The Modern Pantry

47-48 St John's Square, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4JJ - View on a map
Telephone: 020 7553 9210

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Overall 4.8
Food 5.5
Service 5.3
Atmosphere 4.8
Value 3.5
Based on 4 reviews

what the critics say

Lisa Markwell - 7/10

Sunday, January 15, 2012 - Mr M chooses seared king scallops with Jerusalem artichoke mash, keta, sorrel and a shallot and Cabernet Sauvignon vinaigrette; it is a stellar combination of textures and flavours...My main course is disappointingly mis-sold, I think. Beef featherblade, miso and Chantenay carrot stew, winter greens, toasted poppyseed and buttermilk dressing sounds soft, unctuous and hearty, but what arrives is a ginormous chunk of beef in a little dab of sauce, with separately cooked carrots on the side, and a drizzle of dressing. The beef is top-quality, but needs hewing apart with a knife, as it's dry.

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Jay Rayner

Sunday, July 10, 2011 - To pull off this kind of fusion cooking right now requires poise. For the most part it is there. A perfectly made omelette of sugar-cured prawns, spring onions and coriander comes with a scoop of sweet smoked chilli sambal which is more a tickle than a punch. A crab salad with sugar snap peas and shaved turnip declares a yuzu soy dressing, but is more about the quality of the ingredients than the wanderlust of the chef. A grilled onglet, marinated in miso and tamarind, is a proper piece of beef with a fine smear of aioli on the side, alongside some crisp cassava chips. It is steak frites by any other name.

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Matthew Norman - 9/10

Saturday, January 03, 2009 - Low expectations can distort the critical judgment, the relief luring you into inflating the competent into the outstanding, but by any standards the Modern Pantry is a gem. Sited in a pair of listed town houses in a quiet square, the small and more informal downstairs room (a posher one has since opened upstairs, and there's a deli attached) is bright but functional, with gleamingly white furniture, refectory table in the centre of the space, open-plan kitchen, obligatory Farrow & Ball bluey-grey walls, and conical copper lamps, while the staff are tolerant to the edge of saintliness.

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Terry Durack - 14/20

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - "Confit duck leg, roast sweet potato, beetroot, black bean, licorice and ginger salsa, £12.50." Says it all, really. At The Modern Pantry, you get bits and pieces of French bistro cooking with a touch of the Antipodean and some far-flung exotica at a modest price. Some will see this as a breath of fresh air. Others will curl their lips at what they see as a mishmash of magpie pickings from the global floor.

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Giles Coren - 7.33/10

Saturday, September 27, 2008 - I didn’t know until halfway through my dinner at the Modern Pantry how bored I was with New Old Skool British Plush – you know, all that oysters, kedgeree, Barnsley chop, plum duff malarkey…And now, just in time, “fusion” makes a comeback. And it could come back in no more fitting or confident hands than Anna Hansen, Peter Gordon’s buddy from the Sugar Club and Providores.

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Jasper Gerard - 8/10

Friday, September 19, 2008 - Anna Hansen…one of London's best-regarded female chefs…has spent the past four years struggling to open her first solo venture, The Modern Pantry. She finally managed it on Tuesday, the day London wallets turned to stone. It wasn't exactly packed.

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Tracey MacLeod - 10/15

Saturday, September 13, 2008 - The Modern Pantry is a clever name; the "modern" promising freshness and originality, while the "pantry", with its whiff of stored spices and dry goods, carries the reassurance of old-fashioned values. That duality is reflected in the design; the downstairs café has good Georgian bone structure, emphasised by a trad grey paint job, candles guttering in tall windows and down-lights modelled on fluted copper moulds...

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Fay Maschler - 4/5

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - This food is so delicious!" I exclaimed, sitting in the ground-f loor café of the newly opened Modern Pantry. "Well, she's had four years to prepare it," said a good friend of chef Anna Hansen, rather mordantly. When I went to dinner last week it was, in fact, almost seven years to the day since I visited the Marylebone restaurant Providores, where Hansen was one of a quartet of owners who included the New Zealand chef Peter Gordon.

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your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne

I went for lunch December 2009.

Food was nice, but highly overpriced, portions very small, need a side orders. Staff were just not doing their job properly (I asked for well done steak, but it came bleeding, when I asked to change it they took it and after 20 min. I have got exactly the same thing) You would expect a better service for the prices you pay.

I would not come back, and would not recommend this place to anybody.
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Kristina
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, February 04, 2010

Some very interesting and innovative dishes, but definitely over-priced:

- size of serving is on the small side, both food and drinks

- fresh orange juice at £2.50 less than half a pint

- omelette did not come with any bread/toast; cost extra to order

- bacon as a side costs £3.00

Would I go back again? No. Would I recommend it to anyone? Only if they are Aussie or Kiwi, because they serve bloody good Flat White!
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Lisa
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Sunday, November 01, 2009

Have been here twice & both times very pleased with the food - interesting combinations, well executed. I'm seeing lots of complaints about the staff and while they weren't the best ever they were absolutely fine the times I went. The second time I went the person I was eating with wasn't pleased with either of her dishes (sardine bones too big, pork belly too tough...she was possibly a bit too picky) and they took them off the bill, so there's some sense of customer service there. Ambience was staid but nice.
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Olivia
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, August 22, 2009

food was ok. Service is awful, don't even see the manager worrying about. For a 12.5% on to my bill and after a cold flat capuccino, I think they should be putting much more effort.
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roberto pastori
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I've eaten here 5 times now - twice in the upstairs restaurant and 3 times for lunch. No guesses about what I think of this place - fantastic!

The best of it is sitting outside with a series of their small plates coming out of the kitchen, each more thrilling than the last. The restaurant is quite pricey, but aren't they all?

My experience of the staff has been tip top, and I enjoy their mix of informality, enthusiasm and professionalism.

Final word - try the ice cream.
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alex
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, June 01, 2009

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what the bloggers say

A Girl Has To Eat

Monday, November 02, 2009 - What was particularly memorable was how fresh and lovely the ingredients were. The natural goodness of their flavours shone through, and coupled with some skilful cooking and the deft use of herbs and spices it made for a lovely meal, even if the salad in the ricotta starter was a little bland. The service was good, although the ambience in the upstairs dining room did not quite match the downstairs area, as it was a little quiet. It's definitely worth a visit.

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An American In London

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - Last week, a friend sent me this Evening Standard review about the Modern Pantry, which just opened in Clerkenwell. I liked the review’s invocation of Fergus Henderson (if you’re a fan of pig, you know what I’m talking about); the fact that the chef-owner, Anna Hansen, is a woman; and the restaurant’s location about a mile from my flat.

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Dos Hermanos

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - One place you couldn't miss if you were passing by was The Modern Pantry whose gestation appeared quite protracted and probably painful. The restaurant, or as it will eventually be: deli, cafe and restaurant, has been opened by Anna Hansen who was chef at Providores in Marylebone. And like that restaurant the sort of food served up has been informed by fellow Kiwi Peter Gordon.

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The Modern Pantry

BOOK NOW - Fast, Free & Confirmed

what the critics say

Lisa Markwell - 7/10

Jay Rayner

Matthew Norman - 9/10

Terry Durack - 14/20

Giles Coren - 7.33/10

Jasper Gerard - 8/10

Tracey MacLeod - 10/15

Fay Maschler - 4/5

your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne

what the bloggers say

A Girl Has To Eat

An American In London

Dos Hermanos

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