Vanderlyle
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
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Scoring a table at Vanderlyle should trigger triumphant fanfares through the streets of Cambridge. This plant-led restaurant on independently minded Mill Road has the most ardent admirers, who are quick on the Tock reservation site every month to book their fix of Alex Rushmer’s thoughtful cooking. They’re drawn by the chef’s flavour-packed, vividly creative vegetarian cuisine, which defies ‘hungry gap’ privations to celebrate what’s available and hint at what’s to come. A mixed seed cracker snaps the six-course dinner into action with brio, a vehicle for cashew parfait (who needs the livery stuff tonight?) brightened with the tiniest dots of clementine gel; a mini doughnut bounces to the table too, bringing happy 'cheese toastie' vibes thanks to a Sussex camembert custard and homemade chutney. Squash takes its seasonal bow in one delightful little cup of golden-orange soup swirled with coriander oil and scattered with soy-toasted pumpkin seeds. If you haven’t eaten all that malty wholegrain focaccia, now’s the time to mop. Charred gem lettuce with a caviar-freckled seaweed butter sauce and a little heap of batter scraps follows, sea herbs and bitter leaves sweeping in to balance the richness with living, spring-like minerality. A glass of Auxerrois from Davenport’s Sussex vineyards keeps the brightness going, so too the oceanic pep of an alcohol-free Pentire and tonic. The care taken with alcohol-free pairings and seasonal cordials is notable – witness the house-made apple kombucha with soda water, brimful with the spirit of farmhouse cider and a brilliant match for butter-roasted, soused and puréed turnip with turnip-top gremolata, Granny Smith apple and hazelnut-butter vinaigrette. Parsnip and vanilla ice cream heralds dessert, the earthy savouriness of the root veg lifted by prettily pink sweet-sharp rhubarb; it’s followed by a Pump Street chocolate crémeux – a silky finale with griottine cherries and a little agrodolce giving their fruity acidity, a chocolate feuilletine and spelt streusel their texture, and a glass of velvety, caramelly cream sherry slipping down a treat.
