It feels like an age ago now but think back to August 2020, we’d just come out of the first lockdown and to encourage people back out into bars and restaurants, the government gave us the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. For those unfamiliar with the scheme, it basically gave everybody 50% (up to £10 per person) off a meal when eating out. It had been a long few months of lockdown and so we were keen to make the most of it. One of the places we managed to use the offer was Elliots by Borough Market.
Elliots were using some of the outdoor space in the market for what they were calling El’Fresco dining so that’s where we found ourselves on a slightly chilly August evening last year. What helped us warm a little were our first dish of Isle of Mull cheese puffs. They came covered with a thick dusting of cheese and hot from the fryer. The puffs themselves were delicious; very crisp on the outside but incredibly indulgent and rich on the inside. Perfect for sitting outside; just make sure you eat them quick before they cool down!
Next up was this garlic butter calzone. We cut it open straight away and the butter filling just started oozing out. The dough had an amazing chew to it and you can see the little spots of char on the outside that gave the calzone a lovely smokiness to it. It was a bit rich so having a whole one might be a bit much but to share between 2 and 3, perfect!
Another slightly rich dish that we had were these Cantrabrian anchovies on toast. You can see the generous curls of butter on the toast underneath the salty anchovies. The toast was a crunchy chewy toasted sourdough that I’m sure was sourced from somewhere across the road in the market.
After all those rich dishes, we felt something a little fresher so this heritage tomato salad went down a treat. The tomatoes were really sweet which offset the sourness of the vinaigrette and the saltiness of the capers. It’s a very simple dish but it really hit the spot.
This was a potato flat bread with sour cream and chives with some trout roe on the side. This was a little underwhelming after all the ones that came before it. It was still tasty but just didn’t quite live up to what had gone before it.
Some big chunky chips. There’s not too much to say about these but they were awfully good. Crispy with fluffy insides just the way you want big chips.
You can’t quite tell from the photo but this was turbot head with tomato, saffron and basil. This was a bit fiddly with all the fish bones but very tasty.
To finish off the meal, we had a basque cheesecake which was on the very best desserts I’d had for a while (and I know that’s a fairly low bar seeing as this was one of the first meals I’d had after lockdown but still, it was amazing). It was so dense and creamy that it took some effort just to cut through with a fork but definitely worth it!
This meal was probably the most memorable meal that I had coming out of that first lockdown. The food was delicious, especially after so long stuck at home. Now I’ve been to Elliots before and always enjoyed the food but this meal just lifted it up in my eyes and will always be somewhere I’d be more than happy to eat at.
Elliots, 12 Stoney Street, London, SE1 9AD
