Mustard Dining - your casual neighbourhood British Restaurant

It’s a wonder that not more restaurants and chefs have done more to champion local produce at a more accessible level. In London, we have so many new restaurants that serve really great food but at a price. A newcomer has changed that.

Mustard Restaurant is a new British Brasserie serving sustainably sourced produce from around the British Isles. Their first outlet in the very residential Nappy Valley of Brook Green looks like it’s been there for years. Decorated to look a bit like a local French neighbourhood bistro, albeit with a Brit flavour. Or maybe this is because there was a Cafe Rouge on the same site before this.

On a Sunday evening, the place was quite quiet. I expect it is a popular choice for families for Sunday lunch, both for the proximity and price.

Their menu is quite extensive with an a la carte or early dining option. At just £9.95 for two courses and £12.95 for 3 courses from a truncated menu, you can’t really fault it. With experienced restaurateurs behind this (the owners of Joe Allen of Covent Garden, behind this), expect good things.

Did they deliver? From our experience, they really did, foodwise.

We opted to order from the ala carte menu. Seeing as they pride themselves on good British sourcing, I had to go with the Devonshire crab salad. A large plate of leafy greens was dotted with some fresh dressed crab, with a well-seasoned dressing. Perfect for that warm day and not too heavy. A very generous bowl of deep fried Cornish squid, served with Tartare sauce was good but could have been a bit crispier.

On a side note, the crockery that they serve in is a food stylist’s delight. The colour and texture makes for great food photos.

The menu says that the beef is from the Scottish Highlands, which implies but doesn’t state that it is grass fed. Our order of a medium rare Rib-Eye was juicy and tender served with great hand cut chips.

I’d highly recommend the baked cod or baked fish of the day, a moist piece of fish with a crispy skin, perfectly done.

There is a large vegetarian selection under “The Allotment” section of the menu. I’m always trying to have a balanced meal with more vegetables and one side dish that sounded interesting was the Raw Shaved Vegetables. Our waiter suggested that we try the Nigel Slateresque Root Vegetables with wheat berries instead.

This is quite a substantial salad, pieces of cold roasted root vegetables, a scattering of wheat berries, all drizzled with a honey, dill and yoghurt sauce.

For pudding, there are 5 choices on the main menu and 2 cheese choices, one a British Cheese Platter and One just for Keen’s Cheddar with baked quince.

We ended up with a “deconstructed trifle” as they didn’t have any rhubarb crumble nor lemon meringue that day. It was not the best thing they did and would have been better if they just did some bog standard English puddings instead, being a British Brasserie.

The early dining menus, which start from 12 noon, offers a great deal and will surely draw the local crowds. It is definitely a formula that is easy to replicate and I expect you will see a Mustard on a street near you soon.