Sunday Bloody Sunday is not just a fantastic film. The 1971 flick is a lament, the day rolling around each week like that one cousin you just can’t quite seem to get rid of. What is one to do on this day, apart from going to church?
One option I took recently was to stuff myself silly with Japanese/Mediterranean fusion food. It’s a hard life indeed, this food writer gig. But although that sounds like a Roman Saturnalia, the Ides of March were lurking somewhere in the background.
45 Curtain Road is part of the Virgin Shoreditch hotel of the same name, all amazingly located in… well, you clever thing, you. This corner chunk of Shoreditch can be a little intimidating. Promised a tour and a view of the swish roof terrace (more perks), we had no idea which entrance to choose.
There’s Hidden Grooves on the street level, a funky-looking cocktail bar; 45th & 7th: a brunchy, bougie paradise part of the East London skyline; and this in the half-basement. Within this bustling corner of the city are also co-working and events spaces, and even a wellness sanctuary, making this hive of activity a little difficult to navigate. After some deeply inelegant faffing, we settled in the basement, where we stayed for almost three hours making our way through a truly gargantuan lunch.
Around us Tokyo collided with southern Greece, fake cherry blossom festooning on the ceiling among equally plastic olive trees. The interior is reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil, with a glowing egg over the massive circular bar, copper-burnished walls at most turns, and deep forest-green velvet chairs. Demure? Certainly not, but definitely fun.
Having opened this month, led by executive chef Alex Furusawa-Cadoni, the restaurant naturally suffered some teething issues. Lunch taking the best part of the afternoon is one, with only four staff for twenty or so late-lunchers. But on the flip side, the maître d’, in a perfect suit and French accent, was friendly and thoughtful, crafting mocktails to my tastes of flaming ginger and deeply refreshing.
The food is a clash of cultures, with Japan coming out the victor. Spanish staples such as Gildas have yellowfin tuna with that brisk edge. Beef tartare features yuzu (a lovely repeating theme), kosho aioli and lotus root. Crystal prawn tempura is one of those dishes which looks borderline inedible but tastes outstanding: whole shrimps fried and glazed in sansho and Togarashi, and another creamy egg. Delicious.
Milk bread is shreddable, lightly salted with nori. Use it to scoop up as much as possible of the miso and shiso butter, then polish off the rest with your fingers - no one’s judging. Oysters with kombu jelly, suckling-pig ears, mackerel crudo and barbecued eel are offered, so there is a wide range of wacky and wonderful - unless you’re vegan, in which case it’s wild seasonal mushrooms.
It’s 45’s steaks which are the star of the show, however. Starting at £32 and reaching up to £140, whether it’s sirloin, fillet, rib-eye or T-bone you’re after, they really have you covered - although wagyu is avoided. For my part, the fat-to-enjoyable meat ratio leant further to the fat side than I would like, a slight disappointment in part saved by the ponzu miso mustard.
A brill, grilled in a Josper (a speciality oven with a charcoal grill) fared much better, dosed in more ponzu butter and lemon. It melts in the mouth and is much more classically Mediterranean. There is lobster for those wanting a different clade of decadence, and Suffolk pork chop for those more down-to-earth.
At this point the waistbands were groaning and eyes were starting to roll back. But we weren’t done yet. An Instagram-perfect cheesecake for the matcha girlies, with burnt miso and a pool of luminous pistachio cream, almost finishes us off. Moist yet baked, floaty yet dense, it seems to defy gravity. Paired with a yuzu cocktail and a ginger-and-yuzu mocktail, we were finally done.
This gleaming stronghold is so warren-like you might never need to leave. The food is a slightly repetitive rotation of miso, yuzu and ponzu, but a dreamy one nonetheless. For those with an expense account or being treated by a generous benefactor, this is a perfectly good way to while away a Sunday afternoon. However, if your own money is on the line, you might watch as the lights dim (both inside and out) and the curtains are drawn with trepidation.
