Murmurings of a second site from the Perilla team began to surface in 2023 with a prospective site in east London’s Hoxton Square in the mix. The idea was a larger, more casual offering than the original, with speedier table turns and perhaps a slightly lower price point.
As it transpired, Morchella found its home in Clerkenwell, adjacent to Exmouth Market and round the corner from the good company of Quality Chop House, Quality Wines and The Eagle.
The site is a former bank with lofty ceilings and characterful arch windows warmed up by chalky walls, pillar candles and expensive light fittings, reminiscent of Jolene and Western’s Laundry. There’s approximately 70 covers to Perilla’s 44 but not every seat is a great one - at a busy soft launch meal the central tables felt like sitting in a corridor, while the two-top by the waiter’s station was crowded out with diners waiting to be seated.
In the Perilla style, unclothed tables are custom fitted with hidden cutlery draws and decorated with posies of dried flowers, while the menu of small plates takes its cues from the Mediterranean. With founders Ben Marks and Matt Emmerson both in the kitchen at our visit, the cooking was excellent and proved just as creative as at the flagship. The superb panela has made it over to Clerkenwell while new highlights include a perfectly executed salt-baked poussin (offering some presentational theatre) and deeply smoky mussel pil pil on bouncy focaccia.
Look-alike staff, kitted out in matching buttoned-up workwear suits, made a distinctly friendly impression with dietary requirements carefully catered for. Any early bumps we’d expect to be smoothed out in time. It’s refreshing to see the service included model carried over, even if it requires some mental recalibration for diners not used to seeing a net price on the menu. That said, with snacks peaking at £18 per piece, Sicilian fish stew at £59 and a prune, almond and Armagnac galette at £20, a meal here could easily run into an extravagant affair. A leather-bound wine list distinguishes between ‘classic’ and ‘funky’ and opens with carafes in the low £20s.
It’s more alike to Perilla than anticipated in both price and proposition. Perhaps the wine bar area or the counter seats with a view of the pass will draw in casual custom, but can the magic of the Newington Green flagship, a cult favourite of so many chefs, be reshaped to suit the hustle and bustle of a central London postcode? We’ll be back to find out.
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
