8-Course Tasting Menu at Pivot By Mark Greenaway
8-Course Tasting Menu at Pivot By Mark Greenaway
Join us as we try the tasting menu at Pivot by Mark Greenaway in Covent Garden
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had a proper tasting menu. And I’ve missed parts of it – the ceremony, the anticipation, the drama. So it’s with excitement that I’m heading to Pivot by Mark Greenaway to try the £85pp 8-course tasting menu.
Mark Greenaway is a Scottish chef, and Pivot is his first restaurant in London.
It’s located on the third floor of an 18th century building just off Covent Garden, and feels like a great venue for a long, luxurious meal.
Course 1 – quail kiev, smoked garlic mayo, cured salmon, egg yolk
The 8-course tasting menu at Pivot by Mark Greenaway starts with an amuse bouche.
It’s served theatrically in a tin, which opens to reveal two tasty morsels.
My favourite is the cured salmon log, which I could eat by the handful.
Course 2 – treacle and stout sourdough
For course 2 at Pivot by Mark Greenaway you have two options. The first is the treacle and stout sourdough, and the second is ‘mushrooms on toast’, which looks amazing on instagram and requires a supplement of £10.
Unlucky for us, the kitchen is out of mushrooms (and presumably logs), so we settle in to the treacle and stout sourdough. The bread is malty and comes with duck skin butter.
Spreading one on the other is nice enough – and improved with a shake of salt. Although it does seem a little simple for a whole course on a tasting menu, and the duck skin butter isn’t singing to me.
Course 3 – hand dived scallop
The tasting menu really gets going at course 3, with a deliciously podgy scallop. It sits on sea vegetables and dashi broth, and rice crackling adds even more texture. It’s a stunner.
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Course 4 – roscoff onion
Ah the roscoff onion. Popular on posh menus the country over.
I like how Mark Greenaway has filled his with lamb haggis though, which is by far the hero of the whole dish. It’s delicious stuff, and hubby’s favourite course on the tasting menu.
Course 5 – halibut and lobster
As we make our way through the tasting menu, one thing becomes clear – the food is getting better and better. This might even be my favourite fish dish in a while.
And I wish I knew how to cook fish this way. The plain truth is that I don’t and never will be able to replicate it at home. Which is possibly the best thing about eating at a restaurant like Pivot by Mark Greenaway.
The halibut peels away in slick layers as we rake it through the lobster bisque, picking up hispi cabbage on the way. It’s good stuff.
Course 6 – roast fillet of beef
With course 6 comes another revelation, that Mark Greenaway knows how to cook great beef. It’s another dish I wouldn’t have any idea of how to make at home, because the beef is so beautifully done. It’s blush-pink and even, tender and supple. All the adjectives. I want more.
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Course 7 – waffle sandwich
The first of the sweet courses start with a waffle sandwich. I love the idea, and am a fan of the candied violets and ice cream between the waffles.
But the waffles themselves don’t feel like they’ve come hot off a pan, and so you miss out on the beauty of a hot waffle around melting ice cream. A shame.
Course 8 – chocolate
The final course of the tasting menu is a good one.
It’s basically textures of chocolate – there may be a ganache or two and maybe a mousse. There’s also a couple of things that look like honeycomb (although are probably infinitely more complex), and something more tempered and brittle. It’s balanced with fruity bursts of kumquat, which lend a jammy and zesty element.
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Overall thoughts on Pivot by Mark Greenaway
Although it’s been a while since I’ve done a full-on tasting menu, I’ve enjoyed the experience at Pivot by Mark Greenaway. Overall, the food has been delicious and the service good.
But it’s early days for Greenaway’s new London restaurant, and there are a couple of elements that could be better. I’d also add a warning – this tasting menu takes around 3 to 3.5 hours which is quite a time to be sat at a table.
But if you’re in the mood for a ceremony of food and a bit of a spectacle, then Pivot is as good a restaurant as any in London.
Is the food at Pivot by Mark Greenaway halal?
Pivot by Mark Greenaway don’t serve halal meat. But they do have a halal vegan tasting menu if you feel like dining there.
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Have you eaten at Pivot by Mark Greenaway? What did you think? Let us know :)
The Details
Pivot by Mark Greenaway
Address – 3 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8LU
Website – Pivot by Mark Greenaway
Phone – 020 3154 2069
Nearest Tube – Covent Garden
Disclaimer – the halal food status note for Pivot by Mark Greenaway is true at the time of writing. Please phone or email the restaurant before you make a booking to double check the halal food status and anything around cross contamination.
We dined as guests of Pivot by Mark Greenaway.
