Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Restaurants / London restaurants / Trinity Restaurant

Trinity Restaurant

by Jeanne Horak on November 13, 2012 8 Comments in London restaurants

Trinity title © J Horak-Druiff 2012

As many of you know, in a previous life I was a criminal lawyer.  I loved criminal law – I loved its very precise world-view and the way it tested every day your belief in the presumption of innocence – it was just the criminals I had to defend that I didn’t like so much.  Being a former colony, South Africa adopted many of the concepts of English law, including a chap called the man on the Clapham omnibus.  This is hypothetical reasonable person used by the courts in English law to decide whether a party before the court has acted in the way that a normal person of average education and intellect should have.  If not, then they are held to have been negligent.  Why they chose Clapham specifically as the home of this fictitious reasonable person, I will never know. But I do know that when I first saw a red London bus marked with the destination Clapham back in 1995, I was as excited as if I had actually been standing on platform 9 3/4 as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station.

After living in London for over ten years, I am still no closer to meeting this level-headed and reasonable individual on the Clapham bus, but I have discovered a far better reason to visit Clapham:  Trinity restaurant. The restaurant is the brainchild of chef Adam Byatt and opened in November 2006.  Adam started his career with an apprentice chef placement at Claridges, followed by part-time studies at the Academy of Culinary Arts in Bournemouth while continuing to work at Claridges.  After also working at The Square and Worx, he opened his first restaurant, the much-acclaimed Thyme, in Clapham in 2002. After closing Thyme in 2005, he opened Trinity in late 2006. The restaurant’s philosophy is to provide well-sourced, seasonal and reasonably priced fine dining, both by way of two tasting menus and an a la carte selection. I had heard only good things about the place and was thrilled when super talented Ailbhe recently invited me to be her dinner guest while she sketched the new tasting menu for the Trinity newsletter. The first thing that struck me was how lovely and light the room was, with its floor to ceiling windows onto the street; and the second was how friendly and knowledgeable all the staff members were – a truly customer-focused experience.

Our 7-course tasting menu (new for the Autumn/Winter season) started with robust nibbles in the form of warm bread rolls and a sinfully delicious whipped goat’s milk butter.  This was a first for me – and despite looking like slightly melted marshmallow, this was quite heavenly with a mousse-like texture and a flavour like the creamiest, sweetest fresh goat’s cheese I’d ever tasted. I also loved the no-nonsense mini-crate (!) of crudites (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, radishes with their tops) served with a sinfully delicious smoked cod roe dip – imagine the best taramasalata in the world.

 

Trinity bread © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity crudites © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

From there we moved into the tasting menu proper and up first was the sweetcorn & smoked haddock soup with a salt cod scotch egg. What a scene-setter: salty, sweet, crunchy and yielding – all packed into one plate and working as a perfectly balanced team. The soup was velvety with the sweetness of the corn, but without being too rich and the the salt cod scotch quail’s egg was quite sublime.  I am still pondering how they got the white so perfectly set while keeping the yolk perfectly liquid! This was paired with a2010 Skillogalee Riesling (Clare Valley, Australia) – a classic dry riesling, minerally and full of lush citrus flavours.  This was followed by scallop ceviche cured in chamomile tea with charred cucumber, cucumber emulsion and a dill dressing. The scallops themselves were plump  and yielding – just barely cured and the perfect consistency at which scallops should be enjoyed, to my mind. Although the combination of chamomile and cucumber sounded somewhat unusual, it worked here with the sweetness of the chamomile being offset by the clean flavour of the cucumber. The dish was paired with a bottle of2012 Alamos Torrontes (Mendoza, Argentina) which was delightful with a spicy, appley nose and a full-bodied palate full of apples and honey – a good balance for the richness of the scallops.

 

Trinity soup © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity scallops © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

The next dish was described on the menu only as Of the season but turned out to be one of my 2 favourites of the night – an Autumnal tour de force of girolles, pickled artichoke, wood sorrel, lardo di colonnata and truffle emulsion. It was as if an oak tree complete with its ochre autumn leaves and its mushroom and truffle hitchhikers had upped sticks and taken up residence on my plate.  The earthy girolles and truffles were balanced by the slightly vinegary pickled artichoke, but it was the silky and decadent lardo wrapped around the girolles that had me swooning. I was pleased to see this paired with a 2008 Glenwood Vignerons Selection Chardonnay (Franschoek, South Africa). It seems fashionable to bash Chardonnay these days, but it is hard to imagine another white wine that would have stood up quite so well to a plate full of butch, gutsy flavours like this.  It was buttery withough being too creamy, yet with a nice backbone of mouth-watering acid and a rich mouthfeel.  Perfect. This was followed by an intriguing mix of flavours in the shape of cod, cockle, cauliflower, capers and raisins.  The dish consisted of a square of moist fish with a perfectly crisped caramel-coloured skin and a thick slice of cauliflower that also seemed to have been browned in a pan, topped with a scattering of cockles, plump raisins and teensy but intensely flavoured capers.  To some, the sweet and savoury conbination might not have worked but as a huge fan of this contrast, I found it to be perfectly suited to my taste.  To pair with this, an exceptional wine would be needed and their choice did not disappoint: a 2007 Rolly Gassmann Pinot Blanc (Alsace, France).  This is not a wine you often encounter on London menus (or, indeed, outside France) and it provided the surprise of the night for me with its deep gold colour and its traces of pineapple and honey on the tongue, despite not by definition being a sweet wine.  Sublime.

 

Trinity Of the Season © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity Fish © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity pinot blanc © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

 

The next course was my second favourite of the night: Clarence Court egg, artichoke and hazelnut. This dish was playfully served in a pan and its disparate elements worked together as well as the notes in a Mozart piano concerto.  The simplicity of a runny-yolked fried egg together with the earthy complexity of Jerusalem artichokes, girolles and shaved truffles, given added crunch by toasted hazelnuts. Another plate (pan!) full of the best that Autumn has to offer, and glorious in its simplicity.  This was paired with a rather lovely2009 Givry 1er cru Clos Jus, Domaine Mouton (Burgundy, France) which epitomised to me the very best that a Pinot Noir can be – ripe, juicy, plummy and rounded.  Perfect for an Autumn evening, really. This was followed by the only red meat dish of the night:  smoked beef fillet with London braised cheeks & sorrel. This was the second time I’d had smoked read meat on a menu recently (the other instance being at the lovely North Road) and I realyl hope this is a trend that lingers for a while. There is something seriously satisfying about a smoky piece of meat that calls to mind childhood memories of smoky barbecues but in a formal restaurant setting. The meat was perfectly pink throughout (do I detect the kiss of the sous vide machine?) but seared on the outside and formed an interesting textural contrast with the braised cheeks, slow-cooked to the point of being fork-tender.  I also loved that the cheek was served in a marrow bone, and the sharp green flavour of the sorrel added subtle punch. This dish was paired with 2009 Priorat Clos de Portal Negres de Negres (Catalunya, Spain) – probably the wine with the most gorgeous label I have seen in a long time.  For a high-alcohol (14%) hot country red, this was surprisingly balanced and minerally – suitably complex to more than hold its own against the flavourful meat.

 

Trinity egg © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity meat © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

And so, to dessert.  Often, the dessert served with a tasting menu seems to have been devised by a totally different kitchen – a kitchen that is unaware that you have just had rather a lot of food and can’t cope with a super-rich plate of dessert!  However, at Trinity, the dessert was perfectly balanced between richness, sweetness and lightness: chocolate yoghurt cremosa with peanut butter mousse and salt caramel, all topped with a decidedly unsweet biscuit (oat? buckwheat?) – everything I love in a dessert, basically. The tang of yoghurt kept the cremosa from being overly sweet, and who can resist salted caramel?  If the dessert itself was not too sweet, the wine match made up for it – the luscious 2012 Essensia Orange Muscat (California USA), redolent with apricots and orange blossoms but with a lovely clean finish – and look at the golden colour! And to finish up we had some pleasingly tart home-made fruit jellies and a gorgeous pot of flowering tea.

 

Trinity dessert © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity dessert wine © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Trinity tea © J Horak-Druiff 2012

 

Apart from loving the light and informal room decorated in peaceful neutrals, I also loved each and every staff member who served us – they were smiley and chatty without being overly-familiar and knew the food and wine menu inside out.  Whatever Trinity’s recruiting policy is, they are certainly getting something very right.  The food was, to my mind, pretty close to flawless – delicious, playful and light without ever entering the realms of the challenging. And the cost of all this edible opulence, you ask, bracing yourself for central London fine dining prices?  Well prepare to be surprised:  the 7 course tasting menu comes in at £55 per person (or £105 if you add the outstanding selection of matched wines we had), and there is also a £45 five course option (minus the Of the Season and the egg dish) to which you can add wines for £35. And then there is always a la carte, or their very well- priced £35 3-course Sunday lunch menu.  It almost seems worth moving to Clapham just so that this can be your local restaurant.

 

Liked: the wonderful food, the excellent staff, the good value
Disliked:  nothing
In a nutshell: Fine dining in a relaxed setting at very reasonable prices
Wow factor out of 10:  9

 

DISCLOSURE:  I was invited to this meal as Ailbhe’s guest.  All my opinions are my own.

 

Trinity
4 The Polygon

Clapham Old Town
London
SW4 0JG 

Tel: +44 20 7622 1199
E-mail: [email protected]

 

P2Pirelandbanner
And in other news… Are you a keen writer and photographer?  If so, you should pop over to the Plate to Pageblog today where we are launching a creative writing and photography challenge. Up for grabs is a Plate to Page goodie bag identical to the one handed out at the Somerset Plate to Page workshop, worth over £150.  Hurry over and see how to enter!

Trinity on Urbanspoon

More deliciousness for you!

  • Saturday Snapshots #186Saturday Snapshots #186
  • Saturday Snapshots #209Saturday Snapshots #209
  • Blood orange & beetroot salsa with pan-fried salmonBlood orange & beetroot salsa with pan-fried salmon
  • Saturday Snapshots #148Saturday Snapshots #148

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Saturday Snapshots #220
20-hour sous vide oxtail stew on creamy mustard mash »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. AussieFoodie says

    November 26, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Oh yum, Trinity has been on my wish list for a few months now, might have to drag Hussyband over the river for dinner before Christmas!

    Reply
  2. Kit says

    November 26, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Clapham was one of our old stomping grounds before we moved here. Wish Trinity had been around in those days! Mind you I was busy pushing an early model three-wheeler buggy loaded with baby and toddler to the cafe on the common then,so who knows if I ever would have made it there!
    Thanks for the lovely review – it made my mouth water as always!

    Reply
  3. Rosa says

    November 26, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    Wonderful food! The presentation is really interesting. I’d love to eat in such a restaurant at least once in my life… ;-P

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  4. Ailbhe says

    November 26, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    So enjoyed the evening too! As always fabulous food (think it gets better each time I go there) and yes, lovely staff. Glad you could make it this time. Loved our gossipy catch up 🙂

    Reply
  5. Rory says

    February 12, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    Really enjoyed the photography on this post Jeanne – it puts mine to shame! Trinity is one of my favourite restaurants, somewhere I love going back to again and again.

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      February 19, 2013 at 5:54 pm

      Oh don’t be too hard on yourself! :)) It is a fantastic place – I loved everything I ate, as well as the unfussy service.

      Reply
  6. The Food Tourist says

    May 25, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    I ate at Trinity a few months back and I loved it. The food was beautifully presented and the portions were nice & big. My sister lives near by so I hope to pop back soon. P.S. Your photography is fantastic.

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      June 3, 2014 at 10:23 am

      Thank you so much! 🙂

      Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential
My big, fat South African potato bake

Featured on

Also available on

Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Looking for a brilliant biryani near Marble Arch? Looking for a brilliant biryani near Marble Arch? I recently enjoyed a feast at Biryani Kebab Chai @bkc.restaurant on Edgeware Road, including wonderful sweet, spicy and crunchy papri chaat; smoky burrah lamb kebab; galouti lamb patties; juicy chaap chicken thigh kebab; spicy chapli chicken patties; and the surprising vegetarian dahi ke patties made of yoghurt! We also tried the chicken and soya biryanis, both with incredibly fluffy and delicately spiced rice. You can get their biryanis as a 1kg takeaway, served in a beautiful branded clay pot that serves 3-4 people, for about £30. Bargain! We also took home a sample of their desserts, including a fragrant and delicious kheer rice pudding. If you are in the Marble Arch area, get yourself to BKC!  #invited #bkcrestaurants
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT