Monday 2 December 2013

Clutch, Shoreditch


There used to be two pubs, each the kind of place where the England rhetoric put up in the windows veered just the wrong side of provocative and where if you weren’t accompanied by a dangerous dog you were very much in the minority.

One, on Hackney Road, was called the British Lion, which, when the BNP voter base dwindled sufficiently, closed down, remained derelict for a year or two then triumphantly opened as fancy wine bar Sager and Wilde. That’s gentrification for you, and whatever your feelings on the myriad of changes the East End of London has been through in the last few years, I’m afraid I do not miss The British Lion. Partly because I am not the target demographic for a far-right drinking den on Hackney Road but mainly because Sager and Wilde is so bloody good.


The other pub, The Ravenscroft, was never quite as openly belligerent as the British Lion, but still had the kind of atmosphere that created a metaphorical ‘needle slipping off the record’ sound as soon as you stepped through the door. Or maybe that was just me. Either way, it was hardly a friendly place, and when it too finally succumbed to the creeping gentrification from nearby Columbia Road and was billed to reopen as a “guilt-free, ethical fried chicken” joint (at least according to a press release so full of chicken and egg puns it put me off my lunch) then despite some doubts I prepared to welcome it.

Clutch makes one long for the days of warm pints of flat Fosters, sticky carpets and tacit aggression. There is so much wrong here it’s hard to know where to start, but the first thing you’ll notice is the service, shared between three people who seemed to find the whole business of ‘finding out what people want to eat then bringing it’ to be a challenge on the level of completing a PhD.

There was one woman, young and blonde and apologetic, who said she could take our drinks order but not food because “she didn’t know the menu well enough yet”. You’d think five minutes reading the thing would be an easy remedy for that, but anyway, her call. After far too long trying to attract someone else’s attention, a slightly more senior Irish woman appeared who went through the motions for a few seconds before literally losing interest between mains and sides and went off for a far more interesting chat with a male colleague. Then said male colleague came over a few minutes later and started the whole process again.


But if the service was traumatic, it had nothing on the food. Best of the two mains was a roast of sorts, consisting of a teaspoon of mash, two (!!) minuscule roast potatoes, what tasted suspiciously like packet stuffing, what tasted even more suspiciously like frozen Yorkshire pudding, and a quarter of roast chicken hacked into pieces and turned inside out like something from a Ridley Scott film. That picture is exactly how it was presented. This was £14.


But oh God, the “fried chicken”. A picture tells a thousand words (even one of my pictures) so I’ll give you a few seconds to take in the full horror of the “peanut chilli crust half bucket” before coming back to this post. Are you finished? Have you washed your teeth? Right, I’ll continue. It was, as you can probably see, burnt, and not just by a bit - the dried chilli was black and acrid, the peanuts huge and distracting, each forming part of a crust so thick and bitter and unpleasant it beggared belief anyone - the chef, the staff, anyone - would have considered it fit to serve.

Inside the ‘Ferrero Roche’ crust (as some wag pointed out when I shared my lunch on Twitter) was some slimy poached chicken but getting to it involved so much digging I soon gave up after unwrapping just one piece of thigh. Even more distressing was the fact the chicken itself - and this applied to the roast too - was actually of fairly good quality, which possibly went some way to explain why three bits of it came to £11.


A £4 bowl of very mayonnaise-y coleslaw (from a section headed “Sloppy Sides”) was eaten because it was edible, and for that we were most grateful, but if I’m paying £11 for three bits of chicken, even if they had been any good, is it too much to expect dipping sauces (sorry, “Dippety Dips”) to be free? Here, a small pot of “roasted garlic & creme fraiche” cost £2, and would have been another £2 if we’d had a small bowl of the “citric curd” as well. On second thoughts, perhaps it’s for the best we didn’t.


We ordered the bill, it came, it was wrong, we sent it back. It came back again, it was still wrong but this time in our favour so we shrugged and paid it. Even the two mains on their own, though, came to a total of £25 without service - this is not a cheap place. So it’s hard, really, to see why anyone should bother eating at Clutch. It’s expensive, the food is objectively not good (and repeated on me throughout the night), the service makes you feel like an inconvenience and there are better places (this is East London remember) within a minute’s walk. Come back, the Ravenscroft pub - all is forgiven.

2/10

Clutch on Urbanspoon

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's in Tower Hamlets.

Grumbling Gourmet said...

Wow... I see the rest of it was as wrong as the chilli chook! Looks like some species of money guy has got hold of a 'How to do Dude Food' cook book and given it to a bunch of students...

Unknown said...

Today I'm going to pretend I'm a horse that's just opened a restaurant and ask you to put up with my hee haw cups...

Lee said...

Citric curd. That's classic.

Laudus said...

They coq-ed it up! (Sorry Chris)

Anonymous said...

Dippety Dips? Did the menu also offer Drinky-Poos and Yum Yum Puddy Wuds?

Anonymous said...

Flippin 'eck that ""Roast"" is a disgrace! £14 for that!!! I reckon the roast meal for 1 from Tesco £5 is better than this crap!

Anonymous said...

The confused service and shameless pricing really reminds of my experience at another new Shoreditch joint, Far Rockaway, though this sounds like it lacked any redeeming features whatsoever! That 'fried chicken' snap is gonna give me nightmares!

Anonymous said...

That is one of the worst. I wonder how these people think when they serve/cook this? Do they realise how shocking it is? Very Strange.
I have been to similar places, paid my money over the bar, and regretted not doing my homework.
Perhaps if we all wrote/emailed these places, they may realise their crime.

Anonymous said...

I don't think these sort of people deserve to be told they obviously have more neck than brains and think that serving up slop like this is acceptable in this city! Well it's not!
I pity the chickens who died to create crap like this!
Our energy is better spent warning others to steer clear of joints like this who have obviously taken an overused idea and tried to copy it but have done what seems like a rushed and amateur attempt whilst charging premium prices!
Good job Chris, I will be avoiding this place like bird flu!

Robert said...

Stunned by the food.Looks like something out of a London Dungeon exhibit I think

... and was hoping that it was you drinking the wine ... but wondering what the difference was between '1 gls house white' and '1 house white gls' ?

Wonder if you could confuse them by ordering "1 white gls house"

Graphic Foodie said...

You gave it two stars?? What were they for?

FingerLicker said...

The word to describe it is 'cute'; I've been here. My bucket of chicken was incredible, the service was second to none, the decor in the evening is heavenly the after dinner cocktails at the back bar were to die for. Whoever wrote this has a severe chip on their shoulder about not having had the idea themselves.

Great people, great food. If you don't like cute, don't go.

Chris Pople said...

Fingerlicker: Could you sound any more like the owner of the place? Who in the real world uses phrases like "to die for", for fuck's sake.

Alicia Y said...

OK, again late to the comment party but I've been here a couple of times now (it's close to home) and it may be they were still working out their teething issues in December. The peanut/chili crust option isn't on the menu; and, having the soy garlic wings at Rita's, I'd have to say Clutch's version is on par. Absolutely agree it's ridiculously expensive (my southern American parents just about fell over) but they thought they chicken was well done (I won't add the ending comments my mom did). Also agree the roast could be dropped as well, and the sides needed more thought.

We also went to Rita's who had great chicken (among other awesome things!) but again at £25 for a half chicken it seems this new love / trend for "down home" cooking is coming at a price in London. Southern cooking is not only about flavor and execution, but also about accessibility - it's not difficult to get fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes and biscuits - or a plate of ribs and slaw - for less than $10 at home, so my main struggle with these places is what they charge for these 'trends'. Yes I know the same could be said across the board - Korean BBQ, 100 burger places, etc. but that doesn't excuse it.

Then again, I just saw a place open in Spitafields which is essentially a pizzera but branded itself "Italian Street Food". So I guess anything is possible in London.

Anyway, the point is they seemed to have taken the feedback on so wanted to note that. Believe it or not it is possible for a place to improve over time.