David Ellis reviews Canal: Flow your own way along familiar culinary waters

Evening Standard

18 hours ago

The kitchen turns out what might be called London Mediterranean, mostly in an Italian pose, though Spanish, French and British influences wriggle in. There is a sense of unity throughout the menu that makes a bad order tricky: if you have the plate of pickles — various beetroots, very gently done, the oil and beet juice together like the interior of a lava lamp — you can happily have the cheerful crab doughnut, with its light dough and pink innards. Stracciatella, sitting in a pool of olive oil — liking olive oil is a requirement for liking here — might follow, with its gently blackened turrets of courgette. But bream crudo would have suited too. Was mangalitza sausage a little out of place, with its likeness to the frankfurters I had every Saturday lunch after swimming classes? Pickled chillies held it in keeping.