The Review - MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT by DAN CARRIER Published: 20 September 2007
Tom Downer, Elton Inglis, Roger Madelin and Patrick George
Food fit for the King of the Cross
Roger Madelin, head of the company responsible for redeveloping King’s Cross, joins Dan Carrier for a scrumptiously simple meal at The Konstam
THE KONSTAM Restaurant knows what it is doing. You can tell it is a happy ship. I appear at lunchtime and the tables are all full. The main background noise is the clink of glasses, the scrape of knives and forks on china and the odd contented exhalation. Conversations are held in hushed tones – diners seem distracted by what is on their plates. Unfussy table staff flit from one group to another – calm, poised, efficient.
It is a hive of activity – but not that shouty bring-me-the-sous-chef’s-head type of busyness that you see in TV food show kitchens.
Instead, behind what was the bar, a team of chefs are preparing lunches, quietly working together.
As I wait for my main course I am distracted by them and I get a feeling of contentedness that comes when you see someone displaying a skill they are very good at.
Watching the chefs at the Konstam braise pork reminded me of an English professor I knew who would wallop through the Times crossword, barely scratching his chin as the answers flowed from Biro to paper. It was a strangely fufilling experience, knowing that some one out there had the measure of the crossword setters.
It is always a nice sign: for staff to be confident they have to know they have a product they can be proud of. Konstam instils such confidence.
The Konstam, established last year by Camden Town resident Olly Rowe, has been chosen as his favourite restaurant by a man who single-handedly has the fate of the area in his hands.
Roger Madelin is the chief executive of Argent, the developers behind rebuilding King’s Cross Railway lands, a multi-billion pound project over around 60 acres of land.
Konstam is close enough to the site for him to eat there regularly – and as well as the delicious food Mr Rowe is serving, Roger is attracted to the restaurant for other reasons. “Olly sources all the ingredients from within the Tube network,” reveals Roger. “It is admirable and done with bundles of style.”
The lunch time menu is varied – he chooses a boiled bacon dish with chard and new potatoes. They are so delightfully petite I feel like mothering them.
I pick a goats cheese gratin: underneath the crispy topping is a layer of fluffy, marshmallow-textured cheese, and beneath that a variety of twisted pasta that looks like a treble-clef.
Other items on the lunch time menu, all coming in for under a tenner, include the simple pan-roast chicken with beetroot and potato gratin, and coal-grilled squid with a fennel seed and caraway dressing.
Roger travels each day to King’s Cross from his family home in Chiswick. It means during the week he is often home too late to cook for his wife, but he makes up for it at the weekend. “We probably only eat together once or twice during the week,” he says.
His diet has changed in recently. A blood test three years ago showed he was suffering from high cholesterol. “It did not scare me, rather it surprised me,” he says.
It has led him to be more aware of his diet. The average weekly menu in the Madelin household includes lots of fish, simply cooked. “I like it simple – just grilled is fine, with some fresh veg,” he says.
And Konstam’s ethos suits his palate. “I enjoy it – and that enjoyment has brought me to Konstam.”
* The Konstam at the Prince Albert, 2, Acton Street, King’s Cross. Tel. 020 7833 5040.
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