The Clove Club
From a Humble Pop-up to Topping the Best Restaurant Charts in London, UK
The Clove Club began as a supper club in 2010, founded by Chef Isaac McHale. Initially started by hosting pop-up supper club events in unique venues like abandoned buildings and historic pubs, a group of young chefs led by Chef Isaac McHale, Chef Ben Greeno and Chef James Lowe gained a cult following for their innovative approach to dining and became known as the young Turks. Their residency ended in 2012, and the Chef McHale opened The Clove Club in March 2013 in Shoreditch Town Hall, a landmark built in 1866, transforming from a nomadic dining concept into a permanent fixture. It earned its first Michelin Star in 2014, followed by a second in 2017, and has been consistently recognized in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Its creative tasting menus and relaxed ambiance have solidified its status as one of London’s leading restaurants over its decade-long run.
Executive Chef Isaac McHale was born in July 1980 in Orkney, Scotland, and raised in Glasgow. His culinary passion sparked early, inspired by tasting a pakora and he taught himself Indian cookery as a teenager. At 14, he worked for a local fishmonger, developing a love for fresh seafood. His professional career began at Tom Aikens’ restaurant in Chelsea, followed by a formative stint at The Ledbury under Brett Graham from 2005 to 2009, where he honed his craft. McHale also staged at Noma in Copenhagen (2008) and In De Wulf in Belgium, gaining a global perspective.
McHale’s cuisine emphasizes British ingredients like Wiltshire trout, Herdwick lamb, and Torbay prawns, paired with innovative techniques and global flavors, such as Sri Lankan spiced sauce or pine needle salt. McHale’s leadership, supported by head chef Matthew Scarratt, drives The Clove Club’s reputation for balancing tradition and creativity.
Arriving in Shoreditch for the first time, I was easily able to locate the restaurant inside the historic town hall, a beautiful building on the outside, and looking a bit like a community church on the inside. The doorway opens to a standing bar area, and I was led through to a small dining area beside a large open show kitchen.
There were two choices of tasting menu: a shorter six course menu, and the full eight course menu. The difference being one fewer seafood course and one fewer meat course on the shorter menu. The structure of the menu was interesting: a variety of canapes, followed by two vegetable focused dishes, then two seafood forward dishes, followed by two meats, and two desserts. Bring me two of every course, for a very balanced menu.
Getting seated at my table, I was given a warm, herbal broth while glancing over the drinks menu. Emerald green, as if out of the Wizard of Oz, and a warm savory combination of parsley, tarragon, chicken stock and white miso for a punch of umami.
The Clove Club offers both a wine pairing and an non-alcoholic tea pairing as well as a mixed pairing with its tasting menu. Extremely jet lagged after an early morning flight, I decided to skip the pairing and went with a pear and rice-based cocktail.
The first amuse bouche was a light tart filled with pike roe, with a bit of diced cucumber to add a bit of crunch at the bottom of the tart. A bit fishy, but probably intentionally so.
Next, a classic canape at The Clove Club, a piece of buttermilk fried chicken coated with a tapioca flour for that extra crunch. I was told that the dish has been on the menu since the very inception of the restaurant during the pop-up days.
Next, two tiny prawn tartare tacos in a prawn jelly shell, surrounded by a prawn bisque foam. A bit of kick added from long pepper infused oil. Fun, delicious, briny, concentrated crustacean flavour, and my only wish was that I had a few more tacos.
The final canape was another Clove Club classic - a melon gazpacho granita. Deconstructed into different forms, we had the herbal vegetable flavours from the crumbly Sun Sweet melon granita, some umami and saltiness from the ham jelly and creaminess from the almond cream. A really neat take on gazpacho that I quite enjoyed.
The bread course with homemade sourdough and homemade butter, freshly made each day right before service. Nothing too eventful here, but I always love a warm slice of sourdough.
The first course was a mix of summer vegetables - tender beans, greens, with some jersey royal potato neatly cut into circular medallions beneath, slathered with a rich caviar bechamel. Super fresh vegetables at the height of season, still with that freshly cut scent, lightly cooked served with some mealy potato medallions and topped with a creamy, rich, decadent sauce. I was a bit underwhelmed by the description on the menu, but the dish was absolutely amazing, and one of my highlights of the night.
The next course highlighted grilled aubergines, topped with a layer of picked Cornish crab, thin film of ginger/vinegar jelly, in a brown crab sauce dotted with blackcurrant leaf oil. Bit of acid to get the taste buds going and another bit hit.
The first seafood course, and another classic at The Clove Club, raw Orkney scallops on a black puree made from Australian black truffles, topped with a clementine puree, roasted hazelnuts for a bit of crunch, slices of black truffle, smoked scallop roe and daishi jelly and raw chestnut mushrooms.
The second seafood course had two slices of Cornish monkfish, perfectly cooked, in a green pistachio and curry spice sauce, topped with a chicken fat emulsion for an additional hit of richness and mouthfeel
The first meat course was another (larger) taco with tender pork jowl with extremely crisp, blistered skin on a buckwheat and neetle pancake, with nettle sunflower puree, and a light dusting of allspice. The pork jowl preparation reminded me a lot of traditional Cantonese BBQ roast pork - extremely juicy and tender with the juices oozing out with each bite.
The second meat course was duck breast with wild mushrooms served with a duck jus, with almond cream olive tapanade and cherries. I never noticed it before, but cherries work really well with duck, and this was an excellent preparation.
The duck came with a second preparation with a duck meat sausage, hidden within a decoy duck filled with pine smoke. Delicious!
Given my extreme jet lag, I had been awake for close to 20 hours by this point, so I ordered a carafe of coffee to try to keep me awake enough to finish dessert and make my way home.
The first dessert was a crunchy holy basil granita on top of a strawberry with a tangy sheep’s milk yoghurt hidden underneath, with some crisp meringue as a garnish Contrast of textures between the grainy granita, the creaminess of the yoghurt and crisp meringue as well as combining sweet, tangy and herbal flavours. Really neat palate cleanser.
I wasn’t exactly sure what this was when it was presented to me, but apparently, and apricot sorbet with apricot kernel mousse, topped with crushed popcorn to add a bit of texture. The chef designed the dessert as play on breakfast - milk and cereal.
Finally the petit fours, which I skipped as I was falling asleep at the table.
I’ve heard rave reviews of The Clove Club over the years, and overall, I was impressed. Really top notch execution, and I noticed repeated themes accenting the meal: almond cream, granitas, interesting plays on textures and mouthfeel. I’m a huge fan, and look forward to returning - perhaps next time I’ll wait until my clock has adjusted so I can do the food justice.
Total damage: 290 GBP/1 person