London is awash with brunches, most sticking with the high carbohydrate and bottomless booze template. CLAP on a Saturday and Sunday offers something different though – sushi, sashimi, ceviche and all the delicious rest.
Okay, you might think raw fish would not be that appealing to the seriously hung over, but the large number of people, a lot of them families, tucking in on the top floor of CLAP suggests there is another kind of bruncher out there.
CLAP is rather a posh place, as you can tell from the Knightsbridge address, it’s almost next door to Harrods. The downstairs entrance is gorgeous and sets the scene before the lift whisks you up to the restaurant floor from where a short staircase takes you up to the bar/brunch floor.
Here the views are wide, rooftops mostly of course, and probably very cool at night when the lights come on across Knightsbridge. Talking of cool, there’s a compact terrace dining area as well. Perfect for hot summer nights and sunny brunches.
What catches the eye inside is the abundance of delights on three sides of the large bar. Sushi, sashimi, nigiri, ceviche, salads, miso soup, it goes on and on. You need a good few minutes to walk up and down appraising it all, especially when you keep bumping into people joyously Instagramming it.
It’s all laid out very beautifully and very importantly it’s replenished constantly, so that none of the choices ever look tired or threadbare. The temptation to go full Darryl Hannah in Splash is tremendous. I am always very greedy and uncool at buffets, usually I am so overwhelmed by choice I feel the need to cram everything onto my plate in one enormous teetering messy pile. This does not go down well at funerals.
There is no need to be a glutton though as return visits to the bar are cheerfully allowed, but I suspect anyone taking the P might be gently dissuaded. We went up twice, but in our defence we made very precise and considered selections each time, so considered in fact that you can still see the plate underneath the food., After all this is not a Carvery. One has to behave appropriately.
It was all excellent and there was plenty of pickled ginger, which for me is like Tartar Sauce in that I can never get enough of it. Nose, if not mind blowing, wasabi was also in abundance.
The bottomless drink option is a fair £35 per person, fair when you consider what even a small glass of wine costs these days. We had the excellent Riesling, nicely chilled, regularly topped up and perfect with the seafood. And its low ABV suited us, we could enjoy a fair amount without getting sloshed.
We really could have eaten off bar and been happy, but as the resident DJ put on some more ‘tick tick tick’ music, we picked our mains from the four options; Pistachio Crusted Baby Chicken, Grilled Tofu, Pork Belly or Salmon Teriyaki. All of these dishes would cost almost as much as the entire brunch served on their own
I’ve had some dodgy pork bellies in my time, all fat and no pork, but this was excellent. Cut in the style of a porchetta, it was topped with flaked almonds and a hoisin sauce, with onion puree on the side. The meat was tender and I scraped up every bit.
P took the baby chicken, a fair size for a baby, and the pistachio crust was a great idea as were the slivers of crispy dakon and sweet potato puree. Both dishes were just right to top up the sushi and sashimi feast.
CLAP is a restaurant with a lot going or it, but no everyone can handle the Knightsbridge prices. This brunch is the perfect way to get a taste of the high life for a relatively low price..
claprestaurant.com/london/
Sixth and seventh Floor,
12-14 Basil Street,
London, SW3 1AJ