Ageing gracefully

Westerns Laundry (Highbury)

RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table

Around 2017, London diners were captivated by a new aesthetic taking over the restaurant scene. Romantic, effortless, these restaurants felt refreshingly bohemian and also aspirational. They were nostalgic cottagecore without the cringe. Everyone wanted to be seen in their candlelit dining rooms, tucked between their bric-a-brac accessories, record players and small plates ‘designed for sharing’ (a novel idea in the late ‘10s, believe it or not).

One of the bastions of this alternative dining direction was the Westerns Laundry restaurant collective. The group’s holy triumvirate – Jolene, Primeur, Westerns – together presented a brave new version of how London dining could look and taste. Gone were the stuffy white tablecloths lit garishly by the Big Light. Instead, rooms of muted tones, dried wildflowers and mismatched crockery. Waiters with ostentatious accents were swapped for beautiful young people with interesting earrings and an extensive knowledge of this newfangled natural wine stuff. The flavours were just as exciting as the space: bottarga grated over sea bream, hand-rolled pasta with wild girolles and new-season olive oil, brown butter tarts.

Almost a decade on, Westerns Laundry could easily have lost its allure. Such is often the arc of establishments that lead trends. Happily, this is not the case for Westerns. In fact, it’s aged gracefully into its position as a stalwart of its quiet north London community, an area better positioned for pre-Arsenal match boozing than post-footie fine-ish dining.

While the interiors have worn in comfortably and effortlessly, the menu is wide awake. The cooking is fresh, forward-thinking and just complex enough – a formula held since day one. On a cold Sunday afternoon a few months ago, the restaurant was packed with people enjoying bread-and-butter pudding made with croissants. A ribollita with white beans and pumpkin. Fennel and blood orange salad. Pork belly with tender lentils and stuffed escarole. The cooking doesn’t need to shout to impress; its might is in its restraint.

At one point in time, had one been asked to paint a picture of a quintessential London restaurant, the high-end eateries of Mayfair might have been sketched in unison alongside plates of shimmering jus and micro-foams. These days it’s more likely to be softly lit spaces like Westerns. –Anna Van Dyk

→ Westerns Laundry (Highbury) • 34 Drayton Park • Tue-Fri 530-10p, Sat 12-230p & 530-10p, Sun 12-230p, 530-9p.