ALL IMAGES PHOTO COPYRIGHT: POLLEN STREET SOCIAL
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From the set menu: Ribble Valley chicken breast, truffle and leek dressing and roasted chicken fat mash
MY MONTH IN FOOD PHOTO COPYRIGHT: DAVID P MACDONALD
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Stephanie Brookes, foodie expert and BBC Radio London contributor, offers her pick of an eating establishment for this month: Pollen Street Social in Mayfair.
m always struck by a case of first-time nerves when I hear about a restaurant with impossibly high praise. Can it truly live up to such expectations? One such restaurant that has received its fair share of plaudits, and has been patiently waiting on my culinary ‘to-do’ list, is Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social. This is Atherton’s first solo outing, specialising in modern, British cuisine, which opened to widespread praise, and even received its first Michelin star within the first year; the restaurant also boasts five AA Rosettes. I therefore made a decision to visit when the hype had died down in order to get a real sense of the dayto-day goings on. For a food writer, it may show an
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unusual lack of restraint, and yet, I much prefer to wait – it makes the culinary suspense all the more exciting. On an impromptu visit to town, I decided the time had most definitely come. Located on a quiet side street in London’s Mayfair, Pollen Street has become a food hub in its own right with the presence of two of Jason Atherton’s restaurants in the same locale. I even noticed a few eager diners zigzagging from one side of the street to the other, trying to decide whether to choose Little Social, or his flagship restaurant, Pollen Street Social. I was instantly put at ease in my decision when I was seated, almost immediately, (without a reservation, I might add) and right next to the elegant