Da Terra chef Joe Holness makes his mark on the British restaurant.
There are many grand department stores in London, but none quite like Liberty. Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, the iconic store has stood at the top of Carnaby Street for 101 years in its current form. It looks older still – the current store was built in the Tudor Revival style popular in the 1920s, with great black wooden timbers recycled from two old British Navy ships.
The store is known for spotting and championing new designers; it’s been the subject of two recent Channel 4 documentary series and appeared in Netflix’s Enola Holmes; last week the Royal Mint launched a commemorative coin featuring one of its distinctive prints. In short, Liberty has a special place in London’s heart.
But it has not had a restaurant to match its fashion-forward, high-quality aesthetic – until now. Seventy Five only opened in April, but already it feels like a place London can’t do without.
The décor is trendy but relaxed. A central elongated oval of banquettes encloses a long planter of greenery. Liberty-print botanical wallpaper covers some walls, others house a resident artist’s work – currently it’s Sir Quentin Blake, the playful illustrator of Roald Dahl’s books. The comfy armchairs come in a variety of shapes and modern colours of burnt orange, plum and light green.
The clientele at Seventy Five is mostly tourists and shoppers, with one older woman lunching solo who is so much the splitting image – complete with that beehive hairstyle – of Patsy from the fashion sit-com Absolutely Fabulous, the only way you can tell it’s not her is that Patsy famously shops at “Harvey Nicks, darling”.
The kitchen is on-trend by being open-plan – you can see head chef Joe Holness (formerly of the FACT dining award-nominated Da Terra, and the MICHELIN Starred Fera at Claridge’s) running his small staff with quiet precision.
But style counts for nothing if the food has no substance. An afternoon tea and brunch menu are available at Seventy Five, but we visited for a weekend lunch. On the all-day dining menu, the mains range from £16 to £36. We were won over from the very first bite. The Rapeseed Focaccia is crazy good: a crunchy, golden, salty, herby, finger-licking crust enclosing a yielding yet springy interior, served with Marmite butter. Now, Marmite is famously a thing you either love or hate. I’m definitely a hater. Or so I thought! This had just a whisper of the black yeast extract – enough to give bland butter an umami edge.
The menu at Seventy Five is a mix of small plates and medium plates, loosely arranged into starters and main courses, but the friendly and knowledgeable wait staff encourage you to mix and match as you please. We began with a seasonally apt Wye Valley Asparagus with a watercress and a smoked egg puree and nasturtium leaves. It looked beautiful, with the two purees arranged as concentric circles crossed with the thick asparagus stalks, and the vegetable itself was perfectly al dente. The sauce seemed a tad bitter for our taste, especially with the nasturtium, but it’s a minor cavil.
We paired it with a dish notionally from the mains, but which seemed light enough to qualify as a starter: a Picked Devonshire Crab salad, beautiful enough to hang on your wall. The red streaks naturally present in Castelfranco radicchio visually complemented the red radish discs, with extra bursts of colour from tiny blue flowers and sprigs of green chervil; and the sweetness of apple strips perfectly counterpointed the fennel.
Then we went full-on main, appropriate to the Sunday lunch we were there for: Norfolk Sirloin Steak with Thyme Beef Sauce. Billed as being enough for two and no argument there, it came in thin, perfectly pink, tender strips with a lightly seared exterior. Roasted New Potatoes with fresh herbs were just as they should be, as was the Tenderstem Broccoli – though the abundance of Roasted Hazelnut Puree it lay upon seemed an interesting addition at first, but soon became cloying.
We didn’t really need dessert, but with food this good, who can resist? Poached Pear Frangipane Tart with Raspberry Jam and Crème Fraiche was excellent, if not a wow. But the Strawberry and Vanilla Cheesecake with Spiced Sable Biscuit was a knockout. It looked beautiful – a two-tone cylinder of biscuit-brown and snow-white topped with juicy slices of rich red strawberry – and tasted even better. The base never lost its texture and crunch, and the spice was just enough to titillate the tastebuds.
The cocktails at Seventy Five are above par. We tried two Liberty specials: Zephirine (fig, Sipsmith gin, lemon, gomme syrup) and Vine Thief (Ketel One vodka, strawberry, vanilla, foamer), whose titles and ingredients are inspired by Liberty’s range of fragrances.
In all, this is a quite unbelievably good meal for the cost – presented with the sort of style, flair and attention to detail you’d expect from Liberty, and at a price you wouldn’t.
GO: Visit www.75atliberty.com for more information.