The Larder
special offer
Special Offer only available online - please book above
2 courses & half bottle wine: £19.95
Offer Details: ...from a reduced a la carte menu. Includes Vat, excludes service.
Available: Tuesday to Friday 19:00 to 22:30
Maximum people: 10
Terms: Expires 26th July 08
50% off
Offer Details: ...on starters and main courses from the a la carte menu. Includes Vat, excludes service and drinks.
Available: Monday 18:00 to 21:00, Tuesday to Friday 18:00 to 19:00, Saturday 18:00 to 21:00
Maximum people: 6
Terms: Expires 26th July 08
Lunch offer: 2 courses £13.50
Offer Details: ...from a set menu. Includes vat, excludes service.
Available: Monday to Friday 12:00 to 15:00
Maximum people: 10
Terms: Expires 26th July 08
our review
St John Street in Clerkenwell isn’t short of restaurants; there’s St John itself of course, plus Portal, Vic Naylor’s, Pho and until recently a fine dining Vietnamese. The last was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is now closed but not emptied, giving it a ghostly Marie Celeste feel as if a troupe of skeletal diners might turn up and demand chilli salt squid at any minute.
Into this street has come The Larder, bringing a kind of Notting Hill feel (it has an attached shop) to the area. It’s a big place, which may not be a problem in the Xmas party season as any size group can probably be accommodated with ease. Out of the season some dividers might help inject a bit of intimacy to the large room, although to be fair it’s not setting out to be a romantic restaurant. The menu darts around the globe, offering something for everyone in an All Bar One kind of way, there are pizzas at lunchtime, and each day has specials to add some extra choice such as fish and chips or roast pigeon.
A starter of hot scotch eggs with mayonnaise sounded ‘interesting’ but tempura of squid, ginger and soy dressing sounded better. The squid was well cooked and the batter crispy and oil-free. Dunked into the pot of ginger and soy it made a good dish to eat with your fingers. More close to Europe, grilled black pudding with apple, pear and wafts of thyme had the French crumbly boudin cut into manly chunks, which nicely avoided the usual giggly phallic jokes. It’s hard to go wrong with such a classic combination and Larder didn’t.
The Monkfish tail with chorizo and padron peppers sounded good; chorizo and monkfish are as well matched as Elton John and David Furnish, and padron peppers with their random heat are on paper a good idea. The tail was enormous though, and still had the bone. The chorizo wasn’t the best and the peppers I couldn’t taste at all. Smaller portion, quality chorizo and some spikier peppers were needed to get this dish as good as it wanted to be. Duck confit was a better effort showing that perhaps the French dishes are more successful here, the puy lentils weren’t too sloppy nor too dry and they still had the necessary granular bite to them. The smoked bacon added a bit of salt and flavour to the pulses, whilst the addition of carrot and swede, didn’t do any harm either. A good solid dish with no pretension.
A plate of cheese to finish, and here large portions were gratefully received, plus a reasonable amount of biscuits - I hate it when restaurants are mean with the crackers. All in all a sound meal, fairly priced. There’s nothing quite like it in the area, and it fills the hungry gap well.
Nick Harman - March 2008
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
Nice looking place, shame about the food. Starters were bland, not as described in the menu and used poor ingredients. This place is about 100 metres from Smithfield market, but had completely run out of beef and lamb main courses at 8.30 on a Saturday evening. Main course choice was therefore very limited, and when they arrived I was suspicious that my roast vegetables were from a jar. Duck pie was very good. Chocolate fondant dessert very good. Cheese choice seriously limited. Sadly one of the worst meals I've had in a long time.
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Overall rating 
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Larder is a great find. My husband and I really enjoyed our meal there recently - my first course of dressed crab was decent, while the calves liver with red onion was notably good. I really liked the spacious, open-plan feel to the restaurant - it's nice not to be able to hear the conversations of one's neighbours! Finally, the service was excellent; warm and attentive. When they forgot the 50% discount I had booked under, they rectified the situation quickly and apologetically. I'll definitely return to The Larder - especially with a meal deal.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I went to The Larder Saturday evening with three good friends. When we first walked by at 5.30pm it looked very quiet (but so did the rest of Farringdon, so keep this in mind if you fancy a drink before dinner - nothing opens till 6pm).
We returned for our 7pm reservation and we had such a lovely evening. The food was very yummy and nicely presented (soup of the day was bacon and sweetcorn, the special was a salad with duck). The bread from their bakery next door was scrumptious too - so we had to ask for more. For mains we had steak, swordfish and chicken with sides of chips, mash and spinach. The food was very tasty and so was the house red (at a very reasonable £14/bottle). By this point in the night the atmosphere of the place had completely changed and all but one table was full. The restaurant is nicely spaced out though, so it was pleasantly lively and not noisy at all. We finally indulged in the chocolate and raspberry bomb, ice cream and cheese. We are definitely going back!
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MDH - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, January 28, 2008
Knew very little about this restaurant - was very pleased I went with my girlfriend one evening. Decor was modern & stylish, with large wooden dining tables in one huge dining room. The food was good - I wasn’t overly impressed with my crab starter, however my plaice main course was very pleasing, the fish was cooked perfectly - the flavour and texture were spot on. Moreover the desserts were superb - they must have a great pastry chef, the pastry on the strawberry tart was mouthwatering. I must say though, the espresso was by far the biggest disappointment - but I wont hold too big a grudge for that. Service staff were very friendly and quite professional - nothing to ride home about, but they certainly contributed towards this pleasant experience.
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Putra Punk
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
I had lunch at the larder on a thursday afternoon and must say it was absolutely divine-a breath of fresh air.a relaxed dining style yet the food is far from relaxed, obviously food made for food lovers by food lovers!I had the scotch eggs and mayonnaise to start,beautifully presented with a murtle salad.To follow for mains was apricot stuffed saddle of welsh mountain lamb,and speaking as a welshman,you will not find a better piece of meat,cooked to pink perfection with an essential crispy crust,served with pommes a la dauphinoise,surrounded by a well laboured jus i could want for nothing more in a main course.On to desert and i opted for the apple and rhubarb crumble with fresh custard which was excellent in every aspect.Service was great and friendly and the atmosphere very comfortable.I will be revisiting the larder soon!Highly recommended
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Philip Cousins
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
I live just around the corner from The Larder and was impressed by the decor and ambience of the restaurant. I like to support businesses in my neighbourhood so we went for an early dinner on a Saturday not long after it opened. We were the only ones in the very large space and there was hardly anything available on the menu and whilst the service was friendly it was very shoddy. Not long after this they ceased to open on Saturdays. Whenever we walked by it always looked empty and feeling bad for them vowed to go back again and give them more business. Walking by one night it looked a lot busier so we decided to go in. The reason it was busy was it had been hired out by G Sachs and was full of bankers with name badges on! We asked the manager if he had a table. When we told him we hadnt reserved he tutted in annoyance and walked away! Just as we were about to leave we saw him furiously beckoning to us from across the room. As we sat down I mentioned to him it was nice to see them so busy and they must be pleased. He snapped back that it was "a bit of a nightmare". We ordered 3 mains (the special gnocchi with scallops & pancetta) and 3 glasses of wine and a bottle of water. 10 minutes later 3 specials arrived at our table, banged down by the waitress without a word. We had to ask 2 more waiters for our drinks. We simply couldnt wait for them to arrive before eating as we were worried our meals would go cold. No need to have worried they were already cold and of very poor quality. The gnocci was certainly not homemade and we all questioned whether the sauce was from a bottle it was so bland. This is the worst food I have eaten in London since the 1980's. I am always willing to forgive a restaurant (especially a new one) for having an off night but this place had two off nights and to cap it all the most unwelcoming, cold and truly unprofessional service. Don't waste your money here!
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HMD
Overall rating 
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, August 23, 2007
I would like to say I held my birthday party in this restaurant and there were 15 of us and we all had a wonderful time. I thought the food was superb and the service second to none. I would highly recommend the restaurant to any food lovers as it is definetly worth the visit and you cant beat the Lemon Tart. It was Amazing. Also the 2 course menu for £16.50 was excellent value.
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Lady Hall
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, July 02, 2007
