Scully
St James's, London
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At his St James’s restaurant, Ramael Scully, the original head chef at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Nopi, cooks riotous, riveting, borderless food. Let’s call it Ottolenghi squared. No culinary reference point is off the table for this Malaysia-born, Sydney-raised maverick. There’s an indication of what to expect (the unexpected) in the glass jars on display in the casual, contemporary dining room: dehydrated gherkins, grains of paradise, dried parsley root, translucent tomato skins, and other exotica. We'd advise coming with a larger group of like-minded – or rather ‘like-palated’ – diners who are game for puffed beef tendons, cuttlefish, kid goat, ikan bilis (Malaysian dried anchovies) or tomato salad with coconut sambal and green strawberries. Picky eaters look away. Twice-cooked Jerusalem artichokes with caramelised yoghurt and coffee artichoke glaze are (not to damn them with faint praise) intriguing. The signature corn arepas with aubergine are more crowd-pleasing. A middle course of halibut demonstrates great cooking and great sourcing; the pearly white fish with buttery shio koji sauce assumes a distinctively Malaysian character with its dried anchovies and fiery sambal garnish. To follow, kid goat (to share) comes gift-wrapped in charred sweetheart cabbage leaves, with smoky notes of ricotta and earthy urd dhal. For dessert, carrot fudge cake with muscovado panna cotta and granola, refreshing and not too sweet, is prettily layered in a glass to share (the assumption being we’re all comfortable poking spoons in the same pot). Eye-wateringly sharp sesame-encrusted yoghurt petits fours provide a typically challenging finale. There’s nothing here that isn’t a talking point. Low-intervention wines and creative cocktails supply textures and flavours that are a match for Scully’s singular style.
