Food and Drink: Restaurant Review - The Vine in Highgate Road
Published: 22 September, 2011
by LOTTIE MOGGACH
THE Vine has always seemed to occupy a slightly odd position in NW5.
Both in the geographical sense – the portion of Highgate Road it occupies is a bit of a hinterland – and in the local pub market.
For years it didn’t really have an identity.
You didn’t go there for the atmosphere or the beer, and you certainly didn’t go there for the food.
Last year it changed hands and in July was re-opened as a gastropub.
The place has been given a proper makeover.
A grand new room the size of a tennis court has been created at the back of the pub, with a peaked glass ceiling, exposed brickwork, wood panelling, white subway tiles, banquettes and chandeliers.
Even when the room is less than half full – as it was on the night we were there – there is a pleasant background murmur, but you still can’t make out the conversation at the next table.
The menu has been similarly well thought out.
There is a nod to the current trend for small sharing plates in the form of ‘cicchetti’, the Italian tapas, as well as proper-sized main courses.
My companion approved of this – “You can try things out without compromising ownership of your main,” he said.
We started with three cicchetti: arancini (heart-clogging fried risotto balls), garlic prawns and a broad bean and pecorino salad. All were perfectly good.
I then had a salmon fillet accompanied by chorizo, a combination I’d never had before, but which worked very well.
My friend chose an Angus rib eye, and the only criticism he could make, when pressed, was he thought its blackened grill lines were ostentatious.
For pudding, a vast pavlova crowned with strawberries and drizzled with basil sauce was as tasty and unfinishable as it sounds.
Over dinner, my friend and I debated the relative merits of the nearby Bull and Last and The Vine.
We concluded that the Bull and Last was the venue for a first date: its loud, buzzy atmosphere would help mask any nerves or awkward silences. The Vine, meanwhile, is where you’d go for the second, once you’d decided you really liked the person and wanted to have a proper conversation.
Time will tell whether NW5 can support an infinite amount of gastropubs – but there’s definitely room for this one.
Summary: The good old Vine has become the new gastropub on the block. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Cicchetti cost around £4; mains around £13.
THE VINE
86 Highgate Road, NW5
020 7209 0038
www.thevinenw5.co.uk