Eat 17 - restaurant review

Originally launched in Walthamstow, Eat 17 is giving Clapton its first taste of bistro dining, says Karen Dacre
A change in the neighbourhood: Eat 17

The gentrification of Clapton and it’s notorious “murder mile” has been speedy. In just four years, Chatsworth Road and its neighbouring Lower Clapton Road have been transformed from a Hackney danger zone to a microcosm of bourgeoisie east London life with wooden-tabled wine bars, Swedish brunch spots and a “coffee and records shop” all part of the neighbourhood’s tapestry.

With Clapton’s latest dining opportunity though, comes another new beginning for E9 as Walthamstow’s burger bar-cum-deli Eat 17 gives the area its first taste of bistro dining with a restaurant housed in the eaves of a former snooker hall. Having already enjoyed a successful residency in the Spar shop below — earlier this year Eat 17 joined forces with the local supermarket chain to bring a well-stocked deli and burger bar to Clapton — the new venture marks a first for the family-run business, launched in Walthamstow seven years ago.

With the aim of further delighting those who have already fallen hook, line and sinker (the queue can spill out of the door on a Saturday evening) for the venture’s eat-in burger place, the upstairs extension opened its doors a fortnight ago — it will, however, be closed for a week from June 27 while the chef gets married.

I paid my first visit shortly before the Uruguay Costa Rica match kicked off last Saturday night and found myself pleasantly surprised by the décor. It’s sultry, with an impressively-stocked bar upfront and oh-so-comfortable banquettes which look more upper east New York than east Hackney, thus making for a refreshing change in a neighbourhood in which white Formica tables and trendy Swedish chairs are considered essential dining apparatus.

Sign of the times: the bar area of Eat 17

The food is equally as relaxing. With a menu that sits somewhere between high-end gastropub grub and fine dining, Eat 17 is a something-for-everyone sort of place with the hardcore carnivores catered for with burgers and their pantywaist counterparts with deliciously tender poultry, perfectly poached pasta or fragrantly spiced fish-cakes. It isn’t intimidating or screamingly adventurous but it isn’t boring either — this is a local restaurant dressed up as a west London hangout with local prices, albeit east London ones — and a local approach to hospitality.

We kicked things off with noodles, served with tickly chillis and delightful bites of crispy chicken skin, and followed them with a pimped-up ham starter — tasty jamón layered over celeriac purée and sprinkled with peanuts for great effect. “One of the best starters I’ve ever eaten,” proclaimed my dining partner while washing down the scraps with an ice-cold glass of muscadet.

And then came the star act: the burger. Cooked lovingly in buttermilk, crisped to within an inch of its life and served with crunchy slaw, tomato chutney, a sprinkling of chilli and more chunky chips than any human being could ever need, the chicken burger is Eat 17’s headline act. We devoured it in seconds before turning to the Barbary duck. Deliciously tender and served with onion purée and a hint of sweet potato, this dish was satisfying, although to avoid the dreaded food envy I’d advise against it if there’s a chicken burger on your table.

Other highlights came from an orzo and barley risotto and a divine cookie-dough ice cream, made on the premises, best enjoyed with the sweetest glass of dessert wine on the menu.

There goes the neighbourhood.

64-66 Brooksby’s Walk, E9 (020 8986 6242 or email e9reservations@eat17.co.uk). A meal for two, about £75. Closed between June 27-July 8

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