Sessions Arts Club
Clerkenwell, London
* Following Florence Knight's departure at the end of January 2024, the kitchen is now run by former sous-chef Abigail Hill. Watch for a new review coming soon.*
If you can imagine Matisse’s studio, an 18th-century opera house, and the set of Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover spliced together in a Grade II-listed courthouse in Clerkenwell, you’ll be some way to visualising the sheer impact of Sessions Arts Club. This fourth-floor restaurant, bar and performance space – it’s a ‘club’ in name alone – is a co-production from artist Jonny Gent, acclaimed restaurateur Jon Spiteri and chef Florence Knight (ex-Polpetto) who returns to restaurant kitchens after a six-year break. Its launch, in the fun-starved throes of 2021, was well timed; even now, securing a reservation, particularly for a coveted mezzanine table, demands Herculean effort. If, after all that, the food falls a little flat, it is perhaps inevitable. Knight’s Mediterranean menus read beautifully. We loved the understated simplicity of 'le petit aïoli' with anchovy and egg, a seasonal sorbet (blood orange and cantaloupe melon in the shell, 1970s-style), while a signature dish of crisp layered potato and smoked eel, brightened with roe and edible flowers, was skilfully made. But execution could be refined: one visitor lamented the underseasoning of both chickpea panisse and the signature Neapolitan calamarata pasta with otherwise-excellent tender squid. The wine list by Keeling Andrew & Co (of Noble Rot fame) is a smart edit of in-crowd approved drops including Chin Chin Vinho Verde, Domaine Tempier Bandol and some rare bottles from the likes of Emidio Pepe, Eva Fricke, and López de Heredia.
Dining Information:
Private dining room, Separate bar, Counter seating, Wheelchair access, Credit card required
24 Clerkenwell Green, Clerkenwell EC1R 0NA
020 3793 4025
