Food + Drink: Treves & Hyde
Hello everyone, last week I went down to Treves & Hyde in Aldgate East to review their restaurant. It was a very rainy day so I was more than delighted to be indoors when we got there. I cannot even begin to tell you guys how much I adored the interiors of the restaurant. Downstairs there is the cafe that is decked out with minimalistic modern furniture which is coupled with aesthetically pleasing plants dotted around in corners.
However, what stood out to me the most was the amazing blush pink spiral staircase that led up to the main restaurant.
I mean look at it? How aesthetically pleasing is this? I hope one day I can have a staircase like this one day in my house.
Heading upstairs, the minimalistic and aesthetically pleasing modern arrangement continues, with plenty of seating for hungry customers.
Once we were seated Max the restaurant manager came over and greeted us and was very helpful in helping decide what we wanted to drink and eat. He was extremely friendly and knowledgable about both food and drink and made our visit absolutely delightful.
As I am Vegan, Max told me to leave it up to the chef to whip up some vegan friendly options for me. For our drinks, their manager actually has a background in cocktails and bartending. He explained to how different flavours and spirits scientifically opened up the taste palette. Therefore, choosing and pairing your drink carefully to your meal can massively improve what you eat.
Both of the cocktails we were served were delicious and I absolutely loved the garnish around the rim of my cocktail. I was not too sure what it was but it tasted creamy and had a nice balance between bitter and sweet.
First up for food we were brought some Focaccia nibbles. My friend Nicola was served a non-vegan version with Buffala mozzerella and pomegranate and pine kernels with a pesto glaze.
On the other hand I was served a vegan version. There was still the focaccia, pesto and pine kernels in this but this had the addition of tenderstem broccoli, radishes and asparagus. As simple as this dish was, this was absolutely delicious and the flavours worked in perfect harmony. Nicola also really enjoyed her dish and the fact that there was some buffala cheese with hers made her so happy as it is one of her favourites.
Next up we were brought out a salad to share. This quite honestly has probably one of the tastiest salads I have ever had in my life. There was pesto without parmesan in this which tasted a lot better than any pesto I've ever had. Additionally, the croutons weren't just any simple croutons, they were actually lemon croutons that were quite sweet.
Zooming in, the salad also had pea shoots, radish and caramelised onions. It was overall, fresh, simple, light and delicious.
If you think this was the end of our starters, you are wrong the chef sent us some more starters!
Here we have Nicola's Seared Salmon which was served with edamame and avocado mousse and my Coconut and Lentil soup. Firstly, Nicola's salmon was also served with apple chutney and she noted that the salmon was salt cured. Additionally, she felt as though the simple fusion of flavours brought together a flavoursome treat with a light sweetness provided by the apple chutney. Long story short, she was a big fan. Secondly, as for my soup, I loved that this was topped with chives as they are my favourite herb/garnish. There were two things that stood out to me most about this soup. Firstly, the soup was incredibly rich and tasty which surprised me as this was vegan and had absolutely no dairy in it. It wasn't too thick or not incredibly watery either. Secondly, at the bottom of the soup was some granola and it really shocked me how well this went with the soup. I mean I've only ever thought of granola as something you have for breakfast so this really opened my mind to how versatile food is. It also made me think about the importance of experimenting with different ingredients and flavours when it comes to cooking for myself.
Next up, We have our main course. Nicola was served the Cod, Bok Choi, Coconut and Lentil Veloute and I had the Baked Celeriac, watercress & Pearl Barley Risotto. Firstly on to the cod, Nicola said that the flavours reminded her of one of her mum's Indian curries, the fish was cooked well and she absolutely enjoyed the dish. For the risotto, I thought that this was an absolute treat. I have never ever had a risotto that wasn't rice based before in my life so this was definitely something new. Although the dish looked quite heavy this definitely was not the case. There were a tonne of vegetables in this including red onion and asparagus amongst the puffed grains. After eating this delicious dish, my immediate thoughts were how the dish was as refreshing as a salad and did not weigh me down at all.
Moving on to the final portion of the meal. By this point I was absolutely stuffed. I didn't think that I would be able to eat any more. However, Max the manager persuaded us to get dessert and before I knew it two plates of sorbet that the chef had whipped up was on the table.
The first of these was a mango sorbet served with candied blood oranges, raspberry compote and black sesame seeds and was absolutely delicious. We were even scooped up any bit of it that had already melted.
The second one to come out was a chocolate sorbet topped with a thin bubbly chocolate garnish ( if there is a word for it please help a girl out) and pistachio nuts (my favourite). My first thoughts upon eating this was ' wow how could this possibly be vegan'. The sorbet was rich, and creamy like an ice-cream. Just like the mango sorbet we ate this all very quickly.
To end the meal unexpectedly Max came back over with two glasses of his home made vermouth. He also informed us that Vermouth is now very trendy in the bar industry. Up until this point, I had not had vermouth previously so this was a new experience in itself. You know what? This was really good and I now like vermouth.
Overall, I really recommend everyone go try out Treves & Hyde. The food whilst so simple and well presented, really fuses together flavours from all over the world. There really is no experience like dining here. The staff are super friendly and extremely knowledgable about the food they serve. Most come from working in Michelin backgrounds and that really shows in the food and the attitude and passion everyone at Treves and Hyde have towards their craft. The restaurant is also bookable for parties and they are happy to carefully craft vegan menus for these as well.
For more information on their restaurant: http://trevesandhyde.com/
-Nikki XO
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