It’s the talk of the country’s food fans, specialises in produce from Cornwall, has its own unique Cornish gin and has been opened by a heavily tattooed Cornish chef thanks to money left to him by his Cornish nan.
All in all, Cornerstone is a huge Cornish success story. The thing is it’s in London, not Padstow or Charlestown.
The restaurant in Hackney Wick has been opened by Nathan Outlaw protégé Tom Brown and named after his favourite Arctic Monkeys song.
Opened for just a month, the 46-seater restaurant has already got food critics salivating. If you can get a good review out of The Times’ curmudgeonly Giles Coren you must be doing something right.
In a review this weekend, he wrote: “The cooking at Cornerstone is out of this world – confident, brilliant and beautiful. The big money is going to come begging for Tom’s attention pretty soon. I wonder what he’ll do?”
A Cornwall College student, Tom spent six years under Outlaw’s wing, starting out at Outlaw’s at the St Enodoc hotel in Rock before taking on the role of head chef at London’s Outlaw’s at the Capital in 2016. He made a memorable appearance on the BBC’s Great British Menu last year.
In a brave move, Tom has started Cornerstone without any backers, partially funded by the sale of his grandmother’s home in Cornwall and other family backing.
The restaurant specialises in modern British cuisine but that means there’s a lot of Cornwall on the menu including Porthilly oysters and its own Cornerhouse gin, distilled by Cornwall’s own Wrecking Coast. It has been distilled with cloudy apple juice from Polgoon Orchard in Penzance.
Dishes include: Raw mackerel with lime pickle, coconut yogurt and crispy garlic; Marinated squid accompanied by black pudding, blood orange and a brown butter dressing; Roast cod served with Café de Paris hollandaise; Ox tongue served with salt cod, tomatoes and gremolata; and for dessert Cornerstone’s pear crumble accompanied by Earl Grey ice cream or coffee ice cream sandwich served with a banana, pecan and rum sauce.