{"id":1040,"date":"2011-08-09T19:03:08","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T19:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2011-08-09T19:03:08","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T19:03:08","slug":"joe%e2%80%99s-draycott-avenue-london-restaurant-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/joe%e2%80%99s-draycott-avenue-london-restaurant-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe\u2019s, Draycott Avenue | London Restaurant Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe\u2019s
\n126 Draycott Avenue
\nLondon SW3 3AH
\nTel: 020 7225 2217<\/strong><\/p>\n

I doubt there are many four year olds today who know what they want to be when they grow up but Maria Elia did. Watching her father cooking in his London restaurant was the beginning of her passion for food and the drive to train to become a chef in her own right. Joining the team at Delfina and rising to the position of Head Chef. More recently she helped re-launch Joe\u2019s in Draycott Avenue, which has not only a new chef but has also had an interior make-over. Situated in the heart of achingly fashionable Brompton Cross with its designer stores and stylish people, Joe\u2019s is perfectly placed for the European cognoscenti who inhabit this part of London to feel at home. The glamorous bar is situated at the entrance and is the perfect place to see and be seen. Once inside the oblong shaped room has an elegant and refined atmosphere, with chic grey walls, muted lighting and comfortable red leather chairs. Wooden shelves filled with an eclectic mix of books, magazines and wine bottles envelop the room, giving it a comfortable and homely feel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The menu is driven by Maria\u2019s passion for fresh seasonal food and her influential Greek-Cypriot roots. Starters were innovative and creative and certainly not the run of the mill cooking seen on menus across town. From the list of seven starters I began with a plate of slow braised octopus with barley and fennel salad. The octopus had just the right amount of chewiness and bite and a refreshing smoky flavour, complimented by a scented fennel puree and came served on a bed of appetising fennel and barley salad. Our other choice, a haddock carpaccio, appealed both on the eye and on the palate. It was mildly spiced with chilli, and had a cooling cr\u00e8me fraiche and lemon finish. To follow, again the menu was quirky. Maria is known for her \u2018Textures of\u2019 and here there was no exception with \u2018Textures of Peas\u2019 being one of the main courses. Not only is this a must for vegetarians, but also for the adventurous of palate. It is a course that consisted of different ways with peas, from pea and sherry soup, to pea mousse, to homemade rice and pea cake, pea falafel and pea dill and feta pasta; creating a veritable smorgasbord for the adventurous diner. I chose a plate of runner bean, tomato and feta baklava, with sweet caramelised flavours, piquant cheese served with an appetising bortolli bean and olive salad. My guest had an inviting plate of spiced slow braised lamb artistically wrapped in chard leaves and served with chickpeas. To drink, (although it was a boiling hot evening) we chose a red wine, a light and refreshing Italian Pinot Noir Marith, Alto Adige, which slipped down a treat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the list of small desserts I chose a refreshingly cold summer berry pudding, attractively served in sundae glass with a scoop of blueberry frozen yoghurt and almond praline. We also tried an intense slab of treacle tart with wonderfully salted caramel ice-cream.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s is somewhere to take a foodie or a veggie who will love the fact that this is no run-of-the-mill menu but somewhere where the chef has got the metal to experiment and has been given the free rein to do so. It is also a flexible venue; somewhere one can linger at the bar and just watch the passing show, or enjoy a meal with inventiveness and character in its preparation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Louise Elgin. July 2011.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dinner for two with wine and water is around \u00a355 a head.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe\u2019s 126 Draycott Avenue London SW3 3AH Tel: 020 7225 2217 I doubt there are many four year olds today who know what they want to be when they grow up but Maria Elia did. Watching her father cooking in his London restaurant was the beginning of her passion for food and the drive to read more …<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[424],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1041,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dine-online.co.uk\/foodie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}