Menuwatch: Fallow, London

The chefs, who met over the stoves at Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel in London, switched from serving a fine dining menu to flipping burgers and selling takeaway gin and tonics, earning a cult status among the tradespeople still working in the city during lockdown. When restrictions lifted, they embraced the change, shifting to a more accessible menu with a focus on sustainable produce. This caught the eye of Michelin, with the restaurant winning a Bib Gourmand in the 2021 Great Britain and Ireland guide.

In November this year, Fallow moved to its first permanent home, a 150-cover restaurant in the former Duck & Waffle Local site at St James' Market near Piccadilly Circus. At a time many restaurants were shrinking their menus amid staffing shortages, Fallow widened its offer, adding a raw bar, grill section and dairy cow cuts to its small plates, large plates, snacks, breads, sides, and Sunday roast.

Sustainability remains a major focus. Menu paper is made from algae and the larger site has given the team space to experiment with what would normally be waste products. "We ask suppliers what they have that's excess, and try and build a menu from that," says Murray.

This has included Fallow's cod's head with sriracha butter sauce (£16), now one of its most popular dishes. The heads, normally destined for the bin or stock, are delivered fresh every day and have their gills removed before being sawed in half due to their size (this was originally done by hand, but the team now use a band saw). These are then shallow fried in a hot pan to crisp up the skin, cooked in the oven and left to rest. For the bright orange sauce Fallow uses its own house-made sriracha (the restaurant is aiming to create the first 100% English sriracha brand) which is whisked to order with a confit garlic butter emulsion.

This ethos of minimising waste also extends to vegetable dishes. Murray has begun a "passion project' of growing mushrooms above Fallow's kitchen in the maze-like basement of St James' Market. When close to sporing, these are displayed on racks in the dining room before roots and stems are used to create a purée, which makes up the mushroom parfait dish (£14). This is topped with oyster mushrooms that are griddled and marinated in soy and mirin.

Also popular is the confit cabbage with black garlic and chestnut (£14), which sees the cabbage hearts confited with butter and the outside leaves shredded and fried. "It becomes almost like Chinese crispy seaweed, then we use our own fermented chilli powder to season it so it has an umami, slightly acidic flavour," says Croft.

Desserts include a Chelsea tart (£12) made with whey, one of the biggest waste products in the food industry. Fallow now orders around 120 litres of whey a week, which is delivered on a bike by its cheese supplier. "It arrives still warm in massive buckets and you have to reduce it down," Croft explains. "When it gets to about five litres it starts to brown and thicken and looks like caramel. It's sweet and wobbly like a custard tart but with savoury notes."

The team will continue their experimental approach, and dishes in development include a duck sausage made using duck blood and heads, and a concept based on spent hens (a commercial chicken past its egg-laying prime). Both chefs are clear that restaurants must make it worthwhile for suppliers to deliver byproducts, whether that's by buying large batches or additional produce. "It has to be sustainable for everyone involved," explains Murray.

And while Fallow's food bill may be lower than other operators, more money is spent on wages for the chefs required to prep the unusual produce. "It's about changing the restaurant business model as well, which is an interesting learning curve for us," says Croft.

This is all against a background of rising inflation, and the team are trying to keep menu prices accessible while the cost of staples such as butter, oil and vinegar have gone "through the roof". But despite the challenges, the chefs are confident they can weather the storm. "The reason we're still here is we've worked tirelessly and kept a positive mindset," says Murray. "There are a lot of things to worry about as a business owner, but I think we've got enough energy and passion to keep driving forward."

From the menu

• Corn ribs, lime £6.50
• Caramelised cauliflower croquetas £6.50
• Cod's head, sriracha butter sauce £16
• Mushroom parfait, shiitake, grey oyster £14
• Dairy cow burger, bacon cheese £16
• Confit cabbage, black garlic, chestnut £14

Desserts

• Chelsea tart, whey £12
• Pump Street Chocolate crunch, coffee £10

2 St James's Market, London SW1Y 4AH

www.fallowrestaurant.com

Photos: Steven Joyce