Our usual Band of four ended up in Tredwells after a recent visit to see the fantastic cinematic adventure that is “The Quiet Place ” . A highly original film, with a simple concept, but one that – especially in the second half of the film – rapts up the tension, with hardly any respite, to the level of fingernails penetrating your best friends arm to bruise level ! I dare you to see it ! We certainly needed a drink after that !
Tredwells is a Marcus Waring venture close to Leicester Square (Seven Dials) opposite the infamous Stringfellows. Marcus will always have a special place in my heart as his restaurant in the Berkeley Hotel hosted my wedding Lunch some 11 years ago. Tredwells is a lot less formal than his flagship restaurant, even so it boasts a Michelin Star, and this visit represented the second of mine within the last few months.
Upon entering there is a bar on the right running the length of the ground floor restaurant with seats available at the bar for even more casual dining. There are tables scattered around, all dark wood and white table clothes and some booths for parties of 4 or more. We were shown to the back of the restaurant to a very cosy looking booth and immediately felt very comfortable. Apparently – according to their website – it hosts live music on Sundays- and is quite a large space overall, comprising of 3 floors, including a lower ground floor that can accommodate upto 150 standing and 60 seated.
The menu is one of those that you scan through and feel like you would be happy with anything and everything, and after a quick discussion, and taking into consideration the time, we decided to bypass the starters (other than bread) and opt for Mains, but with various Sides on order – a number of which had attracted our attention. We all felt we needed a drink after our nerves had been shredded at the Cinema and chose from Tredwells Selection, a Sicilian, cantina Volpi , Nero D’Avola which was, unusually, on tap, at £31 for a large Carafe. A good price and a decent wine, quite young and maybe not as powerful as I would have liked, but smooth and a little spice and fruit flavour. Easily drunk,so much so, we had to order another Carafe very shortly.
Food wise – our table soon filled up with the mains and Side dishes, and thankfully our table was large enough to accommodate all. My choice was Iberico Secreto Pork which was very unusual in its presentation arriving under a duvet of red radicchio sprinkled with White salted ricotta and using blood orange segments as little pillows. At first I was unsure as to the mix of tastes, the bitterness of the radicchio mingled with the saltiness of the cheese, and citrus cutting through from the Oranges. However the more I progressed into the meal the more I enjoyed its originality and I felt that actually this was an unusual and excellent dish. 
Other Mains sampled were the Creedy Carver Duck Breast with mushroom, Tamarind, Spelt And black garlic – good but a little salty and non existent mushroom flavour. 
Roasted Monkfish , Anchovy, Crispy Chicken Skin, and Asparagus was voted a 5 by its recipient, loving the saltiness of the chicken and anchovy with the beautifully cooked fleshy Monkfish.
Finally Gloucestershire lamb rack, chickpea, harissa, watercress and Creme fraiche. The Lamb had been prepared perfectly, a fantastic pink, great flavour, however the chickpea was adjudged a little dry as it came in a block which mystified my friend at first, not clear on its reason for being there and the style of its preparation. 
These Mains were accompanied by some great side dishes with highlights being the Lamb fat roasted Hispi cabbage, Smoked Potato and Gruyere croquettes and Truffled Mac and Cheese. Isn’t everything truffled these days ?
Hispi cabbage appears to be “de rigour” on most good restaurants menus at present but this was a punchy version having been roasted in meat fat and combining textures of chewy barley and crunchy hazelnuts on top. Very enjoyable.
The Mac and Cheese was luxuriously rich and you can never go wrong with croquettes !
Mains ranged in pricing from £18 to £33 (which was Halibut) And Sides all between £4-6.
Desserts wise the menu was quite extensive with 12 offerings and we chose a couple for sharing being the Salted Caramel soft serve with Honeycomb, and the Pump Street Chocolate Clementine and Pine Cream.
The soft serve was a bit like a glorified Mr.Whippy Tub – no bad thing- with broken chunks of Honeycomb scattered over it- more like retro comfort food than fine dining.
I do not know where Pump Street is or why this Chocolate ganache was named after it, but the taste was strong and dark and it went well with the fresh clementine purée – a bit like Clementine Humpty Dumptys perched on a chocolate wall. Could not get the pine taste in the cream, so this was maybe superfluous.
The service was very good and we felt well looked after even if the Sommeliers humour was lost on one of my French friends – I think lost in translation – and the overall menu is comprehensive with enough attractive alternatives to entice you back to try other dishes you had no room for this time around.
Unlike the film experience we were quite loudly enjoying ourselves, and it was not out of place with the atmosphere of the restaurant – maybe being in the back helped – but certainly we would have been rapidly attracting the attention of many murderous aliens in the environment of the Quiet Place !
Whilst a couple of things did not work, the overall quality and experience was very positive, and it would be interesting to experience the atmosphere here during a live music event. The bill came to £250 for 4 including 2 large carafes of wine, a glass of White and Water. Not cheap but not crazy money for the location and quality – I think we will be back ! Thank you Marcus.
Rating
Food 4.5 – Almost Blazingly Hot Pan
Service 4.5
Tredwells, 44 Upper St.Martins Lane,WC2H 9HY.