ABSOLUTELY eats out… HARVEST

By PENDLE HARTE

Chef Jesse Dunford Wood has opened a third eaterie, a sister to the established Parlour in Kensal Rise and Six Portland Road in Holland Park. He’s a popular figure locally, particularly since the pandemic, when he kept Parlour open as an invaluable source of essentials and treats, supplying everything from loo paper to slabs of cookie dough to a very appreciative community. So what to expect from

Harvest, just around the corner? Well, it’s not another Parlour. None of Dunford Wood’s signature dishes (chicken Kyiv, Cow pie, etc) appear, for a start (though there is soda bread), and it’s a much smaller restaurant. The focus is on seasonal British fare, with an emphasis on locality – so on the menu when we visited were English onions, Isle of Wight tomatoes, Wye Valley asparagus and South Coast mackerel. It’s a simple and unfussy space – green banquettes, brasserie pendant lights and a long bar –with an appealing gaarden at the back and some pavement seating at the front, and it’s busy on our midweek visit for what the menu bills as ‘supper – tea – dinner’ in the interests of inclusivity. Friendly sta in stylish workwear bring us an alcohol-free cocktail (delicious) and a glass of Sicilian rose with some tiny but moreish popadums and coconut yoghurt. My starter of Isle of Wight tomatoes with garlic dressing is good, with sweet red, yellow and green tomatoes, plus pea shoots and brioche, while Rowley’s Scallops come with pea puree and mint vinaigrette in an excellent nod to the old Kensington Place (RIP). My main course of mackerel with fried potatoes, sorrel and apple ketchup is good, though the apple ketchup is slightly questionable, with an overly sweet tang. The steak is excellent, a Short Horn sirloin with tru e butter and tater tots (these are great, a cross between a roast potato and a hash brown) –and the promised ‘beautiful green salad’ is indeed that. For pudding, a warm cookie with ice cream is comforting and nursery-like. Harvest time is definitely here.