprecation – “we never seem to get our cappuccinos quite right” – and the miles she scampers between the kitchen, dining room, shop and bakery does not seem to have lost her sense of humour.

McCarty also shaped Clarke’s thinking in a different area by warning her not to take partners into her restaurant.

There have been other big changes too: since 1985, Clarke has gone from baking just enough bread for her restaurant to employing 20 bakers, who now work round the clock to supply 100 restaurants in London, as well as Eurostar.

Alongside them are a team of four who make her jams, pickles, quiches and chocolate truffles.

Clarke's, 122-124 Kensington Church Street, London W8 | The ...

Until two years ago, diners in the evening had no choice about what to order: they had to have the "Sally Clarke menu".

The Sally Clarke menu is still available – three courses for £39.50 – but diners have the option of ordering à la carte as well.

During my visit, I opt for a salad of Aylesbury duck breast with pine nut and sultana cous cous, followed by chicken Kiev in a sauce of rosemary, fava beans and cream, while my companion has goujons of lemon sole and red mullet and, for his main course, thinly sliced beef salad with Italian peppers, black olives and cress.

Scores: 1-9 stay home and cook, 10-11 needs help, 12 ok, 13 pleasant enough, 14 good, 15 very good, 16 capable of greatness, 17 special, can't wait to go back, 18 highly honourable, 19 unique and memorable, 20 as good as it gets Clarke's, 122-124 Kensington Church Street, London W8, tel: 020 7221 9225.

The cave-like room is an unusual setting, too Established on the Wirral for more than 20 years, the Galantini family's comfortable Italian is a place where food is reliable and service is memorable One of the UK's gastronomic gems.

Sally Clarke's makeover | Articles | JancisRobinson.com

But that is precisely the conclusion chef Sally Clarke reached, professionally, three years ago when she began the radical overhaul of her restaurant and shop that has been a fixture of Kensington High Street, west London, since she first opened on 7 December 1984.

It was here that I caught up with Clarke, who, despite the fussing, the continuous self-criticism - 'we never seem to get our cappuccinos quite right' - and the miles she scampers between the kitchen, dining room, shop and large bakery in north Kensington, in a white chef's jacket over jeans - does not seem to have lost her smile.

In December 1984 Clarke's opened with a no-choice four-course menu for £17.50, a menu that was determinedly seasonal - although she did recall that on the first night the lamb was served without a sauce because she had forgotten to make the lamb stock the day before.

Having begun to bake the bread just for her own restaurant in January 1985, Clarke now employs 20 bakers who work day and night to supply 100 restaurants in London as well as Eurostar.

The irony that the two principles she first staked her reputation on 29 years ago, a no-choice menu (albeit today described as a tasting menu) and the importance of seasonality, are now so fashionable and widely accepted is not lost on Clarke.

Matthew Norman reviews Clarke's, Kensington Church Street ...

The two that provoked the usual disbelieving reflex recently were Charles Clarke Sacked and Death Of The Dinner Party.

For aeons, Clarke's in Kensington operated a system that drew the routine critical description that it was "more like going to a dinner party than a restaurant".

The day after Death Of The Dinner Party made its appearance, however, a sign appeared in Clarke's window: "After 21 years of offering no choice," it read, "Sally has decided it's time for a change."

Whether she was reacting to the headline or came to the same conclusion through some osmotic process I don't know, but the restaurant is much improved as a result.

And when a ponderous, Conrad Blackian voice at a nearby table started to outline his admiration for Dick Cheney, the aura of Kensington dinner party became too oppressive.

Clarke's | Restaurants in Kensington, London

Just down the hill from Notting Hill Gate, one of the first London restaurants where Ingredients are King – artful but unfussy food in a smart, pretty setting.

Just around the corner from Notting Hill Gate, Clarke’s is one of those places you’d like to have in your neighbourhood and be able to afford to eat at every week.

The decor is smart but pretty – all crisp white linen, candles and a homely feel – and somehow you know the food will be equally artful yet unfussy.

At Clarke’s, that irritating ‘best ingredients, simply prepared’ phrase is actually true.

After nearly 30 years, Clarke’s premises have undergone a major change, with Sally Clarke’s deli moving across the road to make way for a doubling of the ground-floor dining room.