Weekly Review: Mountain

A place to go all-in on the food. Get your hands dirty, make a mess of everything, and enjoy every minute.

Quick hit: Big slabs of meat, well treated seafood, and unconventional nibbles at the heart of Soho.

Details: Booking essential. Soho. £££.
Restaurant website. More on Instagram and from Michelin.
Find it on Google Maps.

I shouldn’t have done it. I built it up in my mind.

A couple of weeks ago, I published my top 5 new places of 2024 (so far), mostly a reaction to some similar mid-year lists. At the end, I mentioned Mountain, said I was visiting soon, and that I hoped it would take the top spot.

It didn’t.

But it was very good.

There’s been a run of openings of new high end pubs. The Devonshire in November. Mountain. And lately, The Hero in Maida Vale.

Flame cooked meat. Over-the-top starters and accompaniments. Trendy wine. Hip food. All wonderfully prepared.

I loved the Devonshire when I visited in December. It was irresistibly simple, yet still offered something for everyone. It was fun and welcoming. You could imagine it being at the end of your road.

Mountain tries to hit the same note, but the food is considerably more elevated. It’s never fiddly, but it is gourmet. Which is why Michelin handed it a star only a few months after it opened.

We started with a round of snacks that included some raw Sobrassada sausage, spread over fresh bread and topped with a dab of honey. It was exquisitely sweet, and the sausage had a fruity taste. There was fresh cheese with anchovies. Then “Cured dairy cow” — charcuterie with a distinct nutty sweetness. And cucumbers with green strawberries. Another unusual concoction, with a strong vinegar note cut by the sweetness of the strawberries.

Cucumbers with green strawberries and a wonderful hit of vinegar.

Our starters included mackerel with grilled peas and the most incredible caramelised onion which blended superbly with the sweetness of the fish.

But the highlight was the spider crab omelette. They say that only the best chefs can make a perfect omelette, and this one couldn’t have been better. It had the most fantastic crab flavour but was still light and buttery.

For our main course, we shared a “whole lobster Caldereta” and wood fired rice. A lobster was broken down and made to flavour the most incredible soup. The lobster meat was sweet and perfectly cooked. The soup was bright and spicy. The rice was crispy, Spanish-style.

Lobster Caldereta made a mess of everything, but finger-looking good.

The lobster was immersed in the soup, still in its shell, so to eat it, you literally hand to get your hands dirty. And in my case, my shirt as well. By the end of the meal, we had made of mess of our plates, our table, and ourselves. It was brilliant fun.

For dessert, the stand-out was the Pecan choux bun, pure sweetness and crunch balanced with a strategic bite of unctuous cheese. It was one of the best desserts that I’ve had in a long time.

Pecan choux bun. Wow.

So, it was gourmet with Michelin star calibre service, still trying to be a pub. It was great. Lovely. I’d go back in a minute. But there was something just very slightly discordant. It didn’t quite manage to be a pub, nor a high-end spot. Some friends call it comfortable. I’m not sure.

But look, I’m picking nits. Mountain was excellent.

And was it for a Professional Lunch? Definitely. Although I think slightly better for dinner. And definitely in a group. 4 or 5 people would be perfect. You could order virtually all of the snacks and go broader on the mains than we did in our group of three.

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