“In five years none of these shops will be here,” said the Maitre D at Plum and Spilt Milk as he looked across the Euston Road.
He may be right – almost every week another stage of the enormous multi-billion pound gentrification of King’s Cross is complete.
The Great Northern Hotel has taken a good 10 years to polish up to it’s former glory, but it looks lovely, with an elegant curved Victorian facade on the outside, polished wood and gleaming bar tops.
Head upstairs to the restaurant and if anything it’s even nicer.
Best of British
The cocktail bar is cosy and luxurious, while the dining room is chock full of large, comfy chairs and drop lighting.
The menu, with former Claridge’s man Mark Sargeant at the helm, is billed as the best of British – and it’s fairly straightforward, with the odd curry and steak tartare thrown in.
Our appetisers were a mixed bag – the radishes with anchovy were a bit of muddle, but the garlic with Yorkshire pudding and salty broad beans got the juices going.
Likewise the starters: the creamed haddock with egg was lovely, rich and smooth with a hint of vinegar sharpness. But the broad beans and Caerphilly on toast, despite being recommended, were a let down.
The word Inka appears regularly on the menu and piqued my curiosity – it turns out to be a charcoal grill inside an oven, designed so the heady barbecue fumes and moisture are kept inside the meats.
It worked a treat on my ribeye, a wonderfully dense, smokey taste pervaded the steak, which was tender despite being cooked medium.
The Monkfish curry, one of the few exotic picks and apparently one of the most popular, scored huge points for the big, succulent chunks of flesh, but the sauce lacked delicacy.
For dessert, a truly epic baked Alaska; an ice cream log, covered in a layer of sponge, then meringue. It was flambéd at the table, a nice touch, and we got nowhere near finishing it.
It’s possible to spend a lot at Plum and Spilt milk, but also possible to do on a budget, with the cocktail bar, meat from the Inka grill and general grandeur big draws, take a look at the future of King’s Cross.
