Unlock, Fish Island, food review: ‘Be brave, damn it, and tuck into one of the sibling’s more creative experiments!’
The Luna, or pizza taco. Photograph: courtesy Unlock
World firsts are rare in our jaded and desensitised metropolitan food scene.
So, when an email tumbled into my inbox about a restaurant, Unlock, that blends of two of my favourites (pizza and tacos), I had to tootle along and try it with my very own mouth hole.
Fitting for this culinary fusion, the site of the reaction is just around the corner from Hackney Wick.
The area has grown to resemble a tectonic fault line, with new buildings racing skyward and patches of graffiti-scarred dereliction in between.
Unlock was opened by siblings Arianna and Giovanni Izzo in March.
Thankfully, it has been branded “much more” than just gourmet pizza from Napoli, as God knows London isn’t lacking in food themed around Italy’s third city.
You can spot the restaurant from a way off with its pulsating neon lights.
As I rounded the corner from the charming motorway hugging slip-road, I realised the canalside path would have been more idyllic.
Pepto-Bismol-hued strip lights flank the windows on one side of the barn-sized space.
A metal bar, cosier drinks area and private dining cower from the brightness at the other end, yet we dive into the futuristic dining area.
The rule of the day is reflection, from the gleaming black glass tables to the floor-to-ceiling windows and silver chairs and tables.
It’s a little overwhelming but provides more than enough light to appreciate current artist-in-residence Catherine Amakars’s fleshy, vagina-based pieces. The artworks are also for sale if you want to take some away after your dessert.
Unlock is tucked away just off Queen’s Yard. Photograph: courtesy Unlock
Culinarily, despite the shock-factor dishes, the springboard is very much Tyrrhenian Sea staples with some entertaining flourishes.
A pear and cheese flavour launches the controversial fruit-on-pizza debate with a mature wrist.
It is a perfect blend of sweet and savoury – three cheeses combined in cream, with sheaves of caramelised pear dissolved in all that dairy, leaving the sugary kiss of their existence.
The black parmesan cracker makes us think of everyone’s favourite looming volcano, but contributes little taste-wise.
Apart from that, it’s a very accomplished pizza, one that has been to art school and knows its way around Frieze Fair.
Other oddities to try are the beef tartare with a leek nest (sounds like something from Springwatch), or one simply called ‘vegan’ with roasted pumpkin cream.
The classics are present as well, but haven’t you had enough margheritas and diavolas to last you a lifetime?
One pizza, called Lab 2.0, features mortadella, chilli peppers and pumpkin puree. I imagine the chefs in white lab coats in the kitchen, throwing odd things from multicoloured test tubes into the flaming oven, but maybe that’s just me.
One wonders, but doesn’t like to ask, what was in Lab 1.0?
The creativity keeps on running elsewhere, with a beef cheesecake starter that sounds both intriguing and a little revolting.
But, as the meal progresses, you will grow to trust the Izzos.
The spicy mango Luna. Photograph: courtesy Unlock
Burrata is drenched in one of the most distinctive honeys I have ever tasted, undulating like a drunken uncle on a rocket and pomegranate seed salad.
Cauliflower steak (woefully just a segment) is collapsed, face-first, in a bed of umami-laced chimichurri and butter bean mush, and you find yourself following it down into the dish.
What about the Frankenstein of the evening?
Tac-izza, or to use Unlock’s name, the Luna (due to a vague half-moon shape), is more a loaded and upmarket version of the Napolese pizza fritta than a true world first, but whatever one calls it, wherever it originated, it is delightful.
The first is filled to the brim with white beef ragu sauce, onion, chives and pecorino. It is a novella-sized clam of comforting flavours, dripping down your wrists as you try to retain dignity.
The spicy mango version is an almost cakey affair, certainly for those not so bothered about the savoury/sweet divide. Green cabbage and feta cohabit their doughy home with sweetcorn sauce and a heavy hand of mango chunks, all topped with garlic mayo.
As for cocktails, there is one for the martini lovers (me), with mezcal, tomato sake and an edible caper leaf garnish, or a refreshing Field Day for those driving home (not me).
For those of us unable to learn from past actions (me again), you could tuck into a Revolver. This complex creature has bourbon, Laphroaig, in-house coffee liqueur, orange tree bitter and chocolate. Pair it with a rather too spongey tiramisu and you are granted a brisk walk home and an evening of almost comically interrupted sleep.
Unlock is hemmed in by potential customers, with apartment blocks sprouting up left, right and centre. However, being just off the main drag of Queen’s Yard, this odd little gem could easily go unnoticed. This would be a travesty for anyone who likes the idea of eating in a cross between a gallery and a club, and people who enjoy the new and unusual.
I will forever remember the truffle honey left on our table with our pizza, golden ramekin, mini trowel and all.
Did the pizza need it? I mean does anything really need truffle honey? But did my friend and I take turns licking the bowl clean? I think you know the answer.