TABLE-HOPPING

Our latest restaurant and street food recommendations

Vins Restaurant and Wine Bar, London N5

Small is beautiful at this cool north London restaurant, where owner Vinny Burke handles front of house while in the tiny kitchen Emils Fjodorovs knocks up inventive wine-friendly small plates. The interior is all dark wood, dim lighting and grey walls, and although cosy, tables are well spaced so there’s no eavesdropping on your neighbour’s business. It’s a grown-up space (the website requests over-16s only) and the quirky background music is carefully chosen by Vinny to reflect the relaxed vibe.

The menu has lots to indulge in but an emphasis on using great seasonal veg means it’s well balanced. Chicken liver parfait is silky smooth, served with sourdough toast and tangy ribbons of pickled cucumber. Crisp croquettes have a surprisingly light filling of potato and spring onion, and come with rich aïoli. The crunchy fried taleggio sandwich is a must-order (though get a plate of house-pickled veg on the side to offset this oozy cheese-fest). Roast aubergines, jerusalem artichokes, skordalia (a purée of potato, olive oil and garlic) and toasted walnuts were a heavenly mix of creamy, smoky, nutty and crunchy. Vinny’s other passion is natural wine and he curates a regularly changing list (mostly from France, Italy and Spain, though there were bottles from Slovakia on our visit). A Tuscan chianti was rich, warm and full of ripe fruit, with a little background funkiness – an easy introduction to natural wine if trying for the first time. vinsrestaurant.co.uk

The Crown, Minchinhampton

Back open, after seven years dormant and as the latest opening from The Lucky Onion group, The Crown serves cask ales and polished pub fare in the Cotswold market town of Minchinhampton. Danny Fields leads the kitchen, while executive chef Ronnie Bonetti (previously of Soho Farmhouse and Babington House) oversees the menu here, as well as at sister eateries including No 131 and The Hollow Bottom in Cheltenham.

Dating back to 1715, The Crown has been handsomely restored. Think candlelit wooden tables, chandeliers and leather banquettes, alongside exposed brick walls painted in shades of sage and grey, with glinting rose-gold detailing. It’s as welcoming whether you’re windswept in wellies or dressed up for date night. There’s a sizable sun-trap patio, too, with its own bar, and it’s all dog-friendly.

Expect traditional British dishes, done right. Meat eaters take your pick from the dry-aged chiller cabinet – steaks are locally sourced, aged for a minimum of 30 days, grilled over charcoal and served with fries and watercress. There’s fish and chips, chicken in a basket, ham, egg and chips, and the like, as well as tempting veggie options. Silky-smooth field mushroom baked with a golden, crumbly garlic and stilton filling served us well for a starter, while a pie from the specials board arrived as a steaming-hot mix of mushrooms, beetroot, broccoli, carrots and spinach with a proud pastry lid. Puds are similarly classic and well done – jammy plum crumble neatly balanced sweetness with tartness and was the perfect foil for a creamy custard. thecrown-minchinhampton.com

Stoney Street, London SE1

Alex Hely-Hutchinson, owner of Seven Dial’s 26 Grains, has brought O Chef Award winner Henrietta Inman (and her vegetablefocussed food) in as head chef to this all-day Borough Market restaurant that radiates passion for independent producers and hyper-local ingredients.

The cosy spot has a scattering of marble tables for two, window seats, and stools at the bar. Jars of house-made pickles and ferments line shelves, with a bounty of vibrant vegetables brimming over wooden troughs.

Small plates that celebrate the very best ingredients are the order of the day, but if you’re not sure what YQ pastry or Baron Bigod is, flip over your menu to read about the people growing the food. Cheeses are sourced from neighbouring Neal’s Yard Dairy, while YQ (standing for yield and quality) flour comes from Wakelyns, a Suffolk farm.

A good place to start is with an aromatic quince G&T and a few slices of soda bread with whipped salted butter and punchy confit garlic butter. Share a wholegrain spelt tart, with nutty pastry filled with sweet roasted squash, Colston Basset stilton and shavings of russet apple, or flaky lemon sole with fruity coriander seeds and buttery wilted chard. Order both desserts – on our visit, a rich, aerated chocolate mousse (made with Pump Street Jamaica chocolate) with pistachio nibs and grassy olive oil, and frangipane pear tart that sits in a double dairy puddle of cardamom cream and silky vanilla custard. 26grains.com

Spiced Roots, Oxford

Charming Trinidadian chef Jumoke Brewster opened Spiced Roots in 2016 with Ghanaian friend Michael Krah, with the aim of bringing the vibrancy of the Caribbean, and service as warm as their house-made hot sauce, to this most genteel corner of England.

With uplifting reggae music playing in the background, seafront murals and beach shack bar vibes, it’s easy to settle into the chilled Caribbean state of mind as soon as you step into Spiced Roots. Taking influence from across the West Indies – from Jamaica, to Trinidad, Barbados and beyond – expect the likes of crisp, fiery jerk chicken spring rolls; saheena (yellow split pea and spinach fritters) served with an addictively sweet, sour and earthy tamarind and cumin sauce; and buljol (traditionally a salad of salt cod, peppers, chillies and tomatoes) transformed into croquettes and served with smoked pepper aïoli, to start. For mains, it’s a tough choice between mellow curry goat and Guyanese pepperpot beef. The latter wins, though, for its fall-apart meat, glossy, rich and aromatic sauce, made with cassareep (cassava root juice) and bags of spice. Dark, sticky rum cake with stewed pineapple and rum and raisin ice cream with an alcoholic equivalent of a donkey kick is a dream finish.

Work your way through the extensive sipping rum collection, try the infused rums on the counter, or opt for a tutored tasting and cocktail class (on Saturdays). The Kingston negroni – a blend of Appleton rum, Campari and Martini Rosso – is smoked with cherry wood, which is released at the table, over burnt orange peel. spicedroots.com