Three Darlings, Jason and Irha Atherton’s neighbourhood brasserie on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road, has acquired a Mediterranean accent.
I don’t visit Sloane Square, or its environs very often. For one thing I don’t own a pair of pink (sorry, salmon) trousers and my hair wont flop convincingly.
So I was really rather surprised to find Pavilion Road, a very chic street of artisan food, beauty parlours, fashion outlets and restaurants. This pretty pedestrian mews connects to Sloane Street via a landscaped courtyard part of the new (ish) George House development, and it is in part of this rather gorgeous courtyard you find Three Darlings.
It’s not quite what you expect from an Atherton joint, it’s relaxed and homely reflecting the fact it was named after the Athertons’ three daughters — Keziah, Jemimah and Athena – and it has family photos on the wall.
Jason has restaurants everywhere, including Forte dei Marmi, a coastal restaurant at Principessa Forte dei Marmi, Autograph Collection, in Tuscany. It’s called Maria.
He’s taken that feel and loosely brought it to Three Darlings, bringing with it seafood, pasta and Italian vibes .
You’ll find beef tartare with pepper sauce and paprika crisps; Cornish bluefin tuna served raw with tomatoes and tomato confiture as well as St Austell Bay mussels and clams arecooked over embers, with a smoked mussel emulsion. There also an Italian peach and avocado salad with aged pecorino, and red Cornish sea bream with saffron potato and bouillabaisse.
The evening I went in I tried a superb split Oban langoustine doused in garlic butter and a wonderful bowl of St Austell mussels with a garlic smoked mussel emulsion, along with a batch of Carlingford oysters.
Pasta came in the shape of excellent linguine and clams and then a new dish to me – pasta ‘Luciana style’, a dish from the fishing village of Santa Lucia in Naples made with octopus, tomatoes, capers, black olives, garlic, and parsley all pan fried.
Finally a Cornish Red Mullet Codelette, the fish deboned, shaped, and prepared like a cutlet
All very good and well paired with wines by the sommelier, who found himself in cheerful competition with the bar manager who insisted I try a selection of his rather good Negronis. The last went very well with a classic tiramisu.
It’s a lovely location, the terrace is particularly beautiful, and Jason’s shift to more simple, yet superb, cooking is well thought through and I am sure just what Chelsea has been waiting for.
241B Pavilion Road, Chelsea, London, SW1X 0BP