Master and Servant – review

Warning: don't leave without trying the desserts

Christened after a kinky Depeche Mode track, Master & Servant’s frankly erotic selection of slow-cooked smoky meats, full flavours and oozy grilled vegetables does more than live up to its name.

This is the first solo venture from music producer-come-Masterchef contestant and restaurateur Matt Edwards, with a seasonal menu packed with oft-neglected cuts of British meat and off-beat ingredients built around the in-house charcoal grill, which changes practically every day.

The starters were both impressive. I could not ignore the beckon of back fat and was rewarded with beautiful translucent slivers of delicate, salty fat, ruched onto the fork with smashed up hazelnuts and baby pink radishes sliced so finely they were practically transparent.

It was miraculously light, not greasy and entirely delicious.

The charred courgette came out in an elegant teepee of slender green batons with sweet, nutty Poacher cheese shavings cutting through the fresh taste of the vegetables and a beautiful smoked garlic bulb to round out the flavour.

The mains were good too, we had a nice meaty piece of lemon sole with wild fennel that slid beautifully off the bone and a juicy shoulder of smoked middlewight pork. The meat came with a cool stack of white cabbage slaw sharpened with gherkins that cut cleanly through the dense flavours of the meat.

But it’s the desserts that really sing. The fat scoop of cool peanut butter ice cream roosting on a bed of crushed peanut brittle was majestic and each bite of the muscovado doughnut with banana cream inside was a mouthful of sugary heaven.

It was an excellent meal and starters from £5.50, mains from £13.80 and a bottle of wine from £19.50 seems pretty reasonable given the calibre of the food, service and relaxed atmosphere. Busy without feeling hectic, ambitious without being pretentious – it aims for substance and style and pulls off both.

Master and Servant
8/9 Hoxton Square, N1 6NU (0207 729 4626)
Monday–Saturday: 11.30–15.30 and 17.30–23.30
Sunday 11.30–16.00