frederick’s - review - 17th april 2012
i’d been recommended to try frederick’s, which is a lovely looking family run restaurant and bar on camden passage in islington. it’s size is deceptive from first glance with little tables seated outside, but once inside it stretches far back into a big conservatory with a high ceiling. it is spacious and decorated plainly but very tastefully with neat white tablecloths on each table.
themenuat frederick’s has a european feel with quite a spanish influence and has enough choice but you can see each dish has clearly been carefully chosen to give a well thought out and varied menu.
frederick’s serves a setmenuall evening on monday’s and tuesday’s until 6.45pm other week nights which is 3 courses and coffee for £19. the normalmenuis much more expensive with main courses averaging at around £20 so the setmenuis really good value. we decided to opt for that.
after being served some delicious homemade focaccia and sampling a couple of cocktails (the amaretto sour was very good and complete with maraschino cherries), my diner tried the ribs and i had padron peppers with chorizo and rocket for starter. the ribs were tender and juicy and coated in a tasty sauce and the chorizo was smoky and went perfectly with the slight bitterness of the peppers and peppery rocket.
for main, i decided to keep to the spanish theme and went for the salt cod fritters with tomatoes and aioli and my friend had the lamb with couscous. the latter was cooked to perfection with the lamb just a little pink and wonderfully juicy and the jus complimented the couscous allowing it not to be too dry. the fritters were soft and fluffy and just melted in the mouth.
for dessert we decided to share both cheese and biscuits and a pudding. the dessert consisted of little sugar coated doughnuts which were like mexican churos and came with a naughty but nice praline creme. the cheese board came with water biscuits, cornish yarg and grapes and the cheese was good but i couldn’t help feel that more than one cheese would have made it much better as it was a little bland.
we finished with a warming cup of fresh coffee and some little handmade truffles which was the perfect end to a great meal.
the service in frederick’s is fantastic and you really are looked after from the moment you arrive. staff are always on hand to top up your water, pour wine and just generally look after you and make you feel special and wanted, which is how it should be when you go out for dinner. the restaurant itself had a really cosy, pleasant feel to it and it’s wonderfully romantic and a perfect place to go with your partner for dinner.
i think i may have found one of my new favourite london restaurants. frederick’s, i will definitely be back again soon.