Oxalis, the latest residency at The Sun & 13 Cantons ★★★★★

More a residency than a pop-up, Oxalis is the latest culinary take-over at Soho’s The Sun and 13 Cantons. Behind the name is two ambitious chefs, Nick Ross and Max de Nahlik, who combine locally produced, seasonally led cooking with classic French techniques, all executed to thrilling effect. Their pomme puree, is divine. It’s an ode to Joel Robuchon whose restaurants are the most Michelin decorated in the world.

Ross’s background includes Daniel Boulud in Toronto and Angela Hartnett’s Merchant’s Tavern, whilst de Nahlik was most recently at Riverford Organic at The Duke of Cambridge.

Oxalis is located in the dining room of the much loved Soho pub, decorated with green tiles, retro lighting, masses of mirrors and great black and white photos. It gets incredibly busy Thursday and Friday evenings, so there’s no dinner served then. Yet, despite reduced dining times it, The Sun and 13 Cantons is a good incubator of talent – Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen and Darjeeling Express had spots here and both have gone on to open their own restaurants. This duo continue on a roll.

Kick-off with snacks: the best of these was the quaintly named beef scrumpet, which is really a croquette with tender chopped meat and an outrageously good bone marrow and parsley aioli to dip. It's a winning combination. Don’t miss out on the definitive chicken and duck liver parfait, wondrously velvety and served with house pickled vegetables.

At dinner a selection of small and large plates are available. The menu is strong on veggie options: a comforting artichoke risotto with shards of roast garlic, and a squash filled tortellini that popped beautifully in the mouth were both impressive, though we'd have liked more anchovy in the crumbs. Most outstanding was the grouse with beef dripping toast, breaded leg and a superlative shallot and cep miso puree accompanied by the most outrageously rich potato puree, happily riddled with butter. Only the cheesecake, light though it was, seemed less inspired.

This is cooking with plenty of finesse, among the more classic dishes especially, that wouldn’t be amiss in a Michelin joint.

Price: £65.00 for two with drinks. Bar snacks available too.

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