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Room81

Room81 Article Lead - narrow
Room81 Article Lead - narrowSupplied

15/20

Contemporary$$$

It might lack a beach view but Room81's terrace is as bright and breezy as the service - ideal for those lunches that extend into dusk and beyond. A plate of radishes and soil in a tiny terracotta pot might be straight out of Noma 101 but it's a lovely dish. A 'snow scallop' arrives dramatically in a bowl set over a swirling fog of dry ice, and the ceviche scallops with a heavenly cauliflower cream and crisp radish disks is sublime, although the horseradish needed a little more bite. Tender pork belly under a salty crackling carapace is ideally matched with liquorice (soil again), truffled mashed potato, burnished carrots and sweet, creamy red claw flesh, while a not-so-virtuous quinoa is turned into crunchy 'granola' with a roasted leg and superb ragout of squab, although it could have done without the accompanying compressed watermelon slice. A dreamy dessert of banana, caramelised with bacon and maple syrup and turned into ice-cream, served with toasted brioche and salted peanut caramel, is that killer combination: seductive and just plain fun.

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