What: A singular restaurant that is aiming to change the perception of how fruits, vegetables and plants can be transformed. Billed as ‘plant-based centric’, Plates started life as a pop-up in 2017 ahead of a successful residency at Dalston’s Untitled Bar. The permanent incarnation of Plates fronts a gated mews a little to the east of Old Street station and offers two different tasting menus of finely-tuned and creative plant-based cooking.
Who: Plates is the creation of siblings Kirk and Keeley Haworth. Kirk has a stellar CV that includes Northcote (which was at the time overseen by his high-profile chef father Nigel), Restaurant Sat Bains and Californian three-star The French Laundry. His career was close to being derailed by a Lyme disease diagnoses but the chef has managed to control his symptoms by rethinking his diet and lifestyle. It is this experience that has led him to specialise in plant-based cuisine and become pretty much the only chef (in the UK, at least) from his generation with a multi Michelin-starred background to completely eschew animal products. While this might be his first permanent restaurant project he is already something of a rising star having recently been crowned Champion of Champions on Great British Menu. Keeley also worked for her father at Northcote before going on to pursue a career in nutrition and sustainability. She is the managing director of Plates and curates and oversees all creative projects, including a food studio offering consultancy services, a cooking school and a farm and retreat in Bordeaux.
The food: While his two menus – a seven course option for £75 and an eight-course option for £90 – underscore the challenges of cooking at a high level with no meat, fish or dairy Kirk is boldly going where vanishingly few chefs have gone before. His cooking is characterised by attention to detail, clever technique and a steadfast refusal to fall back on the clichés of plant-based cookery. Kirk’s food is necessarily original: as he said in a recent interview with Restaurant “there’s no manual for this sort of food”. Dishes include English tomatoes, house ricotta, raspberry jam, frozen strawberry and shiso; mung and urad bean lasagna, cucumber, Tokyo turnip, miso and chive sauce; and raw cacao gateaux, sour cherry, coconut blossom ice cream, African pepper, toasted macadamia and raw caramel sauce (the latter two creations featured on Great British Menu).
To drink: Overseen by former HAM Restaurants head of wine Alexandra Price, the wine list is based on the main vegetation zones of Europe including sections dedicated to Alpine and hillside; and Mediterranean scrub land. As things stand the list is tight but will soon be extended with some Scandinavian wines and some additions to the fine wine section. Cocktails include Strawberry and Lemon Verbena Spritz; and Lapsang and Cherry (Brugal 1888 rum infused with lapsang tea, Braulio amaro and cherry).
The vibe: The tightly-proportioned 25-cover site has an open kitchen with a three-seater chef’s counter. It’s a handsome looking space with an art installation made from dried seaweed and a muted colour palette of beiges and browns ‘inspired by patterns, movements and textures found in nature’.
And another thing: Plates is apparently fully booked until February but a 14-cover terrace will soon launch that is exclusively for walk-ins.
320 Old Street, London EC1V 9DR
www.plates-london.com
