New Season, New Menu, Same Problem: What Are We Ordering First?
The new autumn menu has arrived at The Laundry, which means the familiar routine of looking at the menu with complete confidence before immediately changing your mind has returned.
As the evenings get cooler, the food naturally becomes a little richer, but we have never been particularly interested in an autumn menu where every dish seems determined to send you into hibernation. Mel’s cooking still keeps one foot in the European bistros that inspire The Laundry and another in the brighter New World flavours she grew up with in New Zealand.
This season, that gives us proper pies and duck confit alongside pumpkin massaman, miso butter prawns, bitter autumn leaves and enough acidity and spice to keep the table moving.
And because we believe the best ingredients deserve their moment, we have also introduced our Seasonal Board, a changing collection of dishes inspired by what is growing, flourishing and tasting particularly good right now.
Start with the chicken liver parfait
There are several perfectly reasonable starting points, but the chicken liver parfait with caramelised onion and feijoa chutney feels particularly Laundry.
The parfait itself sits firmly in classic bistro territory, while feijoa brings a little New Zealand into the equation. It is exactly the sort of combination that explains the restaurant better than a paragraph about “Old World meets New World” ever could.
Elsewhere at the beginning of the menu, there are prawns in caramelised miso garlic butter with lemon, burrata with confit cherry tomatoes and basil pesto, and an autumn salad of radicchio, red chicory, glazed beetroot, anchovy and orange.
Ideally, the table orders more than one.
Introducing our Seasonal Board
There is something rather lovely about letting the seasons decide what's for dinner.
Our new Seasonal Board celebrates ingredients at their best, with a quarterly changing selection of dishes that follows the rhythm of the growing seasons. It gives our chefs a little more room to experiment, make the most of what's available and bring something different to the table.
You'll find the boards dotted around The Laundry, with this season's dishes written up for everyone to discover.
For October and early November, the line-up is particularly tempting.
Start with wild mushroom bruschetta with truffled feta. Sautéed wild mushrooms in garlic butter are piled onto crisp sourdough, finished with smoked Manuka feta, truffle oil and thyme. Quite a convincing argument for ordering a starter.
Then there's Moules Marinières with frites, mussels steamed in white wine, garlic, shallots and butter, with golden fries alongside. Available as a starter or main, depending on how committed you're feeling.
For something a little richer, the tagliatelle with smoked oxtail ragu and Parmesan is exactly what colder evenings call for. Fresh pasta, slow-cooked oxtail and plenty of Parmesan. No unnecessary complications.
And to finish, apple tart with miso caramel and vanilla ice cream. Warm apples, crisp pastry, savoury-sweet caramel and cold vanilla ice cream. Autumn has rarely made such a good case for dessert.
The Seasonal Board changes throughout the year, so what catches your eye this visit might not be around next time.
Consider that your excuse to come back.
The Wagyu pie has our attention
Autumn without a pie feels like poor planning.
This one brings Wagyu beef and black olive together, giving the familiar comfort of a proper pie enough depth to stop it becoming predictable.
It also happens to feature as Tuesday's Plat du Jour, which makes Tuesday considerably easier to justify.
Monday has Moules Marinières and frites, while Wednesday keeps hold of The Laundry favourite, Steak Frites with grilled bavette and café de Paris butter.
We are very supportive of the idea that each weekday should have its own dinner.
Pumpkin, but not as you were expecting it
The Crown Prince pumpkin and chickpea massaman is probably the clearest example of the New World side of the menu.
It is vegan and gluten-free, but that is not really the point of the dish. The point is the combination of sweet pumpkin, spice and herbs, bringing something completely different to the table alongside the richer European mains.
It also makes the menu more interesting for mixed groups because choosing the plant-based dish does not mean being sent off into an entirely different style of cooking.
Duck season has arrived
The duck confit with mustard lentils and liquorice cranberries is firmly on the colder-evening side of things.
Confit duck is exactly the kind of bistro cooking autumn deserves, but the liquorice cranberry gives the plate enough sharpness and character to stop it becoming too familiar.
If your plan for the evening involves red wine, this is probably where we would start looking at the bottle.
Steak Frites remains exactly where it should be
Not everything gets replaced when the menu changes.
Our Steak Frites stays put, with grilled bavette, café de Paris butter and fries. It also remains Wednesday's Plat du Jour, so anyone who has built a midweek ritual around it can relax.
A seasonal menu should change because ingredients and appetites change, not because every dish needs to disappear for the sake of novelty.
Some things have earned their place.
And yes, you need dessert
The autumn feeling continues after the mains.
There is sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, lemon posset brûlée with burnt butter shortbread, and a triple chocolate brownie served with hokey pokey bon bon and crème.
And now, thanks to the Seasonal Board, there's warm apple tart with miso caramel to complicate matters further.
The hokey pokey, another quiet nod towards New Zealand, is a particularly good place to finish.
Or you could have the sticky toffee pudding.
Or the apple tart.
This is the problem with the new menu.
Autumn at The Laundry
The new autumn menu is being served at The Laundry in Brixton, alongside our quarterly Seasonal Board, new drinks list, L'Apéro and midweek Plats du Jour.
Whether you're coming for a long lunch, a midweek dinner or a Sunday afternoon that turns into an evening, there's plenty worth making a return visit for.
Come with a plan if you like.
We cannot promise you will stick to it.
Book a table and discover the new autumn menu and Seasonal Board at The Laundry.