London restaurant goers have notoriously short attention spans and nowhere more so than in Soho. Barely a week seems to go by without some new venue opening in search of the next cool thing. The fact that Ember Yard has been going for almost a decade speaks to its success. Your reviewer’s first visit in seven years served as a reminder that if you have a winning formula, then don’t try and change it.
Ember Yard succeeds simply because it doesn’t try too hard. This is not meant in any disparaging way; rather, the venue has always known how it has wanted to position itself. Put another way, why try and be too achingly on-trend when all you really need to do as a good restaurateur is create a good vibe that people will want to return to. Ember Yard is spacious but not capacious, looks neither too modern nor too stuffy and creates the sort of food that gives people comfort and happiness. There’s a nod to Italy, Spain and the UK in the venue’s cooking. As its name suggests, (almost) everything is smoked. On our recent visit, when it was pouring with rain outside, the smell of pungent charring was just what we needed.
As with almost every other London venue – although Ember Yard was earlier than most to do it – all the dishes are meant for sharing. The tapas-like bar snacks with which we began provided a good insight into what to expect. Dishes such as padron peppers and boquerones (anchovies) were executed solidly, but the pictured jamón and machego croquetas spoke both to the chef’s panache and playfulness. Comfort and happiness would, once again, be good descriptors. Larger dishes, which are conveniently grouped into fish, meat and veg sections all about six items long, also mostly pleased. There was a strong thumbs up for our grilled octopus, while our slow cooked lamb breast served with hazelnut pesto, smoked ricotta and wild garlic spoke of the spring (even if the weather did not oblige). The one let-down was a tempura courgette concoction served with whipped goat cheese and agave syrup. The plate was jarringly sweet and the vegetable matter flaccid. I would have sent it back but did not want to disrupt proceedings. One fail out of the seven options we consumed is a ratio I can just about live with, particularly with fair pricing throughout. Hopefully another seven years won’t elapse before I next return to Ember Yard.