With summer on the way out game season is truly underway, and restaurant menus everywhere have become both meaty and mighty. Some of London's most delectable restaurants are revamping their dishes to include fall's best game meats. Take a look below to see our round-up for the cream of the carnivorous crop.
BACK IN THE GAME | Antico Restaurant & Bar
214 Bermondsey Street, SE1
Tel. 020 7407 4682
Antico-London.co.uk
Italian restaurant and bar Antico is firing on all four cylinders with a menu of specials to celebrate, including a cheeky after-dinner "shooter" that’s sure to get tables talking. Adding a twist to tradition, owner Nick Crispini and head chef Nicholas Schizas are serving Italian-style game specials such as roasted pheasant ravioli and wild boar as well as juniper ragù pappardelle. The restaurant always has one or two specials chalked up on the blackboard at any given time. After dinner, those ordering game are presented with "The Killshot" – a Ramazzotti Amaro and Prosecco shooter presented in a glass styled on an empty gun cartridge.
Photo Courtesy of Antico Restaurant
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME | Closmaggiore Restaurant
33 King Street, Covent Garden, WC2
Tel. 020 7379 9696
ClosMaggiore.com
Romantic French restaurant Clos Maggiore has created an array of game specials to mark the season, all designed to enrich the deep, dark flavors of the glorious meats. With game sourced directly from The Royal Estate in Windsor Great Park, the dishes, cooked up by head chef Marcellin Marc, include the likes of breast of pheasant boudin blanc with warm wild mushrooms, mache salad and game sauce, and pan-roasted fillet of venison served with gratin of swede and chestnut alongside a sweet and sour cherry sauce. Excellent with a bottle (or two!) of perfectly-paired, full-bodied wine.
Available from 15th to 28th October 2012.
Photo Courtesy of Closmaggiore Restaurant
LET THE GAMES BEGIN | Cinnamon Club
30-32 Great Smith Street
T: 020 7222 2555
CinnamonClub.com
Executive Chef Vivek Singh’s trio of modern Indian restaurants are going game with different dishes rolling out across each. Renowned for its selection of meats, The Cinnamon Club in Westminster is offering a Game Tasting Menu from 17th to 27th October: for £60, guests will enjoy five fabulous courses that include warm salad of slow braised venison cheeks, tandoori breast of grouse and Rajasthani-spiced partridge with corn pie. From now until November, Cinnamon Kitchen in the City is serving tandoori grouse with Rajasthani spices for £28 and Hyderabadi roast oisin red deer with potato fenugreek stir-fry for £32. Cinnamon Soho – just off Carnaby Street – will be serving mixed game pie for £12. Carnivores, rejoice!
Photo Courtesy of Cinnamon Soho
GAME ON | The Jugged Hare
49 Chiswell Street, EC1Y
Tel. 020 7614 0134
TheJuggedHare.com
It’s the first game season for Tom and Ed Martin’s Jugged Hare, and it’s sure to go off with a bang. Expect grouse, mallard, wild boar, hare, snipe, woodcock and teal, as well as a trio of "Game and Bordeaux Dinners" and a series of game masterclasses throughout the entire ETM Group. The star of the show, however, will be The Jugged Hare’s eponymous dish. Dating back to the 18th century, the traditional dish involves the delicate art of "jugging" – a cooking process that involves cutting a whole hare into pieces, marinating and cooking together with red wine and juniper berries. The mixture creates a stew which is then thickened with the hare’s own blood before being served to the table in a tall jug. Delicious!
Photo Courtesy of The Jugged Hare
