Word on the street is that you can get an Express Lunch Menu for just £25 at Street XO London, Nick hurried round
In fact, it’s simply because there’s a big police station here but if there was trouble, StreetXO would be a good place to hide; the entrance is made from the doors of a steel sea container.
After the doors, it’s a few steps down to the basement, past the bar and into the glowingly neon-lit restaurant proper. At night, when really busy, it must be quite a sensory and visual experience. At lunch, and quieter, it has the slight sense of a nightclub at closing time.
We sit at the kitchen’counter’ as it seems more fun. One of the pluses of sitting at the counter is that you see and hear what’s going on, and the chefs present you food with the minimum of fuss, but with interesting information. If you’re an Instagrammer there’s good light for your happy snaps.
There are in fact two menus – the Express and the XO Socarrat Paella menu, so we go for one each, mix and match a bit, and order a couple of things from the a la carte that we rather fancy
The Spanish do love adding eggs to things. Here, once the egg was broken the whole thing became a luscious mix of flavours catalysed by that golden yolk. The chili was just enough and the pork perfect.
Are any scallops not hand-dived, Hot Smoked Scottish Scallops with creamy citrus ponzu and coconut- kaffir lime reduction were indeed sustainably sourced.
The roe has been left in, which is both good to see and taste, and the smokiness is a pleasant waft, and not a great big bonfire as often seems to happen in restaurants that smoke. It’s a filthy habit.
This pretty much is classic StreetXO I guess, things put together that were many miles apart. The octopus is excellent, perfectly tender, and the masala very smooth, very buttery and rich.
I munch the crackers and ponder whether this one all came together. I am not sure; the individual elements are very good, but perhaps best not eaten ensemble.
Passing it over he recommends we destroy the teetering structure and mix it all together, This we do and create a really fresh and vibrant, palate cleansing plateful.
The orange segments make for little bursts of flavour and the asparagus benefits from its brief visit to the grill.
Gone in a few seconds, but a few seconds that will live on. The oysters are first-class examples, deep and plump and when bitten they release a tsunami of saline, A remarkable dish in many ways, visually and texturally
And what of the paella? As chef explains the rice had been allowed to caramelise, almost burn on the bottom of the pan, creating a skin called a socarrat which is something that paella enthusiasts regard as the mark of a master paella chef.
I am in two minds; the socarrat gets stuck in my teeth a bit, but then my teeth are by no means perfect. The main body of rice is just on the edge of being undercooked, but gets away with it, and the langoustines perched on top are delicious doused in a white miso sauce.
Dessert today are a chocolate creation in a kind of takeaway box called Seven Textures of Chocolate, with black mole and gianduja mousse, white chocolate ganache and spheres and chocolate ice cream.
That’s a lot of chocolate going on and P can’t finish it all, but happily paddlesaround in her box going back frequently for’one last spoonful’.
I forgot to mention earlier my house cocktail in an enormous fake heart, not for the faint hearted but fun.
And fun is a big part of StreetXO, the cooking may well irritate some who like to be irritated, but I enjoyed it for its savvy playfulness and bold and brave flavours all for an accessible price.
Photos ours (the bad ones) and StreetXO’s