Jones & Sons – review

Cod garnished with mussels. Photograph: Sarah Gill

Dalston’s nightlife is growing up.

Don’t fret, its heady jungle of sweaty cellar clubs, mid-week boozing and faces glued to kebab shop counters at 4am is still in full swing, but a new generation of smart eating spots and watering holes is moving in.

Jones & Sons is the latest to join the fray, setting up shop in the former home of the Arcola Theatre (a building that was once a Victorian textiles factory).

Today Savoy-trained head chef Martin Saint-Marie and his team tread the boards in an open kitchen at the back of a bright and airy restaurant.

There’s a well-furnished bar and a menu bursting with locally-sourced fare from suppliers including Well Street butchers and Meantime brewery.

We kicked off with some excellent cocktails, picking a blithe little Jones Collins and a fortifying Pisco Sour that suggested the bar is not only well stocked, but well manned too.

For starters we plumped for a plate of flavour-rich and feather-light beef carpaccio with the most delicate trail of truffle oil and a hearty stack of juicy pork belly, with spiced apple chutney and rich bone marrow jus. The in-house whiskey-cured salmon also looked delicious.

Mains start at a reasonable £12.

We had a nice piece of roast cod garnished with mussels in a gentle lemony buttermilk sauce and spinach, as well as a magnificent stack of garlicky tiger prawns flavoured with a touch of sage and served with crispy batons of tempura courgettes.

Dessert was a dangerously good slice of dark chocolate parfait festooned with sweet redcurrants and glazed macademia nuts and a selection of cheeses that were all excellent and vanished all too soon.

This is a great new local for locals – the menu is prepared for people who love food by people who love food. It is child friendly, won’t hammer your wallet and you can hear yourself talk.

And it doesn’t just do dinner. Jones & Sons is a haven for sore heads and hangovers, catering for last night’s revelry with all day brunches serving everything from Bellinis and marmalade on toast to cheeseburgers and Bloody Marys until mid-afternoon.

23-27 Arcola Street
Dalston
E8 2DJ
020 7241 1211