By only using food on her doorstep, Amber Francis showcases the very best of British small suppliers
"Sunny with a chance of gnocco fritto," reads an Instagram post from Maene, the seasonal, British-produce-led bistro located atop a four-storey yoga studio in London's Spitalfields.
For general manager Nick Gilkinson, the restaurateur behind Whitechapel Gallery's Townsend, the gnocco fritto starter has become something of a main event since Maene's April opening and a "really good definition of what we're doing". The chips and dip equivalent, which is actually Italian fried bread served with Iron Cap squash, London stracciatella from La Latteria, chilli and garlic oil (£8) is the brainchild of head chef Amber Francis. She first encountered the recipe for the savoury, laminated snack in her role as senior sous chef at Brawn in London's Shoreditch.
"It's a really easy yeasted dough that's rolled thin and folded over itself and turned several times," she explains. "We deep-fry it and it puffs up into those lovely pillows."
Francis says she has "always liked food" and that she was raised in a family that was fairly adventurous with dining in general – she recalls a memory of visiting a neighbourhood seafood restaurant aged seven, cracking crab claws while wearing a little crab bib. "My parents still laugh, saying the waiters were just aghast at these tiny children. It kind of epitomises how lucky my sister and I were that we were able to experience those different foods from quite a young age," she says.
She decided to pursue a career in the kitchen after being inspired by pastry chef Abby Moule at Chez Bruce in London's Clapham. Francis began with week-long stages at two Michelin-starred institutions, including the Hand & Flowers in Marlow and Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire. She trained in pastry at the Ritz London for a year before going on to join chef Robin Gill, first at the Dairy in Clapham in 2018, and then later taking a post as head chef of Zebra Riding Club in Hertfordshire.
Maene marks Francis's first opening as head chef, where she leads a brigade of six, with three chefs in the kitchen per service. Unlike Zebra Riding Club, which "already had a name", there is "nothing to hide behind".
"To have a blank canvas is both daunting and exciting," she says. Her menu is driven by "what's seasonal, what's local, what's growing right now". It's by no means changes daily, but she has replaced three dishes within a week. "The process of creating the menu has been working out what we have on our doorstep, and if it's not in our doorstep, what we have in the surrounding counties," she explains.
That said, there are a few favourites that "our regulars might be very upset if I got rid of", most notably the Cornish mussels in smoked cider and butter sauce (£15). This is served with a slice of sourdough from the Snapery, a nearby bakery, which is drenched in a refreshingly tangy cider beurre blanc.
"To keep it more British, we used cider and a really amazing quality apple cider vinegar from Willy's Ferment," she says. "The apples they use are from one orchard that is 100 years old and they age their apple cider vinegar in French oak casks," Francis says.
She adds a splash of double cream "bizarrely to lighten the mixture", as the more lactic flavour helps to balance it. This is poured à la minute into the mussel liquid, which is whisked, emulsified and reduced. It's then spritzed with fresh cider and seasoned with a drizzle of Duchess Farm smoked rapeseed oil.
One area of focus for Francis is to offer a selection of dishes that cater for as many dietary requirements as possible, keen to ensure everyone receives the same experience. As a result, both desserts on the menu at Maene at the time of writing were vegan as well as being gelatin- and gluten-free. The sea buckthorn, smoked rapeseed oil and 70% chocolate, for example, which is also used on the cocktail menu – something that has been a "real focus" for Gilkinson, especially in terms of using byproducts from the restaurant – blends citrus notes with the silky depth of a chocolate cremeux. Francis took inspiration from the vanilla ice-cream with olive oil combination to create a rich, smoky alternative that follows the "British train of thought".
She's excited for summer fruits, such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries and her team will "preserve as much of the summer glut as possible, so that come winter, we've got some fun things to play with".
From the menu
- Mersea oysters with pickled cucumber and sorrel £4.50 each, six for £23
- Gnocco fritto, Iron Cap squash, London stracciatella, chilli and garlic oil £8
- Nutbourne tomato tart, smoked tomato chutney £10
- Cornish mussels, smoked cider and butter sauce £15
- Flock and Herd pork loin, spring greens, hazelnut pesto £19
- Keats Farm salad, Duchess farm rapeseed oil and apple balsamic dressing £4
- Almond ice-cream, poached rhubarb, black pepper sable £7
- Sea buckthorn sorbet, smoked rapeseed oil, 70% chocolate £8
7-9 Fashion Street, London E1 6PX
Continue reading
You need to be a premium member to view this. Subscribe from just 99p per week.
Already subscribed? Log In
