Russian taste that fails to inspire at The Merchant's Yard

10 April 2012

In London, Russian restaurants tend to be favoured for their free-flowing vodka rather than the quality of their borscht. I can remember very little about the joint birthday party I once held with a friend at an Islington Russian restaurant — but certainly nothing about the food.

The Merchant’s Yard is unlikely to attract the vodka-swilling karaoke crowd, since it has no licence and is open only until 8pm. But can this deli change our minds about the cabbagey reputation of Russian home cooking?

It is small but light and airy: upstairs there is a deli counter of prepared dishes, with one table and a sit-up bar; downstairs a large communal table is surrounded by shelves of Russian delicacies.

My Russophile friend Viv gasped at their authenticity: for example, four varieties of canned sprats plus tushyonka, a corned beef that reminded her of a spell on the road with a Ukrainian boyfriend’s rock band (bandmates ate it from the can with a penknife, gallantly offering her the layer of lard on top as a treat.)

Merchant’s Yard’s food is just as authentic — but better. A cold okroshka soup, chunks of ham and potatoes and large quantities of kefir (fermented milk) was tasty, as was a chicken and vegetable broth. Baklazhani farshirovanije proved the maxim that Georgian food is usually the best in Russia, meltingly soft aubergine with a robust walnut sauce so typical of the Caucasus.

A pirozhok (fried doughy pie) filled with egg and spring onion was good, if perhaps better consumed from a paper bag outside a Moscow rail station.
It was when I hit the golubtsy —cabbage stuffed with meat and barley — that I started to feel that this was food I might appreciate more with the temperature at 30 below outside rather than nearer 30 degrees of Kensington sunshine. The chicken kiev was similarly savoury — but mighty solid.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this if, as Viv remarked, you’re a Russian in London with a hankering for food just like your mum makes.
I could imagine such an expat devouring our huge slice of Tort Kievskij, a cake made with meringue and nuts, as a remembered childhood treat much as I might demolish a nice chocolate Swiss Roll.

I just wouldn’t go to a restaurant to do so. This is solid, tasty fare. But Russian cuisine in London still awaits its Jamie Oliver.

The Merchant's Yard
41 Beauchamp Place, SW3 1NY

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