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Rich pickings – without the sauce
Dan Carrier shares a gossip-laced lunch with Barnet and Camden London Assembly member Brian Coleman in the grandeur of the former Pearl Insurance building
WHEN I meet Tory Brian Coleman for lunch, my salivation is not just the anticipation of eating at The Pearl in High Holborn, but also by the chance of sharing a glass of wine with the London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden and and get some inside gossip about the goings on at City Hall.
But Brian turns down the glass of champagne offered by the French waiter. “I’m not drinking,” he says, and then explains why. He had made headlines in the week for accusing a senior policeman of being drunk at an official do and says it means he’d better steer clear of the sauce himself.
Despite the lack of alcoholic refreshment, Brian needs no encouragement to gossip and he spends much of the next two hours feeding me titbits of information (none publishable).
His starter arrives, featuring a stiff rasher of bacon standing to attention in the middle of the plate. He prods it with his fork and jokes it is an all-day full English breakfast. This quail dish has a base of mushroom confit, covered by a layer of roast quail, a scotch-style quail egg and a chicken liver parfait. I choose a beetroot tart with walnut, a root vegetable I’m unable to identify and finely chopped green beans. It is gorgeous – light, has a good mix of tastes and, as Brian points out while patting his stomach, there is not a lot of it, which apparently is a good thing.
Eating out is a daily occurrence for Brian. “I don’t get the chance to cook at home,” he says.
“I am out on business six nights a week. And when I am at home on a Sunday, I sit down in front of the TV and eat a ready meal from Tesco.”
There are contacts to meet and events to attend, he explains. This gives him the chance to quash the criticism of a £10,000 taxi expenses bill that he attracted much flak over. “As chairman of the Assembly, I completed 169 engagements. I rushed all over the place,” he says.
He says he likes The Pearl because of its surroundings – the former Pearl Insurance company headquarters, built in Portland stone. A grand entrance leads to a well-decorated bar, with the dining area behind. The individual tables are large: “I like the fact the diners aren’t forced to sit on top of each other,” he says. “It’s not too noisy. I hate taking a contact out for lunch and then struggling to hear what they say.”
The main course arrives. My baked goats cheese comes with truffles and a red pepper sauce. It is a diddy little thing. Brian opts for a cod dish with ravioli, a deep fried courgette flower and a smoked haddock sauce, which looks slightly more substantial.
It all tastes wonderful and we rattle through the lot. I’m thinking of desert but Brian, again fingering his waistband, says he’ll just have coffee and a couple of petits fours.
It is a superb meal, and although at £28.50 a go for three courses maybe not some where I could visit regularly, its dining room is full at lunch time and that has to be because of the excellence of the executive chef Jun Tanaka.
We turn our conversation to Boris Johnson – whom he loyally calls a good candidate – and his chances of winning the Mayoral election.
“He will be excellent on photocalls,” he says. “In the meantime his deputy mayor and the chair of the police and fire authorities will enjoy running City Hall efficiently. He can ponce about while I do admin.” He adds he has no urge to be mayor himself: “I am not an idiot. The problem with many politicians is not realising their own limits. I may be a household name along the Finchley Road but I am not in Croydon. I like being a big fish in a small pond.”
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