Galley is JUST what Upper Street is crying out for. A beautifully decorated restaurant (think House of Hackney palm print & lush velvet panelling), Galley reminds us of a super chilled version of Soho’s Palomar.
It’s such a breath of fresh air on a street that has hundreds of restaurants but not many that stand out. It seems we aren’t the only ones to think this as it was packed on a bloody freezing, rainy Wednesday night.
There isn’t a bad seat in the house but we opted for the stools kitchen-side, where you get a great view of all the action – and most importantly you get to eye everything up before having to choose for yourself. You’ll need all the help you can get as it’s the sort of menu where you want to order EVERYTHING. We were already talking about when we could return before we’d even started eating.
As you may expect from the name Galley specialises in fish dishes, however the Venison we had was perfection. So don’t be put off by ordering meat too.
The menu is divided into small and large plates and you’re encouraged to come at it any way you like. All small plates, sharing style or the more traditional starter/main combo, it all works. We went for three small plates & 2 large because we wanted to order twice this much and it was the best we could do in terms of narrowing it down (I cannot re-iterate this enough) but you didn’t need to.
There were no disappointments. Delicate Cornish crab on crostini with moreish smoked aioli let the fresh basil pop. Crispy squid came with a delicious Japanese pepper sauce for an Asian twist. Yellow fin tuna tartare with mango and avocado was beautifully presented. All portions were generous if having as starters but great if you’re sharing.
We’ll be returning for cheese & ham croquettes, juicy octopus, Burrata with a hunk of focaccia & chorizo and scallops with cardamom puree – see – how can you possible narrow it down?
A fresh bright white piece of Brixham John Dory is served on wilted spinach in a warm yellow saffron & mussel sauce. And that Venison – wowza. Served three ways, expect braised melty meat, a juicy piece of lean steak and a croquette, all on smoked potato with beautiful thyme flavours running throughout. We just dribbled a little bit remembering that.
Desserts were again, generous in size so if you have more self-restraint then us you’ll be fine to share. We’d recommend the Salted Caramel Tart which is served with green tea ice-cream – a great combo that balances the sweetness of the dish.
Don’t skip cocktails – these guys have a dedicated Dessert Cocktail list – Coco Popping features Coco Pops infused Buffalo trace – need I say more?
THIS VENUE HAS NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED.
