Elle's review: Lardo, Hackney

Lardo is the latest happening Hackney kitchen serving beautifully conceived of Italian food at good prices out of an impossibly small kitchen. I seriously have no idea how this lot do it. Much like The Hackney Bureau, the kitchen is a few hobs set back behind the bar, but whereas the Hackney Bureau only ever serves a small handful of dishes, Lardo produces a fast-changing-yet-extensive menu from about a 1m x 3m space.

Located just off Mare Street near the Hackney Picture house, the venue is a short walking distance away from Broadway Market - I'd recommend The Market Cafe for some draught prosecco aperitifs, though you won't want to miss out on the brilliant pre-dinner cocktail selection available at Lardo itself. 

The entire area seats approximately 50 people, including bar stools right up against the steaming hot kitchen. Lights are low and ceilings are high, providing just the right balanced ambience. I'd come here both on a date or with a group of friends for a natter over dinner. We went down on Friday night, having called in the morning and only just scraping a 9pm reservation. 

Comlimentary Focaccia was a lovely touch

To start before our starters we each had an Albi - a more sophisticated and less fizzy take on the ever popular Aperol Spritz - the Albi is concocted from peach puree, aperol,  Reisling, lemon juice. It's the perfect appetite enhancer as it's not too sweet and served over ice so you're not killing your hunger with sugar and fizz. We had ours with some big, juicy green olives to offset the sharpness. Delicious, and will give you enough time to ponder the menu. 

We took our waitress's advice and had the fennel pollen infused salami and the brown shrimp, fennel and grapefruit salad to start. The salami was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth, utterly delicious and totally unusual. My own cooking style involves mixing meats with unexpected flavours so it's rare that I come across something that I haven't tried at all before. This was one of those times and will be the thing that makes me return to Lardo sooner than I probably should. 

For our main courses, we shared the beef brisket with polenta and salsa verde. This was served in a bowl, sitting in piping hot consommé. It was slow cooked, melted in your mouth and offset in richness by the fresh salsa verde sitting on top - the most elegant of comfort foods. Initially the kitchen forgot to adorn our dish with salsa verde at all, which we felt was really taking the brisket but we forgave them because it meant we could throw a bad pun into a good evening. 

This was followed by a chilli and mussel pizza. We were slightly disappointed to be served a pizza with no tomato or cheese (neither of which were specified on the menu). This is our only real Lardo gripe so we'll let them get away with it, especially as the green beans and softened onions were cooked to perfection and we ended up nicely full but not groaning on our way home. 

Here's their full dinner menu, though it changes regularly and I've heard they have a great brunch and lunch offering too... 

I'll be posting more Mare Street favourites soon. For now, head Lardowards but make sure you book in advance here. 

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